Choosing my next eyepiece

[Fey]

Now I have a decent scope (Skyliner 200p) I'm looking to get a good 10mm eyepiece around £100.  I've been looking mainly at the Baader, but there is quite a range of options within my budget.

Anyone have any good reviews on eyepieces for this scope?

[John]

There is plenty of choice at the 10mm focal length.

Is your 200P the F/6 dobsonian or the F/5 equatorially mounted version ?

Are you looking for an eyepiece with a wide field of view ?

Is long eye relief important to you ? (do wear glasses to observe ?)

 

[tuckstar]

Skyliner will be the longer focal length dob.

The hyperions are great eyepieces but perform better in slower scopes. Loved mine until I got the 10" f4.7 and then they just weren't as sharp.

[Ricochet]

What other eyepieces do you already have? If you only have the stock 10/25mm I would be inclined to start with a 12-15mm eyepiece in an f6 scope. I've heard the Baader Hyperions don't work well at this focal ratio so within your budget I would to look at the BST Starguider, Explore Scientific 82° and Vixen SLV ranges. If you meant you were looking at the 10mm Baader Ortho then that is a good eyepiece, provided you can deal with the short eye relief.

[John]

Oops ! - I missed the word "Skyliner" !

For £50 the Baader Classic ortho 10mm is a cracking performer but it's not a wide field and the eye relief is around 8mm. The Vixen 10mm SLV is more expensive but adds more eye comfort to cracking performance but still a "normal" 50 degree field of view.

The Hyperions are nice eyepieces at F/10 but the field edges suffer at F/6 and faster.

 

 

[Alan White]

Or you could buy an 11mm Televue Plossl, often up used for around £60 or so, very sharp and good quality.

Some used on eBay at present and one in Kent on Astrobuysell. They hold the used value well.

Major improvement on the stock one that came with your scope and works well in a faster scope like your Skyliner, nice scope by the way.

[Fey]

Thanks for the replies.  I don't wear glasses, so longer eye relief isn't important.  Don't necessarily need a wide field of view, but it is nice if the eyepiece comes with a wider FOV.  

I've been looking at the FLO website (a potentially expensive thing to do) and the Skywatcher SWA 70 look to be decent eyepieces, and have good reviews.   I liked the Baader, as with the fine tuning rings, 1 eyepiece effectively becomes 4. 

 

[25585]

@Fey PM sent. 

[Louis D]

I would steer you toward a 15mm eyepiece or there abouts due to your 1200mm focal length.  I've found I use eyepieces that yield about 70x to 90x the most, which would be around 13mm to 17mm for your scope.  Since you don't need to wear eyeglasses at the eyepiece, you have a lot of high quality options that won't break the bank.  Something like the Skywatcher Nirvana/WO/TS-Optics 16mm UWAN would be a good all around eyepiece for you.

[Charic]

I don't have any 10mm eyepieces in my collection now (tell a lie - the supplied 10mm Modified Acromat Skywatcher, my replacement was the 8mm BST Starguider? )

If you require 120x power then a 10mm will suffice, or a 20mm EP with 2xBarlow. I tried the 10mm Tele Vue Delos, but visually the targets I was looking at, on axis,  were no better than choosing one of  my Starguider eyepieces the 8 or 12mm, yet the field of view and eye-relief are in excess of my 60° ED Starguiders.

Same for the Baader Ortho's (classic ), athough liked by many folk, they, to me, were no better than my Revelations, same with  Tele Vue Plössl's, their respected in every way, yet the shortest focal length is 8mm (for good reason!) but I needed shorter ( so I thought!). I also tried Meade Plössl's, same issues, no better than my existing EP's for my eyes on this f/6 scope.

Twice the focal ratio of the Skyliner suggests a 12mm eyepiece, the scope performs admirably with this focal length (100x) with  a 6mm providing (200x) power.

Trial and error my friend, I hope you find what your looking for.

[alanjgreen]

This second hand 11mm will work well in a manual dob

82 degree fov means a lot less nudging. Ask Dave to send you some photos!

Second hand is a good way forward, if you don’t like the EP then you don’t lose much if/when you sell them on either!

 

or for £100, get TWO bst starguiders (12 and 8mm are what you need in your scope for x100 and x150 magnification) they are great value for money. Just less FOV than the ES and a lot more nudging!

 

I would pick up that 82 degree if you want my advice

Alan

[25585]

I second buying second hand. A lot of mine are & if you use a lens pen &/or cleaning fluid to remove dust, smudges etc you can save a fair bit. 

Ebay is quite good for pre-owned eps in the general market. 

[Louis D]

1 hour ago, 25585 said:

Ebay is quite good for pre-owned eps in the general market.

Ebay tends to have either exceptional deals (like my $215 unused, pre-owned 3.5mm Pentax XW), or way overpriced deals (like the majority of deals where people think their used stuff should fetch 90% of ebay new).  Ebay buyers also tend to get into bidding wars on auction items and end up paying a way overpriced amount at the close.

[25585]

5 minutes ago, Louis D said:

Ebay tends to have either exceptional deals (like my $215 unused, pre-owned 3.5mm Pentax XW), or way overpriced deals (like the majority of deals where people think their used stuff should fetch 90% of ebay new).  Ebay buyers also tend to get into bidding wars on auction items and end up paying a way overpriced amount at the close.

My good buys are XW 5mm, LVW 8mm & 13mm & a TV 35mm Panoptic - all pre-owned. I have had luck with 35mm camera bodies & lenses too. 

It's not wanting anything too much & being stoical from experience.