recommeded eyepieces for 150pds

[fozzybear]

Hi all,

I am enquiring are the BST Starguider  eyepieces suitable for the skywatcher 150pds for observing DSO and planets as the 150pds is F5 or do you recommend an alternative in the same price range

thanks for reading

Andy

[John]

For around £50 it's difficult to fault the BST Starguiders and they do pretty well at F/5 too.

Hard to think of anything thats actually better in that price bracket as well

[fozzybear]

Thanks John for the reply,

[JG777]

Andy,

I have been using BSTs in my 6 inch F5 reflector and the performance is pretty decent.  Have 8, 12, 18 , 25 and of those in all my scopes the 18 is the best performer. On mine the view does show oval stars about 10/15% around the edge of view but I don't know if this is coma or astigmatism. It wasn't to me objectionable as the centre view was really quite good. The 8 mm on Jupiter was better than I expected, nice bright contrasty views with good detail. The 18 is a lovely EP for general DSO and big globs. The reflector  is fairly new so not fully tested yet but my initial thoughts are for the money the BST are punching above their weight. They do very well in my C9.25 so obviously in F5 it's more  demanding but as mentioned from what I have seen so far I doubt you will be disappointed . You could do a lot worse! They seem to me to be one of the top performers in this price bracket. 

Am in the process of upgrading to ES as I now have my scopes of choice  but that's not a reflection on the BST, more about having a more suitable range usable across 3 scopes. 

[fozzybear]

6 hours ago, JG777 said:

Andy,

I have been using BSTs in my 6 inch F5 reflector and the performance is pretty decent.  Have 8, 12, 18 , 25 and of those in all my scopes the 18 is the best performer. On mine the view does show oval stars about 10/15% around the edge of view but I don't know if this is coma or astigmatism. It wasn't to me objectionable as the centre view was really quite good. The 8 mm on Jupiter was better than I expected, nice bright contrasty views with good detail. The 18 is a lovely EP for general DSO and big globs. The reflector  is fairly new so not fully tested yet but my initial thoughts are for the money the BST are punching above their weight. They do very well in my C9.25 so obviously in F5 it's more  demanding but as mentioned from what I have seen so far I doubt you will be disappointed . You could do a lot worse! They seem to me to be one of the top performers in this price bracket. 

Am in the process of upgrading to ES as I now have my scopes of choice  but that's not a reflection on the BST, more about having a more suitable range usable across 3 scopes. 

Thank you John for the information greatly appreciated

Andy

[John]

Oval stars could be an issue with the scope optics rather than the eyepiece possibly ?

I compared the 8mm BST Starguider to my 8mm Ethos in my F/5.3 12" dobsonian a while back and the BST did rather well considering that the Ethos cost 10x as much

 

[JG777]

1 hour ago, John said:

Oval stars could be an issue with the scope optics rather than the eyepiece possibly ?

I compared the 8mm BST Starguider to my 8mm Ethos in my F/5.3 12" dobsonian a while back and the BST did rather well considering that the Ethos cost 10x as much

 

My instinct also is coma at the edges of the mirror rather than astigmatism in the EP so your suggestion is probably on the right track.  I just haven't been able to test enough or compare to other EPs. I have a SW coma corrector also to test plus a bunch of ES EPs, and a Nexus DSC and AYOII all waiting to get out the door! 

Interesting your experience of the 8mm, my one does better than the ES82 6.7mm unless seeing conditions are very good then the ES pulls away. 

 

[John]

33 minutes ago, JG777 said:

.... my one does better than the ES82 6.7mm unless seeing conditions are very good then the ES pulls away. 

 

Similar here. If and when you get really good seeing conditions, top quality optics show their stuff a wee bit more