Eyepiece advice - do I want 25mm or 32mm?

[Mr niall]

Hello there

sorry could do with more advice (give me about 10 years and I'm sure I'll be able to answer questions from others I promise!). Anyway, have acquired a lovely eyepiece from @recceranger - so now I have two good eyepieces.

im using a skywatcher mak 127 (amazing!) with a 1500mm focal length.

So I have  a celestron Omni 6mm which gives me 250x (almost never used actually bought for my previous refractor), and a skywatcher hyperflex 7-21 for day to day work.

So I need something for lower magnification work. A 25mm makes sense but was wondering about maybe a 32mm instead?

according to my calcs;

A 25mm eyepiece would give 60x which is about 12x per inch of aperture - which is what I'm led to believe is ideal for DSO work.

a 32 mm would give 47x which is about 9.75x per inch of aperture - possibly brighter again.

ive got a limited budget, ideally £40 possibly £50 which, so I'm led to believe, isn't the end of the world on a slow scope.

as a side consideration, I already have a 25mm "super" that came with my scope, it's not a plossl (I checked) - I don't have anything to compare it to but am led to believe it is decidedly average?

thanks!

Niall

[Alfian]

You could do a lot worse than a Revelation (GSO) 32mm plossl for £32.00 or a Vixen NPL 30mm plossl at £39.00

[ronin]

Owing to the budget I would suggest the 30mm Vixen NPL plossl at £39. Seems to fit all the options and is said to be good. Maybe ask if anone has one to get more opinions. I picked up the TV plossl's over time so never had to consider the Vixen range,

[Mr niall]

11 minutes ago, Alfian said:

You could do a lot worse than a Revelation (GSO) 32mm plossl for £32.00 or a Vixen NPL 30mm plossl at £39.00

 

10 minutes ago, ronin said:

Owing to the budget I would suggest the 30mm Vixen NPL plossl at £39. Seems to fit all the options and is said to be good. Maybe ask if anone has one to get more opinions. I picked up the TV plossl's over time so never had to consider the Vixen range,

Thanks guys good spot - but FLO are out of stock! Grrr 

[kilix]

The 25mm EP which comes with the Mak is not of terribly high standard, that is true.

Personally, I will purchase 24mm ES68 one day, but that day will come when I have more money to blow on astro stuff. As for 32mm, I use Meade Super plossl, which is nice and usable (nothing to complain about with this EP) and is also in your budget. I believe you can't really go wrong with a plossl from a decent manufacturer in this price range, especially when used with a f/12 Mak.

I don't feel that I need a 24mm (or 25mm) EP at the moment. Even the 32mm gets only used to get an occasional nicer "overall" look, or when searching for objects and not much more.

[davehawkins]

I have a 25mm bst and at 60 degree fov does quite a good job in my skymax 127 these are around your budget at £49, but I wanted a lower power ep so I have exactly the same dilemma about getting a 32mm as you. After some research I decided on a Meade 4000 series which gives 52 degree fov slightly better than most other plossls that are around 50 degrees and cost around your budget at £47. 2 inch eyepieces would give much more fov but cost a lot more and I don't know if the 127 can be easily adapted to successfully take them. I haven't bought the 32mm yet so have no practical experience to pass on. So I'll also be interested in any advice on this subject from the more experienced among us.

[John]

Personally I would want either a 32mm plossl or a 24mm 68 degree eyepiece to have a "max FoV" option for the scope.  You don't need anything to pricey for an F/11.7 scope

[Moonshane]

I agree with John

If you could afford a used 24mm 68 degree Panoptic variant (Explore Scientific etc) then this would give max field and a rather useful 2mm exit pupil to boot. It also negates the need for a 32mm.

[Piero]

+1 for 32mm plossl or 24mm 68deg as suggested above.  

 

[Alfian]

12 hours ago, Mr niall said:

 

Thanks guys good spot - but FLO are out of stock! Grrr 

With all due respects to our sponsors, Telescope House are showing both the 30mm Vixen NPL and the 32 mm Revelation Plossl in stock, and come to that also the ES 24/68 but at £135 thats another matter. Another consideration given that you mentioned a 25mm, would be the ES Maxvision 20mm/68 degree which will give a slightly wider fov than a 25mm plossl and is an excellent EP for the money. Bresser are selling these at 60 euros which is a good deal. That said I still think a 30/32mm is a better idea but, according to my maths, you are looking at the difference between 0.9 and 1.1 degrees!

https://www.bresser.de/en/Sale/Display-Items/Explore-Scientific-Maxvision-68-Okular-20mm.html

[Louis D]

19 hours ago, davehawkins said:

I have a 25mm bst and at 60 degree fov does quite a good job in my skymax 127 these are around your budget at £49, but I wanted a lower power ep so I have exactly the same dilemma about getting a 32mm as you. After some research I decided on a Meade 4000 series which gives 52 degree fov slightly better than most other plossls that are around 50 degrees and cost around your budget at £47. 2 inch eyepieces would give much more fov but cost a lot more and I don't know if the 127 can be easily adapted to successfully take them. I haven't bought the 32mm yet so have no practical experience to pass on. So I'll also be interested in any advice on this subject from the more experienced among us.

There's little to no difference in TFOV between a 32mm plossl and a 25mm Meade HD-60 (similar to BST SG) on the 127mm Mak.  I've tried both in mine, and the main difference is the 25mm isn't all that well corrected in the outer field.  That's not to say the plossl is perfect out there either.  I find 50 degree fields claustrophobic, so I would tend toward the 25mm 60 degree eyepiece for that reason.

[Mr niall]

Thanks everyone, really appreciate your help - based on advice I've decided to go for a 30mm Vixen NPL courtesy of @Piero and a very kind offer to sell his me his one.

Niall

[Charic]

With the supplied Skywatcher eyepieces, I found the 25mm is the better of the two, but the 25mm does not have enough field of view for my desire to look at M31, and was a little happier with the 60° BST, but still not wide enough? It was then that rwilkey recommended the Skywatcher Panaview, and the 32mm fits my requirement admirably, with its 70° field of view and x37 power, makes the Moon look small in a sea of space, and perfect as a finder eyepiece too.
Hopefully the Vixen will satisfy your need.

[billyharris72]

The 25mm Super MA is actually a pretty decent eyepiece - not great but more than adequate for observing DSOs. If it were  me I'd probably go for a 32mm Plossl. Any of the main brands are fine; Skywatcher ones tend to be the least expensive, and perform exactly the same as Celestron Omnis and the Revelation/ GSO branded ones.

Edit: managed to miss the post where you bought a second hand Vixen. Good call!

[Alfian]

11 hours ago, Mr niall said:

Thanks everyone, really appreciate your help - based on advice I've decided to go for a 30mm Vixen NPL courtesy of @Piero and a very kind offer to sell his me his one.

Niall

Result. Two happy customers!