Hyperion 8mm used or the X-Cel LX 9mm new?

[Eduardo Ventura]

Hello people,

First of all I'm kind of new around here, so be gentle...

 

I've recently bought a sky-watcher 150P DS on an HEQ5 Pro with the future intention to buy coma corrector and guiding system to image with this setup however, for the time being since I've burnt my bank account almost to the ground  with scope and mount I'm sticking to visual observations. Having said that, the scope came with a 28mm (2'') eyepice and it's fairly nice to look through, so I'm not thinking of upgrading that for now. I do intend to buy a shorter focal length eyepiece (around 8 or 9mm) and a 2x or 2,5x Barlow.

Since I don't have much funding straight away I was looking at cheaper new eyepices as well as used ones and found a used Baader Hyperion 8mm for about the same price tag as the Celestron X-Cel LX 9mm new. And wanted to know if the Hyperion used is a good investment or if I should go with the new Celestron eyepiece.

 

Thanks a lot, your help is greatly appreciated... 

[faulksy]

i would say this. your scope is f5 so quite a fast focal length, the hyperions are good but at around f10. not sure how the x-cel will be. i know a lot like the bst's at around f5 so might be worth looking at them. whats your budget ?

[John]

I think a BST Starguider or the Celestron X-Cell LX will perform better across the field of view than an Hyperion will in your F/5 scope.

 

[triton1]

+1 for what John said?

[Eduardo Ventura]

Hum...

I didn't took my focal ration in account... So that makes a great diference?

My budget would be around £70 which is what the X-Cel is going for on FLO...

 

I'll go ahead and take a look on the BST's (does FLO sport them?). I your opinion what do you think a good BST eyepiece would be?

[John]

The BST Starguider / Explorer (same thing !) 8mm would be worth considering. FLO does not sell those (yet) but there are e.bay dealers who do and this UK dealer:

http://www.365astronomy.com/8mm-BST-Explorer-ED-Eyepiece.html

The Hyperions are very nicely made eyepieces but they are not well corrected towards the field edges when the scope focal ratio drops below around F/7. 

 

 

[ronin]

Hyperons are generally lacking in performance in fast scopes, better at say f/7 and slower they are OK - not sure about f/6, guess that is where they begin to not work so well. The X-Cel-LX's are generally good and the BST Starguiders perfom what is in effect identically.  Some people like one some the other, both pretty good.

The Starguiders are £49, and come from Sky's the Limit, an ebay shop run by Alan who attends the Hertford Astro club.

The BST's come in 5mm, 8mm then 12mm, so you have the 8mm option. The X-Cel-LX's come in 5mm, 7mm, 9mm then 12mm. The decision will concern the steps between the focal lengths.

[Eduardo Ventura]

See... Always learning...

Thanks a lot, I'll definitelly check the link out...

 

Cheers.

[Eduardo Ventura]

1 minute ago, ronin said:

Hyperons are generally lacking in performance in fast scopes, better at say f/7 and slower they are OK - not sure about f/6, guess that is where they begin to not work so well. The X-Cel-LX's are generally good and the BST Starguiders perfom what is in effect identically.  Some people like one some the other, both pretty good.

Can't thank you guys enough... I think I see my path now...

 

Probably going for the 8mm BST (had never heard of them)... Which is well within my budget...

[John]

1 hour ago, Eduardo Ventura said:

..Probably going for the 8mm BST (had never heard of them)... Which is well within my budget...

They are quite widespread and popular eyepieces worldwide. In the USA they are available under Astro Tech branding (the range is the Paradigms) and Orion (USA) also ran them for a while under it's branding.

With many things in this hobby, they are made in the far east and then sold under a number of difference brandings, and sometimes at a number of different prices as well !

The BST Explorer / Starguider branding tends to have the lowest pricing, which is why they are popular on here.

[Astro Imp]

I have a few of the Celestron X-Cel-LXs which I collected when I had the 150P and like them a lot.

BTW if you take your guidance from John you won't be disappointed.

[laudropb]

The X-Cel 9 mm is one of my favourite eyepieces and it works well at f 5.

[Eduardo Ventura]

1 hour ago, Astro Imp said:

BTW if you take your guidance from John you won't be disappointed.

I think that's what I'll do... Right now money is dire, so I'm going for Johns guidance, even though lots of people say that the X-Cel's are great... Maybe some other time and focal length...

Thank you everybody once again...