Tele Vue Panoptic 41mm - the alternatives

[nicoscy]

John,

The 40mm looks "comfortable" indeed. It's the other eyepieces in the range that have reduced eye relief.

22mm sounds perfect to me. Definitely easy on placement to get full FOV and not too much to induce kidney beaning / blackouts....

[Klingon]

I have the same scope C11, try the 40mm Williams Optic.

[Louis D]

3 hours ago, nicoscy said:

Another option is the new Explore Scientific 40mm 62 degree eyepiece, just rolling out to European distributors.

I have my eye on this as a lighter weight option Vs the Pan 41mm (650gr Vs 950gr) - but will wait until our brethren across the pond report back based on actual use.

Well, if it is a rebadge of the 40mm Meade Plossl 5000 as many suspect, it actually has well over 25mm of eye relief.  The eye lens is a whopping 43mm in diameter, bigger than the already huge 39mm eye lens of the 40mm Meade SWA 5000.  With the eyecup removed, I measured 29mm of usable eye relief.  To check, I could easily slide a 1.25" filter between my eyeglasses and the top of the eyepiece.  I just picked up the eyepiece used for cheap as a (near) widest field, long eye relief outreach eyepiece, so I'm still evaluating it.  Obviously, it is not as well corrected to the edge as the SWA, but it's not bad by any means.  There's a little astigmatism, but I've seen much worse.  In the center, it appears very similar to the SWA.  Probably identical glass, polish, and coatings account for this.  I haven't noted any ghosting yet on bright objects, but I also haven't specifically gone looking for it, either.  It appears nice and dark inside the eyepiece, so I'd say they did a nice job of controlling stray light and shiny surfaces.  I measured the AFOV at exactly 60 degrees as advertised.  It has a nice, sharp fieldstop.  It has better correction and a darker background than an ancient 40mm Erfle and an even older 38mm modified Plossl I started out with years ago.

If it is the same as the new 40mm ES-62, is it worth nearly $200?  Not a chance.  Especially when there's the 40mm Maxvision and 40mm Paragon for about the same money or less with a wider FOV.  If you can pick up the older Meade version for $50 to $70 used like I did, then yes, it's a good deal.  Telescope Warehouse bought up the last of the new old stock and sells them on their website or ebay for around $85 shipped in the States.

[Pig]

I sure am glad I don't have to look for another 40mm-ish eyepiece

[nicoscy]

Louis,

And this is why I will wait for someone else to buy it first and report 

[Louis D]

1 hour ago, nicoscy said:

Louis,

And this is why I will wait for someone else to buy it first and report 

I'm at the point where I sometimes pick up well regarded lower-end eyepieces used if the price is good even if they replicate something I already have.  They're always useful for outreach or for loaning out to family and friends.  That's why I picked up the Meade 40mm Plossl 5000 and my 13mm and 17mm Astro Tech AF70 eyepieces.  All are good, but not great, eyepieces.

[Louis D]

Alright, I spent a lot more time tonight with the 40mm Meade 5000 Plossl.  It is incredibly easy to hold the view.  No hints of blackouts like the 40mm SWA.  It is just as sharp or sharper in the center as anything I have.  It does fall off about 50% out to where fine detail on the moon is lost and slight astigmatism can be seen in stars.  Large features can still be made out.  It never gets awful by any means like my old 38mm modified Plossl or 42mm Erfle.  It also doesn't distort the shape of the moon, unlike the SWA which turns it into an egg.  I couldn't detect any ghosting or stray light control issues on the moon.  The field stop is indeed sharp.  There is very little color fringing on the moon at the edge, just a thin purple/yellow line on either side.  Overall, it's a good eyepiece if you can find it in the $50 to $70 range.

If the 40mm ES62 is indeed just a rebadge of this eyepiece as many suspect, they'll be lot of disappointed people if they pay nearly $200 for it.  It's $50 good, but not $200 good.

[alan potts]

I tested the 40mm Meade series 5000 which was labelled up as 60 degrees and was as I am sure many know called the Super Plossl. I found it an awful eyepiece in my faster scopes with the edges being full of everything you could think of apart from sharpness. Heavy but give me the SWA version they made any day. I had the whole range of the SPlossl Meades and I can't say I was over the top with any of them in F 5.26 or faster. They were fine in the SC F10 though.

Alan.

[Louis D]

3 hours ago, alan potts said:

I tested the 40mm Meade series 5000 which was labelled up as 60 degrees and was as I am sure many know called the Super Plossl. I found it an awful eyepiece in my faster scopes with the edges being full of everything you could think of apart from sharpness. Heavy but give me the SWA version they made any day. I had the whole range of the SPlossl Meades and I can't say I was over the top with any of them in F 5.26 or faster. They were fine in the SC F10 though.

Alan.

I won't argue with any of what you found.  My testing was done at f/6-ish in both a field-flattened refractor and a coma corrected newtonian.  Even barlowed to f/12 there's still astigmatism at the edge.  All I'm saying is that I've seen far worse 40mm-ish 60 degree eyepieces.  I'll be curious to find out if the ES-62s are really just the repackaging of these mediocre eyepieces.  If so, is ES prepared for them to be as big a flop as the 5000 Plossls?

[BGazing]

On 07/02/2017 at 21:41, DRT said:

Is that this one John?

http://www.teleskop-express.de/shop/product_info.php/language/en/info/p2333_TS-Paragon-ED-40mm-2--Super-Wide-Eyepiece---68--FoV.html

looks great value with that discount!!!

tried and tested in c8. it's good and does not weigh a ton. recommended.

[Louis D]

43 minutes ago, BGazing said:

tried and tested in c8. it's good and does not weigh a ton. recommended.

Does this eyepiece really have 20mm of usable eye relief?  That eye lens looks recessed quite a bit.

[BGazing]

6 hours ago, Louis D said:

Does this eyepiece really have 20mm of usable eye relief?  That eye lens looks recessed quite a bit.

I honestly did not measure, nor do I know how to do it, but the adjustable eyecup makes it really easy to find the best position. My friends who observed alongside with glasses had no problem whatsoever.