Free Celestron EP Advice

[Arlo]

Hello everybody, this is my first post so be gentle!

While avoiding pushing the submit button on my new/first telescope (Celestron Advanced VX 8" SCT.), I've been doing a reasonable amount of research on what eyepieces I should get to go with the 20mm plossl that comes with it.

As I don't have enough experience to judge what sizes I will use the most, and as SCTs are supposed to be fairly tolerant of the optical quality of cheaper eps, I initially thought it would be a good idea to get something like the Revelation ep kit.  For a very reasonable outlay, this would set me up with a decent range of eps and a barlow, and I could play around with colour filters to see if they are of any real benefit, and then replace the most useful eps with better ones if I want to.

Then I came across the Baarder Hyperion 8-24 zoom.  Although costing more, this seemed like a really convenient option for covering the main range of ep sizes and would only need the addition of a cheap 32mm plossl.

I finally went ahead and ordered the telescope (should have arrived today; maybe tomorrow) and it turns find out that I can claim 2 free Celestron eps and or barlow. So now I am trying to decide which model and sizes I should go for. The freebies will give me 3 eps, but I'll definitely want a 32mm plossl as well, and having just totalled up the cost of a 32mm plossl, barlow, t-adaptor and moon filter I am pushing £100, and so there is a quite a good argument to getting the Revelation kit anyway.  therefore, I think the best thing to do is look to choose the free eps based on what I am likely to use the most, so that I can take advantage of the extra FOV they will provide.  If I'm not that impressed with them I could always sell them to pay for the kit. 

From what I can gather, Celestron eps don't seem to get that good a press and aren't likely to come up if I was just asking for recommendations.  However, given the free element I can't believe that there won't be an improvement on the kit lenses even if it is only on the FOV and eye relief.

The options are (all 1.25"):
X-Cel - 2.3, 5, 7, 9, 12, 18 (all with 60 FOV and 16mm eye relief)
Luminos - 7, 10, 15 (all with 82 FOV and 12-17 mm eye relief)
Ultima Duo - 5, 8, 10, 13, 17, 21 (all with 68 FOV and 20mm eye relief)

I think the Ultima Duos are supposed to be Hyperion clones and would easily allow camera attachment but the Luminos have a very large FOV which would appear to reduce the number of eps I would end up using.

I have been trying to use the FOV tool on astonomy.tools to get a feel for the difference between them all but it is difficult to visualise both the impact of FOV and magnification.  I assume that ideally you need to determine what FOVs you want to obtain to see certain things and then get the greatest magnification you can that achieves it(??)

At the moment I am thinking along the lines of the Ultima Duo 8mm and 13mm, or the Luminos 10mm and 15mm.

Any input that might help me make a decision would be appreciated.

BTW as a total newbie I don't have a set preference on planetary vs DSOs at the moment.  I think it'll take me a while before I'm bored of the moon, jupiter and saturn, and light pollution may reduce the DSO options, but I'll be trying to have a go at looking at everything/anything I can.  

[Tim]

Welcome to the forum Arlo

I don't really have a comment on your EP's apart from, if you are getting a barlow, then you may as well avoid sizes that will be very close to each other, eg 15mm Luminos makes a 7.5mm with barlow.

Bear in mind that there aren't that many nights in the UK where we get to use highest realistic power eyepieces. 

When I want Ep advice, I always ask @John

[ronin]

Will start this again, I had assumed that the free items were plossls or worse.

The X-Cel's are better but the are not as good as the X-Cel LX's, so maybe be aware that they may be sort of "off loading" the older X-Cels. Or have you written just "X-Cel" and not the full "X-Cel LX" ?? Will say I used to until I realised there was a difference.

Think the Luninos are reasonably well regarded, so on the basis of being not sure about the X-Cel's I would opt for those. At the focal length of the scope I would go for the 10mm and 15mm. Don't think the 7mm would get a lot of ise by comparison.

Might be better to ask as a new post about the Luminos specifically.

[DRT]

Hi and welcome to the forum.

As you do not yet have the telescope I would suggest you just order the free eyepieces and barlow and play around with them for a while. You will then be able to tell us what your preferred targets are and people here will give you advice on what to buy next.

There is no rush - the cosmos isn't going away any time soon

 

[DRT]

Oh, one more thing - the type of scope you have ordered is very forgiving on eyepieces so the standard issue Plossls will work just fine

 

[Arlo]

12 minutes ago, ronin said:

The X-Cel's are better but the are not as good as the X-Cel LX's, so maybe be aware that they may be sort of "off loading" the older X-Cels. Or have you written just "X-Cel" and not the full "X-Cel LX" ?? Will say I used to until I realised there was a difference.

My bad, it is actually the X-Cel LX's that are up for grabs, I didn't realise there was a difference.  I had originally dismissed them as being inferior to the Ultimate Duo and Luminos ranges due to them being half the price, and having smaller FOV.

[ronin]

Celestron made the X-Cel's and although better then the supplied items at the time, they had edge problems, too "soft" being the common opinion. At some time they upgraded them to X-Cel LX's and these are better then the X-Cel. Cannot really say if better or worse then the Luminos, but from memory the Luminos seem pretty good. Do not recall cries of anguish from anyone that has purchased them, equally no one claiming they make a Delos look poor.

It is fairly common to use the shorter term "X-Cel" for the "X-Cel LX's", as said I did it until I realised. Also people have bought X-Cel's expecting the LX version and been disappointed.

Hopefully someone will read this that has used both, people will often go from one Celestron to another initially. Either way it seems a good offer.

Seems I still cannot read. I had ignored the Ultima Duo's, somehow I thought that an Ultima was a barlow, not an eyepiece. Checking the Celestron site they seem good, 8 elements, Luminos are 7 elements. I tend to check just in case it is the same optics in a different casing. Not going to be an easy choice especially when free, it makes it more difficult in a way.

Myself I would likely opt for the Luminos, mainly for the wider field in your scope. Have fun deciding, I suppose they would not send you 2 of each to help decide.

[Mak the Night]

The X-Cel LX are very good 60° eyepieces and eminently suitable for planetary/lunar observing. The safety undercut is shallow and works well extracting or inserting into Barlows or adaptors smoothly without many hang up problems. The twist up eye guard works well and overall the eyepieces are pleasant to use with a good sharp image. Although I think they can be prone to a tiny bit of light scatter at times, I don't find it particularly irritating. The 9mm is supposedly the best of the series. I'd definitely consider an X-Cel as one of the freebies.

The Luminos are very large, heavy eyepieces IMO. I have the 10mm version. They can display edge of field brightness on very bright subjects which is an irritation for some people, although it didn't really bug me. I'm not totally sold on the twist up eyecup either. I initially used mine as a high magnification eyepiece so the target would stay in the field of view longer. They'd probably be more suited to low power viewing. If I had to choose between the two I'd go for the X-Cel  every time. I still use my 9mm X-Cel. I rarely use the Luminos nowadays, if at all.

The X-Cel Barlow is a well constructed, solidly built shorty apochromatic. I'm fairly sure the Barlow element can be detached, I haven't tried this on mine though yet lol. It is good quality and ergonomically practical. All of the X-Cel range are easy to handle in cold and damp conditions. Again, the safety undercut is not problematical and there is a brass compression ring in the eyepiece holder.

  If you want a low power eyepiece, a standard 32mm Celestron (Guan Sheng Optical) Plossl would be a decent bet. The Omni 32mm Plossls are basically the same with a silver finish. 

Celestron normally include a 13mm and 40mm Plossl with their large SCT's.

So I'm not sure what to advise you to get as a free extra in the longer focal lengths. If you're getting a 40mm with the scope I'd go for a 32mm Omni Plossl or maybe a 25mm X-Cel. A 21mm Ultima Duo might be good.