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The BST starguiders supertest!


N3ptune

Which starguider is the very best for you?  

62 members have voted

  1. 1. Which starguider is the very best for you?

    • BST Starguider 25mm
      4
    • BST Starguider 18mm
      13
    • BST Starguider 15mm
      9
    • BST Starguider 12mm
      14
    • BST Starguider 8mm
      22
    • BST Starguider 5mm
      6
    • BST Starguider 3.2mm
      3


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7 minutes ago, Ricochet said:

I tested an 8mm Starguider with my glasses and the cup down position was perfect for me. I guess I must have a flat face. ;) No worry about damaging the glasses on the Starguider eyecup either. 

From Wikipedia on eye relief;

Additionally, when a spectacle wearer orders new glasses, the optician will ask him whether he prefers his spectacles close to the eyes or at some distance. This distance is referred to as the Back Vertex Distance , or BVD on a prescription. Since this property affects the available eye relieffof any binocular or other optics used, (telescopes, microscopes, etc.) it should be borne in mind at the eye testing stage. The matter should be discussed with the optician, though the only realistic way of testing the comfort is to try the optical device while wearing the usual spectacles. The optician can however make sure that the BVD is no worse in your new glasses than in the old ones that were used during evaluation. "

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3 hours ago, 25585 said:

From Wikipedia on eye relief;

Additionally, when a spectacle wearer orders new glasses, the optician will ask him whether he prefers his spectacles close to the eyes or at some distance. This distance is referred to as the Back Vertex Distance , or BVD on a prescription. Since this property affects the available eye relieffof any binocular or other optics used, (telescopes, microscopes, etc.) it should be borne in mind at the eye testing stage. The matter should be discussed with the optician, though the only realistic way of testing the comfort is to try the optical device while wearing the usual spectacles. The optician can however make sure that the BVD is no worse in your new glasses than in the old ones that were used during evaluation. "

My problem is that the bridge of my nose is about 15mm high (or more).  Unless someone makes eyeglass frames with more flush mounted lenses (inset below the bridge) instead of being level with the top of the bridge, I'm stuck needing a rather large BVD based on frame availability.  Does anyone know of frames with small lenses that sit close to the eyeball?  Don't say contacts, the natural limit of this concept, since I can't stand wearing them.

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3 hours ago, Littleguy80 said:

I've often wondered why the 15mm doesn't get more love. Currently it has no votes. I'm sure I read somewhere that it got best in class in one of the astronomy publications. 

I think the problem probably is that you don't really need anything between the 12 and 18 unless you're hitting atmospheric limits.  If there was a 9 or 10mm the 15 might get more love as part of a 25-15-10/9 chain.

With regards to the best in test it wasn't really a fair fight, all the others were cheap Plossls or similar if my memory is correct.

3 hours ago, 25585 said:

From Wikipedia on eye relief;

Additionally, when a spectacle wearer orders new glasses, the optician will ask him whether he prefers his spectacles close to the eyes or at some distance. This distance is referred to as the Back Vertex Distance , or BVD on a prescription. Since this property affects the available eye relieffof any binocular or other optics used, (telescopes, microscopes, etc.) it should be borne in mind at the eye testing stage. The matter should be discussed with the optician, though the only realistic way of testing the comfort is to try the optical device while wearing the usual spectacles. The optician can however make sure that the BVD is no worse in your new glasses than in the old ones that were used during evaluation. "

Thanks, I'm new to wearing glasses so I only looked up the sections that had numbers written in them.

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3 minutes ago, Ricochet said:

I think the problem probably is that you don't really need anything between the 12 and 18 unless you're hitting atmospheric limits.  If there was a 9 or 10mm the 15 might get more love as part of a 25-15-10/9 chain.

The Meade HD-60 series skips the 15mm, going straight from 12mm to 18mm, so I think you might be on to something there.

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53 minutes ago, wookie1965 said:

I have them all apart from the 3.2mm s that is to high powered for my scopes. The 25mm is great for finding objects but for me the 15mm is the gem.

20150308_125217_Richtone(HDR).jpg

20150308_124848_Richtone(HDR).jpg

Thanks for posting the article! I was a sheep and followed the crowd getting the 18mm, 12mm and 8mm. After much debate, I went for the extra FOV with the ES68 24mm instead of the 25mm and Baader Genuine Orthos for the shorter focal lengths. I originally thought I’d be a complete set person too but I’m happy with my choices. I do like the way a complete set looks in an eyepiece case though :) 

Of the BST’s, I’d say the 18mm is probably my least used though there are certainly some targets I would never have seen had I not had it!

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I have the whole set except the 25mm as my first ever eyepiece upgrade was an ES68 24mm.

As I've got several different scopes, all with different focal lengths the majority in this collection see use and even the 3.2mm regularly gets used for WL solar on my little ZS66 giving me just over 120x.

The 15mm sees very little use as I now tend to use the 14mm Morpheus more for its wider AFOV.

The most used are probably the 18mm, 12mm and 8mm.

Rules said one choice and although I was torn between the 8mm and 12mm I eventually voted for the 12mm as this gets loads of use in the 200P/1200 Skyliner Dob.

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On my 12mm I usually unscrew the eyecup (almost completely) to use it it without glasses, I would think the ER is long enough to be used with glasses, what appreciable about it is the fact that the range to see the entire field stop is very long it's possible to move my head up and down and the field stop remains visible it's always there!, thats a feature I like very much.

The engineers or scientists who conceived these eyepieces were very good at what they do.

15mm would give me 67x, I already have a 18mm 55x.. it's almost a matter of flipping a coin at the beginning. 18mm seems like a more popular focal length? perhaps it's a number people will choose instinctively? For me 80x is about the limits of a power that can be used almost all the time, having a 12mm 83x and a 15mm 67x, its too close.., 18mm is a better choice for me with 55x.  12 and 18 are still a bit close but I don't dislike having the choice between 55x and 83x on a day of bad atmospheric conditions there is a difference between the 2 when the sky is poor.

@wookig1965

The 25mm is great for finding objects but for me the 15mm is the gem.
I often read that low power are great for finding objects.. but I like to use these low power to look at the star fields.. for me they are more then finders eyepieces.. 25mm, 28mm, 32mm, 34mm etc. I can spend some quality time using these low power eyepieces, the views are always sharp and clear.


@littleguy80
I went for the extra FOV with the ES68 24mm instead of the 25mm and Baader Genuine Orthos for the shorter focal lengths. I originally thought I’d be a complete set person too but I’m happy with my choices. I do like the way a complete set looks in an eyepiece case though :)

I would bet it's probably a better choice has I see the quality produced by of my own ES68 34mm. The 24mm must be incredible, it's very popular too. I did the same has you and bought a shorter FL KK orthoscopic 7mm for higher power but it's competing with the 12mm Starguider with the barlow because of the comfort,  the quality of the duo is impressive too.

Great thread after all :icon_biggrin: the 8mm will be the winner of this contest.

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11 hours ago, AdeKing said:

Rules said one choice and although I was torn between the 8mm and 12mm I eventually voted for the 12mm as this gets loads of use in the 200P/1200 Skyliner Dob.

A 12mm (twice the focal ratio) in theory allows this scope to work at its best, optimally. I'm sure other other branded eyepieces of similar specification would work just as well, but yes the 12mm here is a good option.

If only my view of Jupiter when using this combination produced an image that was twice the size, it would be a perfect scope, for me!

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52 minutes ago, Charic said:

A 12mm (twice the focal ratio) in theory allows this scope to work at its best, optimally. I'm sure other other branded eyepieces of similar specification would work just as well, but yes the 12mm here is a good option.

If only my view of Jupiter when using this combination produced an image that was twice the size, it would be a perfect scope, for me!

For DSO observing a 2mm exit pupil is ideal, but surely for planetary you would be able to use 1mm which would give you your doubled image size? The 200p will take x200 no problem and the BSTs are decent enough eyepieces to show a good image. Sorry to digress a little!

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.....your right, but all to often, the seeing conditions and other variables, prevent 200x from my observatory,  I just find that  between 12mm and 8mm provides a sharper, image, colour less washed out on Jupiter. Ive considered getting a blue wratten to try and enhance what Jupiter offers

As for the 1mm exit, BST don't produce a 6mm so its a 12mm Barlowed or the WO 6mm SPL, but I don't think the EP's are to blame!

I'm hoping for a night out soonest, if/when conditions allow, to further assess the limits of my scope,  from the darkest site I know, but snow covered ground wont help my situation, neither the 11 sodium lamps visible from my property, so the wait continues!

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1 hour ago, Charic said:

.....your right, but all to often, the seeing conditions and other variables, prevent 200x from my observatory,  I just find that  between 12mm and 8mm provides a sharper, image, colour less washed out on Jupiter. Ive considered getting a blue wratten to try and enhance what Jupiter offers

As for the 1mm exit, BST don't produce a 6mm so its a 12mm Barlowed or the WO 6mm SPL, but I don't think the EP's are to blame!

I'm hoping for a night out soonest, if/when conditions allow, to further assess the limits of my scope,  from the darkest site I know, but snow covered ground wont help my situation, neither the 11 sodium lamps visible from my property, so the wait continues!

If you have one try a UHC filter on Jupiter makes the bands and features stand out, I caught my first moon shadow with a combination of 12mm and the UHC. 

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5 hours ago, Charic said:

 I just find that  between 12mm and 8mm provides a sharper, image, colour less washed out on Jupiter. Ive considered getting a blue wratten to try and enhance what Jupiter offers

 

I tried some color filters lately during the conjunction, Jupiter an Jars. light blue #82a was especially effective on jupiter to pull out the bands and darker features. I need to test them a lot more.. but between the #80a, #82a and Neodymium Filter, I would say 82a and Neodymium were a bit different but equally good on jupiter. 82a will show more of the dark equatorial bands, but will show less distinction between the different colors inside the bands then the Neodymium it's worth the money.  Blue 80a is interesting too but I definitely preferred the lighter blue 82a on jupiter because the beige equatorial parts were.. less blue with Light blue. :icon_biggrin:

I heard the #11 Yellow-green can be impressive on Saturn and Jupiter, still need to try it.

 

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@N3ptune, one thing to bear in mind with these surveys is that the result will obviously depend upon the scopes that people are using. Unless there are significant variations in the quality of the design across the different eyepieces (which there may well be), people's preferences will come down to the magnification and exit pupil that the eyepieces gives them.

It is worth looking closet at those people who have scopes with a similar focal ratio because then the exit pupil they are seeing will be similar. Also, obviously if someone has a C14 then a 8mm eyepiece will give x488, probably not often useable in the U.K. Even though the scope would take it, whereas in a C5 it would give x156 which would be quite reasonable, so preferences will vary.

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7 hours ago, Charic said:

I'm hoping for a night out soonest, if/when conditions allow, to further assess the limits of my scope,  from the darkest site I know, but snow covered ground wont help my situation, neither the 11 sodium lamps visible from my property, so the wait continues!

Where do you live, in a parking lot?  That's quite an excessive number of street lights for any neighborhood viewable from a single house.  I've just got my neighbor's single back porch light that he leaves on day and night to deal with.  I usually just stack a patio chair and recycling bin on my large garbage cans to effectively block the light as seen from my back porch where I usually observe.

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4 hours ago, Louis D said:

.......effectively block the light as seen from my back porch where I usually observe.

I have my Dob-tent, but mainly work within the shadows, but far from perfect these days!

I moved in (new build 21 years ago) and the properties here were built with a feature called  'secure by design', which involves plenty of street lights and every house with front and rear  Infra Red light sensors,  some folk have installed Night-Sun LED lamps replacing the original lamps?

No matter where I hide, there's reflected sodium light on all the building surfaces, so still not practical. I can avoid direct eye contact with the light source, ie the head units, but the rest is impossible to escape from.

The skies have been pretty clear today, clouded over just before I finished work, but its clear now! extremely cold too! I'm sure my tears will freeze, but  still considering a trip out tonight, although there's reports on the radio of serious snow fall bordering where I want to view from.  It's tempting, but I'd rather sit in tonight with a bit of Rum in my coke, after a busy week!

 

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11 minutes ago, Charic said:

No matter where I hide, there's reflected sodium light on all the building surfaces, so still not practical. I can avoid direct eye contact with the light source, ie the head units, but the rest is impossible to escape from.

That's a shame given how much of Scotland is very dark.  A lot of folks in Texas buy large parcels of land just to keep the neighbors at a comfortable distance for this and other reasons.

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23 minutes ago, Louis D said:

That's a shame given how much of Scotland is very dark.

Oh its  plenty dark, just not from my house.
Driving just a mile North makes a difference, so much so, its harder to discern the major constellations, from the thousands of other Stars visible.
The site I'm hoping to visit later is  about 20 miles from the major cities, and due to the hill screening, its the darkest  place I know/have access too.

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10 hours ago, Stu said:

one thing to bear in mind with these surveys is that the result will obviously depend upon the scopes that people are using.

Yeah definitely, I see it has a small test to build some kind of base with the starguider.

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