Should I go 2" with an 11" sct?

[mal-j]

Hi all, 

Having recently acquired a C11 sct, I'm in a bit of a dilemma as to whether it's worth going over to 2" eyepieces for a better experience. I've looked through various forums but seem to be getting conflicting answers.  Does anyone have any experience or can give me some advice? I do have one 2" ES20 100° eyepiece which I thought I could make use of and was thinking of getting a 40° or so one for low power viewing,  but if 2" is the way to go, which others would excel with this scope without breaking the bank? Or should I just upgrade my 1 1/4" collection to higher quality ones? 

Thanks, 

Mal

 

[alanjgreen]

Mal,

yes, in my opinion. That's exactly what I did!

the panoptic 41 was a great eyepiece in my c11 (when I owned one). You get a lovely black background and a great low power view.

my favourite 2" eyepiece in the c11 was the 22nagler. It hits the magnification sweet spot and works great on a range of smaller targets.

i am sure the ES equivalents ( I have never owned any ) are similar.

you will also find that the c11 benefits from use of a 2" visual back and 2" diagonal. They will provide a much more solid and stable base for your eyepieces and allow more light out the back through the wider aperture created by the 2" visual back.

i had a Baader 3.25" clicklock visual back on my c11 and it was fantastic. The clicklock is easy to use on cold nights when you are wearing gloves.

Alan

[Chris]

I second Alan, I did the same but with 8" SCT's i.e. Baader clicklock and 2" diagonal plus 2" EP's. My favourite EP for this setup was the ES100 20mm. 

[mal-j]

Hi Alan, 

Thanks for your reply. You've just reassured me on that one. I did get the Baader 3.25" clicklock visual back you mentioned before I started having second thoughts. I haven't yet got the diagonal though just in case I changed direction. 

Mal

[mal-j]

Chris, 

Ditto thanks for that. 

Mal

[MarsG76]

I agree with my recommendation for upgrading to 2" EP capability... for widefield observation, my 2" EPs are unbeatable views, namely the 31mm Nagler and the 17mm Ethos. That said, as pointed out by another SGL member, not all focal lengths are available in 2" EPs and at times, like high power planetary observation and/or FOV combinations (graph attached), you will need to be backwards 1.25" compatible, which is easily done with a usually supplied 2"-1.25" adapter.

 

[mal-j]

Thanks MarsG76,  a useful graph which illustrates the point. I'm considering getting the William Optics 2" Dielectric Diagonal and I can see that I will need a combination of 1 1/4" and 2" eyepieces for viewing different objects. 

Mal