Name your top 10 brands of eyepieces

[Alien 13]

I have yet to find a decent eyepiece that can match the mil spec stuff..

Alan

[mikeDnight]

2 hours ago, icebergahed said:

Just looked at Televue prices and thats waaaaay more than i would want to spend.

Ive seen this set.

http://www.microglobe.co.uk/baader-hyperion-eyepieces-starter-set-with-carry-case-p-11720.html

Please could i have you thoughts

Thanks

You'll not go wrong with Baaders Hyperions. They are good all round performers!

A few months ago two friends and myself had an observing session together, and were able to compare a few top eyepieces side by side in three top end apo refractors. One of my friends is a staunch Televue fan, and we all compared his 24mm Panoptic with a 24mm Baader Hyperion. The Panoptic gave great views, but what surprised us all was how much more comfortable the 24 Hyperion was. The Hyperion was also equally as sharp towards the edge of the field as the 24 Panoptic. Two of us prefered the 24 Hyperion primarily because of its greater comfort in use, but also because it lacked nothing when compared to the Panoptic.

 

[25585]

1 minute ago, mikeDnight said:

You'll not go wrong with Baaders Hyperions. They are good all round performers!

A few months ago two friends and myself had an observing session together, and were able to compare a few top eyepieces side by side in three top end apo refractors. One of my friends is a staunch Televue fan, and we all compared his 24mm Panoptic with a 24mm Baader Hyperion. The Panoptic gave great views, but what surprised us all was how much more comfortable the 24 Hyperion was. The Hyperion was also equally as sharp towards the edge of the field as the 24 Panoptic. Two of us prefered the 24 Hyperion primarily because of its greater comfort in use, but also because it lacked nothing when compared to the Panoptic.

 

Panops.  are probably better for fast reflectors than Hyperions. What FL & FR were the scopes you compared them on?

[mikeDnight]

7 minutes ago, 25585 said:

Panops.  are probably better for fast reflectors than Hyperions. What FL & FR were the scopes you compared them on?

F9, F7.4 and F5.6. All were Takahashi fluorite doublets.

You are quite right though. Eyepiece choice really does depend on the scope they are to be used with. 

 

[ollypenrice]

13 hours ago, Louis D said:

Which raises an interesting point.  Can an OP hijack their own thread and redirect it?  Moderators?

They can! I got told off for doing so once...

lly

[Stu]

1 hour ago, ollypenrice said:

They can! I got told off for doing so once...

lly

Oops, I hijack my own threads all the time  Keeps them alive, so long as the original question has been address, no harm in it rambling elsewhere. I'll probably get told off for that , I guess the reason not to is that the forum is easier to navigate if the content of threads sticks to the title, but the search engine always finds the content you need anyway  

For the OP, it is worth stating budget limitations otherwise you will face the full onslaught of SGLs desire to sell you the most expensive and rare eyepieces  

I agree with much of what has been said. I don't agree with 'Baader being temperamental', they are excellent eyepieces but it is worth noting that Hyperions suit longer focal ratio scopes, struggling with edge performance in fast scopes according to many reports. That's not temperamental, that is just being of a certain design which suits certain scopes.

I have a full set of Baader Genuine Orthos which I really enjoy, tight eye relief won't suits many at the shorter end of the focal length range and the field of view is narrow, but you can't fault their optical performance.

I also have a 24mm Panoptic which is lovely, but an ES 24mm 68 degree eyepiece would be much cheaper and probably pretty close on performance.

From all I have read, the BSTs with their 60 degree apparent field of view and around £50 cost are ideal as good upgrade eyepieces. Must try one some day!

[Mr Spock]

Stating which is the best isn't that simple. It all depends on:

What are you going to use it for?
Which scope are you going to use it with?
What field of view do you require?
What eye relief do you need?

For example, say you needed a 10mm eyepiece. If you wanted wide field you'll be spending £600 on a Televue Ethos. On the other hand, if you are looking for a planetary eyepiece you could spend £60 on an Orthoscopic. Each would be satisfying at what they do - there is no 'best'.

[Macavity]

Teleview? Oooops, - Thought I'd logged onto CN for a moment!
For such was the group accord, even if I could afford one, I rather
"took against them" on principal! ("Woolfie Smith" and all that?)

The only "TV" I ever had was a Teleview + Vixen(?) 8-24 Zoom...
Frankly I always found that a bit "troublesome" re. *blackout* and 
stuff? But that was much my eyeball + SKILL problem I sense?

Not the best (clearly) but I always/still enjoyed Baader Hyperions.
In retrospect I regret selling my (first ever EP!) Vixen LV's - I once
had a Viven LV (not LVW) 30mm ONE that made me think I was
looking into a bowl of "clear distilled water" etc. etc. <sigh> My
TMB (dodgy) clone "Planetary HR's" I'd rebuy. If they exist etc.  

[25585]

1 minute ago, Macavity said:

Teleview? Oooops, - Thought I'd logged onto CN for a moment!
For such was the group accord, even if I could afford one, I rather
"took against them" on principal! ("Woolfie Smith" and all that?)

The only "TV" I ever had was a Teleview + Vixen(?) 8-24 Zoom...
Frankly I always found that a bit "troublesome" re. *blackout* and 
stuff? But that was much my eyeball + Skill problems I sense?

Not the best (clearly) but I always enjoyed Baader Hyperions.
In retrospect I regret selling my (first ever!) Vixen LV's -- I once
had a Viven LV (not LVW) 30mm that made me think of I was
looking into a bowl of "clear distilled water" etc. etc. <sigh> My
TMB (dodgy) clone "Planetary HR's" I'd rebuy. If they exist...  

You can still find Vixen NLVW eps around. I bought one not that long ago. 

GSO do a 30mm Erfle that is cheaper. Yet to test mine against the other Thirtysomethings I own. They are relatively inexpensive and not that heavy. 

[ollypenrice]

52 minutes ago, Stu said:

For the OP, it is worth stating budget limitations otherwise you will face the full onslaught of SGLs desire to sell you the most expensive and rare eyepieces  

  That's what we're here for!!!!!!! 

Olly

[alanjgreen]

Another option to consider as a first eyepiece purchase, is a ZOOM eyepiece.

i have never tried one in a dob so I don't know if there are any perculiarities to be aware of?

A zoom gives you all focal lengths from 8-24mm and simply twisting the body moves you through the different focal lengths.

i had a Baader mk3 zoom for my first C8 SCT and I soon identified the two main focal lengths that I used. I bought two fixed length EPs (at those lengths) and sold the zoom on.

FLO do a nice Pentax zoom which is about the best you can get and I am sure would be fine in a reasonably fast dob.

Baader now do the mk4 zoom, which I am not sure is based on Hyperion or Morpheus eyepieces. If it's based on their Morpheus eyepieces then I think it will be fine in a dob too. The mk4 is much cheaper than the Pentax. FLO sell that too.

Be sure to keep all the boxes and packaging and you will have no problem selling them on for 70% of new price OR wait for a second hand one to come up and grab that.

Play the slow game and don't rush in until you know all the facts and terms.

Alan

[25585]

@FLOhave the Pentax zoom in their sale at present. It's considered to be one of the best. 

[Macavity]

I was GLAD to take up Video Astronomy (ersatz imaging etc.) to rid
myself of the perpetual "worry" of the eyepiece "tango"! I suspect
the thing to do is not to read LISTS but read *reviews* (on SGL and
elsewhere). Try to work out what an overall "consensus" opinion is.
Listen to folks who you sense have a respected and useful view?

There are people on Astronomy Forums who have REAL expertise!
Ask "stupid" questions even if they do give you are "hard time". lol
No point in talking about abberations and "recommending" stuff if
you don't know what you are talking about and never tried stuff?

I know "some stuff" now, but others know more stuff!  
Read (and Google search etc..) as much as you can...

[Mak the Night]

19 hours ago, icebergahed said:

Hi

I would like to know what members here would consider in ranking the best eyepieces 1-10.

Now i know there may be some eyepieces designed for particular purposes However i am more interested in the overall quality and build for the more common uses.

Thanks

 

OK, I'll play. I'll just list manufacturers as I'm way too lazy to do anything else and I doubt I can make ten.

 

1/ TeleVue: Superbly engineered/made, virtually optically perfect, dodgy dust caps and eyeguards, way too expensive. 

2/ Kokusai: My favourite orthoscopics (under several brand names), smooth brass drawtubes, very high quality, QC department could do with a kick up the anus though considering they're not cheap.

3/ Barsta: Decent build quality, often superb optics, iffy QC. 

4/ GSO: Decent build quality, often superb optics, iffy QC. 

5/ Ningbo Sunny/JOC: Above average build quality (Meade) and well priced. I don't like Explore Scientific tapered drawtubes, but the wide angle waterproof kryptonite filled knock-off Nagler series are like looking through TeleVues. 

6/ Vixen: High quality, QC above average but could be better, NPL Plossls are extremely good even with their weird eyeguards.

7/ Synta: I only own a 28mm LET Kellner but I like its ersatz Pentax twist up eyeguard, good value.

8/ Yuyao Qihang: Solomark Plossls are as good as Barsta (Orion, Celestron, Sky-Watcher etc) but have better quality drawtubes in my experience. Coatings are usually only basic though. In my experience they are good at up to f/5 as well.

I own Antares, Astro Hutech, Baader, Bresser, BST, Bushnell, Celestron, Explore Scientific, GSO, Kokusai, Meade, Orion, Sky-Watcher, Solomark, SvBony, TeleVue and Vixen eyepieces. They all have their respective virtues and vices. My favourite for this year is this plastic housed 62° 'SvBony' Aspheric below. It cost 14 quid and has a polymer eye lens. They have also been marketed as 'Vite' and 'Celestron' Aspherics, I have no idea who the OEM is, possibly Yuyao Qihang Optical Instrument Co. It's like looking through a TeleVue Radian or DeLite, go figure.

[Telescope40]

The ones that play along with my wallet. 

John 

[Moonshane]

Spock's list is a great start. Add what's your budget and this will guide you towards the right sort of area.

 

[Moonshane]

Naming top 10 eyepieces is like naming top five vehicles. You might argue Porsche, Lamborghini, Mercedes, BMW, Audi etc but then establish that they need it to move house or carry bales of straw. In other words parameters are essential.

As for affording Televue, used Plossls come up for sale at £40-90. Much less han new cheap brands in many cases.

[Charic]

.......even their Delos range is affordable second hand. It was Moonshane that allowed me access to one of my Delos eyepieces, however, the ownership was short lived! Not that there was anything wrong with the eyepiece,  far from it, in-fact I was also building on their features that may prove essential in the future, i.e. longer eye-relief, Dioptx correction, and guaranteed to work at f/4, should I have bought a faster scope?  but having tested three of these eyepieces so far,  I felt it was going to be quite an achievement to get the rest of the set at similar secondhand prices, which were well within my price bracket back then, and also the fact that I was seeing nothing spectacular in the views they provided  compared to my present eyepiece collection,  it was not viable to continue collecting the full set. After selling off my Delos EP's I have seen all the others in the collection come up for sale, and were still affordable to me, so it could have happened.

I have tried several eyepieces (signature!) but satisfied with the present collection. We all muse at the  likes of kellner, Huygen, but stick a Huygen in an f/15 scope and it will work  just fine, but on a faster scope it will be dismal. 

Agreed, certain scopes will fare  far better with certain eyepiece designs over other eyepieces, but cost alone does not always bring with it the rewards we all desire. The eyepiece magnifies the real image that the scope provides. If that image is less than perfect, be that from mis-collimation, lack of aperture, poor conditions, poor eyesight, user experience, then spending all you can on the top of the range eyepiece will not fix the situation.

 

[Timebandit]

21 hours ago, icebergahed said:

Hi

I would like to know what members here would consider in ranking the best eyepieces 1-10.

    

 

 

 

 

There seems to be a lot of debate on the rules of this game and not the game itself.

I cannot see a lot of eyepieces ranking best 1 to 10 ,in the replys. 

 We can all debate on eye relief, wide field , cost ect. But surely as we all know eyepiece choice is a very personal choice, we all have different likes and dislikes.   So I would of thought giving your own personal choice of best 1 to 10 to the OP ,so then gives the original question an answer to what we feel ranks best 1 to 10. 

Or maybe I am playing the game wrong? ?

 

 

[RT65CB-SWL]

20 hours ago, icebergahed said:

Just looked at Televue prices and thats waaaaay more than i would want to spend.

Ive seen this set.

http://www.microglobe.co.uk/baader-hyperion-eyepieces-starter-set-with-carry-case-p-11720.html

Please could i have you thoughts

Thanks

I personally would not buy an eyepiece set. Better to buy individual eyepieces and does not have to be the same brand.  

[Charic]

15 minutes ago, Philip R said:

I personally would not buy an eyepiece set. Better to buy individual eyepieces

I didn't buy an eyepiece set, but after buying several individual eyepieces I now have a set 

Its always going to be a personal decision as to whats best/right for the end user. I think the onus on initial sets is the 'extras' they sometimes provide, and whether their of any use to the end user given their type of observing and the telescope itself.

[ollypenrice]

2 hours ago, Moonshane said:

Naming top 10 eyepieces is like naming top five vehicles. You might argue Porsche, Lamborghini, Mercedes, BMW, Audi etc but then establish that they need it to move house or carry bales of straw. In other words parameters are essential.

As for affording Televue, used Plossls come up for sale at £40-90. Much less han new cheap brands in many cases.

Be fair, if you want spontaneous combustion and a pile of ashes on your drive it has to be Lamborghini! No other maker gets close...

lly

[Stu]

13 minutes ago, ollypenrice said:

Be fair, if you want spontaneous combustion and a pile of ashes on your drive it has to be Lamborghini! No other maker gets close...

lly

Are they not more reliable now they are basically VWs?  

[Pete Presland]

I was trying think of all the eyepieces I have used ever, I could only come up with 5 (Tasco, Meade, Orion, Baader, Televue, plus some unbranded ones). The Televue Plossl's are by far the best value for money eyepieces I have used, from my F5 newt to my F15 SCT they are solid performers. 

[F15Rules]

My "2 pennyworth".. note that the brands are listed in order of my perception of "the best" optical quality, (not necessarily build quality) and contribution to amateur astronomy in areas such as innovation etc.. and I don't use Uber fast scopes?.

Eyepiece brands

1. Pentax - SMC orthos 0.965" XO orthos, XL, XW widefields, SMC Zoom (8-24mm). When you think their XL/XW range were designed for spotting scopes, not astronomy, imagine what they could do if they really decided to invest in a new dedicated astro range!

2. Tele Vue - TV Plossls, Naglers, Radians, Ethos - innovators par excellence - shame about sky high prices..and their latest offerings, Delos and Delite are downright ugly IMHO?.

3. Baader - BGO's, BCO's, Morpheus - another very innovative company which we can thank for the T2 system of modular EP accessories and products

4. Vixen - LV, NLV, LVW. A much underrated company IMO. Prices good on EPs, getting silly on scopes. But top optical quality and consistently good all round QC.

5. Explore Scientific - ES68, 82 ranges - bringing TV quality to the masses.

Individual eyepieces. My purely subjective opinion chosen from EPs I've actually used/use myself?.

1. Vixen LVW 22mm - most enjoyed eyepiece for lower power viewing. Toasted my XW20mm on M42!!

2. Pentax XL 10.5mm/XW10mm- simply sublime eyepieces

3. Pentax SMC zoom 8-24mm - as it's so versatile and of great all round quality. An eyepiece case in one unit..

4. Baader Morpheus 14mm - a wonderfully immersive eyepiece at a superb price

5. LVW 13mm - superb mid power widefield

6. Tak LE 7.5mm - superb planetary eyepiece more comfortable and wider than an ortho

7. ES24mm 68 - best bang for buck widefield with TV build quality

8. Tak LE18mm - superbly pin sharp with black sky background

9. Vixen NPL plossl range - to my eyes as good as TV Plossls -  at half the price (not as good build though)

10. Baader Genuine Orthos. Sorely missed, best mass produced ortho range ever.

Dave☺