Done to death

[Jimmy Rocket]

Hi all, new boy here, so I have the Heritage 130p flextube which came with a basic 10mm, 25mm and basic x2 barlow, the question is I want to upgrade the EP's to something better on a limited budget and when I say limited I am looking at £30-£40 per item, there is so much out there and they all say they are the best thing since sliced bread ....so much so that it makes my head spin lol.

So my choices are Celestron Omni range, Meade 4000, or the skywatcher offerings? also looking at the Skywatcher Ultra wide which I thought may be easier to use at the 6mm-10mm power range? So what do you think guys? my scope is an f5 so with your wealth of knowledge which should I be heading for??

Hope all that makes sense....

[popeye85]

fraud I don't have any experience with those EPs but can I just suggest you Have a look at the astro boot website, some fantastic deals to be had on there if you are on a budget.

[ronin]

Most of what you mentiuon are I think plossl's, they will be an improvement over the supplied items. One aspect is do you wear glasses ? A plossl has sort of variable eye relief = the eye relief is about 2/3 of the focal length, also the final number is dependant on where it is measured from, which can make a couple of mm difference.

£30-£40 is close to the cost of a BST Starguidere, they are £50. OK more money but a better eyepiece. Never like saying spend more and get ......... However it is a case thjat if you get plossl's then you will if you carry on replace them and with the BST's there is every chance that you will just keep them for all future use. Also thinking that 3 BST's if chosen sensibly will come out less cost or the same as 4 plossl's.

Not sure on good plossl's at present, Vixen are good but they raised their prices to the same as the BST's, so I would then say get the BST's as they are the same cost and a more comfortable eyepiece to use, also good.

You may find that the less costly wide eyepieces do not do well in an f/5 scope. Quite a few used to say f/6 or slower. GSO/Revelation plossl's had a good reputation. The Celestron were nice but that was years back and no idea on the situation now. Things change.

I see that Alan at Sky's the Limit only has 1 premium plossl, as I would have said try one from him and see what you think. I see that Rother Valley do the Antares plossl's, Antares tended to be decent. I have some of their W70's.

At a guess the 10mm is poor so replace that first with another 10mm or a bit either side around 8mm or 12mm area. Later get a long focal length item, 25mm or 30mm if plossl.

Don't like saying it but think of £50 and the BST 8mm. Could you convince someone to get you one for Christmas ?

[Ricochet]

Of the Plossls I believe the Celestron Omnis are supposed to be a higher quality than the Skywatcher Plossls, but I don't know how the Meade Plossls compare. However, a 4-element Plossl is still a 4-element Plossl at the end of the day.

With regards to the Skywatcher Ultrawides it depends on whether you mean the Skywatcher UWA or the Skywatcher Ultrawide. The former is essentially a barlowed Plossl for usable eye relief at short focal lengths while the later is a simpler design with a wider field of view, which is just asking for trouble. I tried the 15mm in my f/6 dob and it was terrible so I wouldn't recommend them at f/5.

Personally, I would choose to pair BST Starguiders with that scope. New ones are available from First Light Optics at £49 each but with discounts for buying multiple eyepieces at the same time and from Sky's the Limit through ebay at £45.50 or with a discount for going direct. There are also some "unbranded" Starguiders available for £38 if you go direct. Alternatively. these tend to pop up fairly regularly on the second hand market for £30-35. For example there are currently adverts for 8mm, 12mm and 25mm on ABS. Note, however, that the seller is asking £35 + postage when I think it really should be £35 including postage (and that's not taking into account that Alan has knocked £4.50 off his new price to compete with FLO now selling them).

[RT65CB-SWL]

Hi Jimmy Rocket and welcome to SGL. 

Have look at Sky's the Limit, http://www.skysthelimit.org.uk/ via ebay. The seller has a good following by SGL'ers. I have purchased a few items in the past from them and not been let down by their service. 

[Mr niall]

I've got a 6mm Celestron Omni plossl - and its very nice. I've also got a Vixen NPL 30mm, its also very nice...

I think I'd struggle to recommend one over the other; but they're both better than the eyepieces that came with the scope. Much better.

[Jimmy Rocket]

Well I went over to Rother Valley Optics today and after looking at EP's in my price range I went for the Skywatcher Ultra Wides 9mm and 20mm, three reasons were price down to £29, FOV and eye relief, time will tell if they are up to scratch but for the money I think it was a good punt and apparently will give a marked impronement over the standard OE offerings. I will let you know on how they perform. If I am happy with them then I may stick with this type of EP with looking to upgrade to some more pricier options at a later date.

[Nyctimene]

I think, you've made a good decision in buying the Skywatcher Ultra Wides with 20 and 9 mmf. They are giving very decent, sharp views in all of my f/4,5 Newtonians as well as in the f/5 80 mm frac and the 5,1" f/5 Heritage Flextube. The same goes for the 6mmf. The 15 mmf seems to be the weakest member of the quartet, as Ricochet's statement above notes, and gets some not-so-good reviews in astro forums.

Add a Baader 2,25x Barlow later, and you can max out the capabilities of your scope.

Clear skies, and have fun with the Heritage Flextube - an excellent starter scope!

Stephan

 

[Jimmy Rocket]

20 minutes ago, Nyctimene said:

I think, you've made a good decision in buying the Skywatcher Ultra Wides with 20 and 9 mmf. They are giving very decent, sharp views in all of my f/4,5 Newtonians as well as in the f/5 80 mm frac and the 5,1" f/5 Heritage Flextube. The same goes for the 6mmf. The 15 mmf seems to be the weakest member of the quartet, as Ricochet's statement above notes, and gets some not-so-good reviews in astro forums.

Add a Baader 2,25x Barlow later, and you can max out the capabilities of your scope.

Clear skies, and have fun with the Heritage Flextube - an excellent starter scope!

Stephan

 

Thanks for that mate, gives me some confidence in my purchase, have to agree that I do need a better barlow as the one I have is the OE one supplied, just had a look at the one you suggested and it retails at £41 so may have to get that next month !!!

[Geoff Lister]

A few additions that you may want to make to your mount, and keep those new eyepieces to hand.

Geoff

[Jimmy Rocket]

Cheers Geoff so nice additions there mate, like the alt marker where did you get that from?

 

[Geoff Lister]

I created one using MS Paint, based on the one, with a similar circumference, on my Skymax's mount. I printed it on A4 paper, cut around the black edge, stuck it on the mount and covered with a couple of coats of varnish. Hopefully, you should be able to copy the image below, and do a trial print to get the final size right.

Geoff

[Jimmy Rocket]

Cheers mate, just saved it to my pc, I will have a play with that this weekend.