SW 130p Heritage - Good EPs help

[Juliette]

Hello,

I bought the SW 130p heritage last year and I’m ready to buy some better EPs and need some help.

I was thinking about getting a 6mm UWA, a 32mm plossl and a 12mm. I’d like to get one very good quality piece (Televue or Celstron xcel) and 2 mid-budget ones but I can’t quite decide which size i should prioritise for the good quality ep. 

So far I’ve decided on a gold line 6mm uwa that I’ve seen recommended a lot, the celestron omni 32mm and a celestron xcel 12mm. 

Or should I get a televue 32mm and a cheaper 12-15mm ? 

I don’t have a barlow and don’t really plan on buying one, the only EPs I have are the ones that came with the scope (25mm and 10mm). The 25mm is ok but the 10mm is not good.

Should I just get cheap EPs until I know what I like ? 

Any help/advice would be greatly appreciated as I don’t know anyone in real life that knows these kind of stuff and I’m still very new at this. My max budget is around 250 euros.

[John]

If you want good quality without breaking the bank the BST Starfinder range are very good for their £45-£50 apiece cost. Thats from someone who is a regular Tele Vue and Pentax user

The BST Starguiders have comfortable eye relief and wider fields of vew than plossls or orthos so are nice to use as well as having very good optical quality.

The 32mm TV plossl is lovely quality wise (I've owned a couple) but the eye relief (where you position your eye) is a bit longer than the rubber eye cup so you need to add a further eye cup extender to get viewing comfort, driving the already high price even higher.

Other excellent alternatives to consider for lower power / wide field  would be the Maxvision 24mm 68 degree or the Explore Scientifc 24mm 68 degree both of which will show as much sky as the 1.25" design allows and are well corrected even in the reasonably fast Heritage 130.

If you want a good quality but reasonably priced orthoscopic, the Baader Classic orthos (6mm, 10mm and 18mm) are also around £50 each and very, very good to view though. Not as much eye relief as the BST Starguiders / Maxvision / Explore Scientific 68's though.

 

 

[ronin]

The TV 32 is nice but some people have problems with it. The eye relief can be too much and your head ends up sort of dangling in space and so moves around. Several people then buy a (sort of) eye cap extender. But that adds to the cost and they cost a fair amount to start with. Not saying they are not good, they are very good, but aspects may make it a bit uncomfortable to use.

The X-Cel's you mention. are they X-Cel LX or just X-Cel. If just X-Cel then don't bother with them. They did not live up to expectations and they were reissued as the X-Cel LX's which are better. Mention as it is too easy to assume they are the LX variant and then get disappointed. There have been a few people fall into this. Not helped as they look almost identical, and a retailer may not play fair.

My half set for sort of general use, comprises of the BST Starguider's at 8mm, 12mm and 25mm and a 6mm Altair lightwave (same it appears as the William Optics 6mm planetary). That would seem fair for your scope also. Cost for those is: ~£200 (3x49+55) so around 240-250 euro. Being a 60 degree field the 25mm give a field about identical to a 32mm TV. So not losing any real field of view.

[Juliette]

You both seem to recommend BST, what is the difference between the starfinders and the starguiders ? 

Thanks both of you for the caution about the Televue, I won’t get it then. I wouldn’t want to get discouraged because of not feeling comfortable enough. 

Ronin, I was talking about the X-Cel LX. But I have to admit the main reason why I wanted it is because they look really good 

And could you explain the difference/why the 6mm altair lightwave is better than the 6mm gold line uwa ??

Any online stores (in europe) you guys would recommend ? It looks like the BST don’t appear on a lot of sites. 

[Dave Lloyd]

Hi Juliette, welcome. +1 for the starguiders.

[John]

18 minutes ago, Juliette said:

You both seem to recommend BST, what is the difference between the starfinders and the starguiders ? 

Thanks both of you for the caution about the Televue, I won’t get it then. I wouldn’t want to get discouraged because of not feeling comfortable enough. 

Ronin, I was talking about the X-Cel LX. But I have to admit the main reason why I wanted it is because they look really good 

And could you explain the difference/why the 6mm altair lightwave is better than the 6mm gold line uwa ??

Any online stores (in europe) you guys would recommend ? It looks like the BST don’t appear on a lot of sites. 

Here are the BST Starguiders through a reliable e.bay store:

http://stores.ebay.co.uk/Skys-the-Limit-Astro-and-Optical/BST-Starguider-ED-/_i.html?_fsub=2568750014

They were branded the BST Explorers in the past but I've not heard of the BST Starfinders ?

The "gold line" UWA's are OK in F/10 scopes but won't be as good in your F/5. I believe the Altair Lightwave eyepieces are the same / very similar to the William Optics SPL eyepieces and a decent performing design in faster scopes.

Many eyepieces are made by far eastern manufacturers these days and then sold under many brands in the west. The trick is to find the same item at the lowest cost !

 

 

 

[Juliette]

Thanks John (and everyone) really appreciate the help !! I’m gonna get the BST starguiders and the 6mm altair then. 

[Ricochet]

5 hours ago, John said:

They were branded the BST Explorers in the past but I've not heard of the BST Starfinders ?

Typo/autocorrect error in your first post. 

[John]

22 minutes ago, Ricochet said:

Typo/autocorrect error in your first post. 

Well spotted - I was the cause of the naming confusion !

 

[Charic]

23 hours ago, John said:

Well spotted - I was the cause of the naming confusion !

 

John...........You'll  be selling your Delois to me next! a little  role reversal maybe?  I thought I was the only one who could get over excited with  Starguiders? 

Juliette.......whatever suits us, may not suit your eyes,  its a very subjective subject, and to be honest, you wont really know what eyepieces were/are the best until you have tried some.

I started out with the Starguiders, and for me, my eyes, on an f/6 focal ratio, the Starguiders are positively great value and work well for my needs. You may also see some premium eyepieces in my collection, I could sell them tomorrow, such is the difference in our needs and requirements.
Excluding my 3.2mm You could buy a full set of Starguiders for the cost of one  single Delos, and its  of my opinion,  from my garden,  that the Delos has only improved my field of view, therefore, not worth the expense, yet If I were to carry my scope to the end of the street to my 'new' site, It may be apparent that the Delos could offer a little more with regards to the final image.

My recommendation to you would be to find an eyepiece, with a good  advertised  field of view  and  sufficient  eye-relief, making this eyepiece   comfortable in use. Then use the telescope numbers ?
Take your aperture in mm. This  provides you with 130x power using a 5mm eyepiece, quite easily your first high power EP,  then maybe a  10mm  (Med). This  would  allow the telescope to work optimally at its sweet spot, without effort, although the image will appear smaller against the 5mm! infact the 10mm could be Barlowed  by a factor of 2x to achieve the  (5mm) 130x power?
For your low power EP, multiply your eye pupil  by the focal ratio  to choose your low powered eyepiece. You now have High, Med & Low or possibly Med & Low, filling the gaps at a later date if required!
 

[triton1]

+1 for the BST starguider great ep for the money I still can,t let my 8mm go.

[BeerMe]

Fantastic info, I have the same model and will be on the lookout soon for some upgrades to my stock 10mm and 25mm EPs so this thread will be very useful to look back on when the time comes!

I remember a previous EP discussion for my scope and the BST Starguider range was mentioned, so it looks like they will be my primary focus.