Just ordered a new Baader Morpheus 14mm

[Mak the Night]

6 hours ago, Louis D said:

I'll believe you.  I've induced kidney beaning in my Pentax XLs with my TV 2X barlow.  The barlow throws off the entry pupil to the eyepiece which gets translated into spherical aberration of the exit pupil.  Another reason to use a telecentric barlow like a Powermate.

Yeah, I guessed the Barlow had a lot to do with it. I actually have a 2.5x Powermate but I wanted the highest magnification I could get out of the Morpheus on my Newtonian. I bought the Morpheus for my new SCT which isn't fully operational yet. Some eyepieces Barlow better than others. When I used the Morpheus with the 3x Barlow I was able to eventually adjust to the altered exit pupil by experimenting how I approached the eye lens with my eye as I bought it up to it. After a while I could more or less negate the kidney beaning.

[Pig]

Both the XW 20 & 14 are affected by FC but I have never experienced kidney beaning or blackouts with them, the FC does not bother me in the slightest as they deliver such wonderful colours of the stars and to me this is of greater importance. I have owned the whole of the Delos range and used them quite extensively, they are excellent eyepieces but they do not match the XW range for contrast and colours delivered.

Context is also important as both the Delos & XW are very good and it is purely down to individual preference.

[CraigT82]

Is it me or does every discussion about Morpheus EPs end up being  hijacked by Delos and XW?! 

I understand they're in the same class (FoV) but I think it's more useful to the majority to classify EPs by price bracket:

£50-100

£100-150

£150-200 etc...

This delos and XW are two classes above the Morpheus... Not a fair comparison? 

Just my 2p. And I'm jesting really. Bored on a train 

 

[Pig]

1 minute ago, CraigT82 said:

Is it me or does every discussion about Morpheus EPs end up being  hijacked by Delos and XW?! 

I wanna hear how the Morpheus performs! 

Maybe you should read the first paragraph of the original post  or better still start your own thread about the Morpheus if you want exclusivity. Most eyepiece threads end up in the same way.

[Mak the Night]

2 hours ago, CraigT82 said:

Is it me or does every discussion about Morpheus EPs end up being  hijacked by Delos and XW?! 

I understand they're in the same class (FoV) but I think it's more useful to the majority to classify EPs by price bracket:

£50-100

£100-150

£150-200 etc...

This delos and XW are two classes above the Morpheus... Not a fair comparison? 

Just my 2p. And I'm jesting really. Bored on a train 

 

LOL! I think you're on to something here. I have to admit to being guilty as charged and did compare the Morpheus with a Delos. It is the nearest EP I could compare the Morpheus to though. What surprised me was how good the Morpheus was compared to the Delos, despite my using it with a 3x Barlow. As you say, there's nearly 100 squid between the two EP's.

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

I rate the Morpheus very highly. Concluding it is very, very close to a Pentax XW or TV Delos is rather a high accolade, especially given the much lower price. This is the main reason those EPs get named so often in Morpheus-related threads. The MaxVision 68° 24mm threads almost always had the word "Panoptic" in there for similar reasons.

[Louis D]

On ‎6‎/‎4‎/‎2016 at 08:10, CraigT82 said:

This delos and XW are two classes above the Morpheus... Not a fair comparison?

Not sure I follow you.  I paid in the low $200s for my XLs and XWs and $300 for my Delos over the years.  The Morpheus are $240 here in the states which puts them in the same ballpark.  I watch sales and clearance pricing to purchase my eyepieces.  So far, the Morpheus haven't gone through any price cuts or inventory clearance actions, so I have only that price to go by.

[CraigT82]

4 hours ago, Louis D said:

Not sure I follow you.  I paid in the low $200s for my XLs and XWs and $300 for my Delos over the years.  The Morpheus are $240 here in the states which puts them in the same ballpark.  I watch sales and clearance pricing to purchase my eyepieces.  So far, the Morpheus haven't gone through any price cuts or inventory clearance actions, so I have only that price to go by.

Here in the UK the Delos and XW are £250, whilst the Morpheus are £150 ($360 vs $215).

 

 

[Mak the Night]

Baader products tend to be generally more expensive in comparison to other makes Stateside from what I can see. I believe in the UK we pay a fair bit less for Baader stuff in general than in the US. I don't know why.

[Louis D]

4 hours ago, Mak the Night said:

Baader products tend to be generally more expensive in comparison to other makes Stateside from what I can see.

I've always assumed it's because they're German-based.  Thus, their Chinese-made stuff can't be direct imported to the US and so suffer additional expense being imported through Europe first.

[Mak the Night]

29 minutes ago, Louis D said:

I've always assumed it's because they're German-based.  Thus, their Chinese-made stuff can't be direct imported to the US and so suffer additional expense being imported through Europe first.

That could explain it.

[Louis D]

10 hours ago, CraigT82 said:

ere in the UK the Delos and XW are £250, whilst the Morpheus are £150 ($360 vs $215).

The Delos are $290 on sale right now in the US while the XW sell for between $320 and $360, pretty close to their suggested retail price.  They used to sell just a few years ago for no more than $280.  I'm waiting for the Morpheus to drop from $240 to something closer to $180 to $210 before I'll be buying any.  I'd rather just pay the extra $50 and get a Delos in the meantime.

[CraigT82]

8 minutes ago, Louis D said:

The Delos are $290 on sale right now in the US while the XW sell for between $320 and $360, pretty close to their suggested retail price.  They used to sell just a few years ago for no more than $280.  I'm waiting for the Morpheus to drop from $240 to something closer to $180 to $210 before I'll be buying any.  I'd rather just pay the extra $50 and get a Delos in the meantime.

That's understandable, if I were American it'd make sense to buy Televue too... Support the home economy and all that! 

 

[F15Rules]

On 04/06/2016 at 14:10, CraigT82 said:

Is it me or does every discussion about Morpheus EPs end up being  hijacked by Delos and XW?! 

I understand they're in the same class (FoV) but I think it's more useful to the majority to classify EPs by price bracket:

£50-100

£100-150

£150-200 etc...

This delos and XW are two classes above the Morpheus... Not a fair comparison? 

Just my 2p. And I'm jesting really. Bored on a train 

 

As the original poster I don't have any problems with the XW and Delos comparos as I did use both in my original musings as to why I chose the Morpheus..I know that both TV and Pentax have very loyal followings here on SGL, so as Michael said, for the Morpheus to be rated up with both is praise indeed.

As I write this I'm in Devon and know that my new Morpheus was delivered to my home in the Midlands today:-)...(my decorator signed for it!).

I'm off home tomorrow so should get to see it in the flesh within 18 hours or so..

I'm not making any assumptions about the Morpheus til I've properly tried it out, but I am optimistic that I will like it more than the XW14 it will replace. We will see...

Dave

[Mak the Night]

5 hours ago, CraigT82 said:

That's understandable, if I were American it'd make sense to buy Televue too... Support the home economy and all that! 

 

Aren't TeleVue EP's actually manufactured in Japan and Taiwan?

[Louis D]

16 hours ago, Mak the Night said:

Aren't TeleVue EP's actually manufactured in Japan and Taiwan?

Yes, in company owned factories, thus no direct knockoffs like so many other company's designs (like TMB).

Also, the company was started by an American, employs all Americans at their design and marketing headquarters in New York state, and designs all of their eyepieces in house.  I believe Vernonscope (Brandon eyepieces) may be the last eyepiece maker in the US selling to the public as well as to the US government.  I'm sure there are others who sell only to the US military who are also required to source all components from within the US, but we never hear about them (think periscope and tank sight eyepieces).  I don't doubt that there are similar manufacturers in the UK, France, and Germany under the same restrictions to source locally in case of war.

[Mak the Night]

20 minutes ago, Louis D said:

Yes, in company owned factories, thus no direct knockoffs like so many other company's designs (like TMB).

Also, the company was started by an American, employs all Americans at their design and marketing headquarters in New York state, and designs all of their eyepieces in house.  I believe Vernonscope (Brandon eyepieces) may be the last eyepiece maker in the US selling to the public as well as to the US government.  I'm sure there are others who sell only to the US military who are also required to source all components from within the US, but we never hear about them (think periscope and tank sight eyepieces).  I don't doubt that there are similar manufacturers in the UK, France, and Germany under the same restrictions to source locally in case of war.

I believe Al Nagler personally inspects every Plossl himself in NY lol. Seriously though, I read that all of the Plossls were actually shipped to the States after manufacture for a final quality control inspection in NY.

I'm a huge TeleVue fan myself. There's just something about them.

[Louis D]

Just now, Mak the Night said:

I'm a huge TeleVue fan myself. There's just something about them.

I forgot to mention that they are the only eyepiece company I'm aware of that you can send one of their damaged or dirty eyepieces to for repair and/or cleaning rather then replacement.  Important for discontinued eyepieces you've come to love.

[Stu]

18 minutes ago, Louis D said:

I forgot to mention that they are the only eyepiece company I'm aware of that you can send one of their damaged or dirty eyepieces to for repair and/or cleaning rather then replacement.  Important for discontinued eyepieces you've come to love.

Televue's after sales service is excellent. Their scopes are built like tanks and they will either service them for you or help you fix things if they break. They are not designed to be thrown away!

As an aside, Leica offer a lifetime (I think, or is is it 10 years?) warranty on their products incase of failure. I sent mine back to have the eye guard replaced, very good service.

[Mak the Night]

22 minutes ago, Louis D said:

I forgot to mention that they are the only eyepiece company I'm aware of that you can send one of their damaged or dirty eyepieces to for repair and/or cleaning rather then replacement.  Important for discontinued eyepieces you've come to love.

That is very good after sales service indeed.

This Celestron case came in useful for some of my TV's. I have other TV's in another case.