Heads-up about a used 40 XW

[wasteland]

Hey people!

I am not sure if this is the proper place to discuss this or even if it is allowed by the rules, so if the mods were to deem this thread inappropriate, I apologise for the code infraction.

Anyway, I saw a few interesting used eyepieces deal on the main Italian retail site for used astronomy and photography gear, astrosell.it . There I found a guy who's selling a bunch of premium eyepieces to interesting prices:

XW 10 -> 250 €

XW 40 -> 400 €

Along with a few other TV products at not so competitive prices

Since I can't afford any of those eyepieces even at those sharply (?) reduced prices, I though someone here might be interested in them. I think the the XW40 might especially be of interest, as I have seen many times the very same eyepiece pop up on the used marked for prices as high as 600€!

Anyway, I am obviously not the guy who's selling this eyepieces, I don't know him and I have not even contacted him, so I can't obviously vouch for him or know if he is alright with shipping the eyepieces he's selling. So this thread is basically just as heads-up, as the title suggests. I'll leave any further reasoning to you.

Here's the link to his selling page: https://www.astrosell.it/profilo_utente.php?Id=6709

[Tinker1947]

I have sold off most of my view kit, included was a Pentax XW30, there was a "Wanted" ad on " Astro Buy & Sell " so i asked what he wanted to pay, he came back with £650 a quick bank transfer and he had it the next day, a XW40 must be worth a lot more than 400 Euro unless its be ill treated..... 

[wasteland]

38 minutes ago, Tinker1947 said:

I have sold off most of my view kit, included was a Pentax XW30, there was a "Wanted" ad on " Astro Buy & Sell " so i asked what he wanted to pay, he came back with £650 a quick bank transfer and he had it the next day, a XW40 must be worth a lot more than 400 Euro unless its be ill treated..... 

He claims it's in pristine conditions:

Quote

Oculare Pentax XW 40mm immacolato pari al nuovo ultima serie a mio avviso il miglior 40mm sul mercato

"Pentax XW 40mm eyepiece, pristine, like new, last series. In my opinion the best 40mm on the market."

 

[Stu]

Hi wasteland,

Provided you are not the seller then no problem with the thread.

As is the case with all secondhand transactions, buyer beware, and if it looks too good to be true, then check it out very carefully before parting with any cash!

[wasteland]

I am definitely not the seller! if I had pockets deep enough to afford a legendary eyepiece such as the XW40 I would be extremely reluctant to part with it. I think I would probably take on some Gollum-esque behaviour towards it, actually. 

[alan potts]

It is an eyepiece i always fancied but I could never find one S/H and when I made up my mind to buy new they were no more, I have the 41mm Panoptic which is by no means rubbish. I agree with you the TeleVues are overpriced.

Alan

[wasteland]

Alan, since you mentioned it, I'd love to know what are the intrinsic differences between the XW and the Panoptic design. I seem to understand that the XW, as well as the Delos, are regarded as superior to the Pans/ES68 where their ranges overlap, with better transmission contrast and correction. Which is again to be expected, as the Panoptic line is almost as old as I am while the Delos were introduced just 5 years ago. My other question is, provided that the XW/Delos design is superior, does this superiority carry itself all the way up to the 40mm FL? 

[John]

I was loaned a 30mm Pentax XW a while back to review and compare with my Nagler 31mm and a UWAN / Nirvana 28mm.

I thought it a very nice eyepiece but not mind blowingly better than anything else I've used or the Nagler / UWAN competition to be honest. I guess the 40mm would be similar although the XW's are not a scaled design so some characterisitics might be slightly different.

Some of the high prices being stated for these seem to be a little over the top to my mind.

The 1st 30mm XW I was sent went back because it had an optical fault - thats a very rare occurance I believe.

I like the XW's and currently own the 10, 7, 5 and 3.5 in the range. They are a nice alternative to my Ethos eyepieces

 

Edited May 4, 2016 by John

[Stu]

Is there not some issue with using the XWs in newts because they are designed to compensate for field curvature in refractors?

[John]

8 minutes ago, Stu said:

Is there not some issue with using the XWs in newts because they are designed to compensate for field curvature in refractors?

They vary Stu. Some have negative field cuvature, some positive some more neutral. Not a scaled design you see:

 

Edited May 4, 2016 by John

[alan potts]

Understand every word of it John!

I never have seen any on the XW range below 14mm which I once had, that I would say was not as good as the 14mm Delos I had at the same time, albeit for a short while, I did a review which is on site somewhere. The Panoptic 41mm I find vignettes on my 12 inch Meade SC when I use a diagonal, which is what I bought it for, it is the same on my 180mm Mak, so because of this I am a little disappointed.

Just prior to getting the 41mm I had the 40mm Meade S 5000 SWA, this did not vignette on the same scopes, at least I could not detect any, so clearly there is a difference which one would imagine is greater that the 1mm in F/L suggests, I wish I had not been so hasty, I could have saved a few hundred quid. Massive exit pupil but I love it in my 115mm F7 APO, that reminds me it is time to get it out and clean the dust off, since the 18 inch came along it has been somewhat forgotten.

Alan