SkyWatcher Nirvana UWA 28mm, any thoughts?

[emadmoussa]

Since ES 30mm might be a bit out of my current price range, I was thinking about the SkyWatcher Nirvana UWA 28mm /82 deg. for a 12" SCT. 

Anybody used this EP? What're your thoughts? 

 

[John]

Very nice eyepiece. Close to Nagler 31 performance.

I compared one to the Nagler and Pentax XW 30 way back in 2009:

The egonomics of the large eyecup can bother some people I think but build and optics are very good.

[emadmoussa]

A magnificent report, John. Many thanks! I think you made up my mind. Nirvana it is. 

[ollypenrice]

I hadn't read John's report before but it's first class and answers the question, I'd say!

Olly

[Ricochet]

I use one of these as my low power eyepiece and it won't be going anywhere any time soon. If you have the chance to get one at a reasonable price you should go for it. 

[Helen]

I love my William Optics equivalent (hand grenade!) ?

Helen

[Louis D]

The main downside to it for me relative to the older 30mm ES-82 mushroom top that I own is that the 28mm WO/Nirvana's recessed eye lens vastly reduces eye relief for eyeglass wearers.  Why even have a twist up eyecup if you're going to start by removing 5mm or more of eye relief in the fully down position?  The 24mm APM UFF does the same thing, so I'm taking a pass on it as well.

[John]

41 minutes ago, Louis D said:

The main downside to it for me relative to the older 30mm ES-82 mushroom top that I own is that the 28mm WO/Nirvana's recessed eye lens vastly reduces eye relief for eyeglass wearers.  Why even have a twist up eyecup if you're going to start by removing 5mm or more of eye relief in the fully down position?  The 24mm APM UFF does the same thing, so I'm taking a pass on it as well.

Depends how critical eye relief is to you. Not all of us wear glasses while observing. For those that do, fortunately there are other choices

 

 

[Louis D]

Unless you absolutely insist on having 82 degrees of field, the 30mm APM UFF is an excellent eyepiece with 73 degrees of measured AFOV and 16mm of usable eye relief.  With the possible exception of on-axis sharpness, it outperforms my venerable 27mm Panoptic in all areas.  It's considerably smaller and lighter than the 28mm Nirvana UWA if weight and size are an issue, and yet it only gives up 9 degrees of AFOV.

[TheLookingGlass]

On 02/08/2018 at 15:44, Louis D said:

The main downside to it for me relative to the older 30mm ES-82 mushroom top that I own is that the 28mm WO/Nirvana's recessed eye lens vastly reduces eye relief for eyeglass wearers.  Why even have a twist up eyecup if you're going to start by removing 5mm or more of eye relief in the fully down position?  The 24mm APM UFF does the same thing, so I'm taking a pass on it as well.

Yep. Totally true! Not just an issue with eyeglass wearers. That mushroom top is a really weird fit for almost anybody, unless your face is massive and your eye socket can rest on such a HUGE design. The twist up eyecup is next to useless IMO.

I owned one and had to remove it altogether to get a comfy feel. 

[TheLookingGlass]

...Or you can do this.

[John]

Here is what I said about the Nirvana's eye cup in my review:

"The Nirvana 28 is also heavy and feels even bulkier than the Nagler but is
reassuringly solidly built and has 2 rubber grip rings. The eye relief feels the same as
the Nagler but I found that the wide, slightly dished profile of the top of the eyepiece,
even with the large, thick and rather inflexible eyecup (it’s almost a “face cup” at
75mm in diameter!) twisted down, needed a different technique to get my eye close
enough to the eye lens to take in the whole FoV. To begin with my nose (a little larger
than average I suppose!) seemed to be getting in the way and affecting where I could
place my eye - though this is hardly the eyepiece’s fault! Turning my head a little to
one side had the desired affect and this soon becomes second nature."

I can appreciate that this design is not the best feature of the eyepiece and may cause folks to seek alternative designs. There is more choice available today then there was when I wrote the review

[oldfruit]

An excellent eyepiece, one of my favourites since i bought it about 4 years ago. Always first out of the eyepiece case. Reviews are very favourable too.

[Don Pensack]

This eyepiece from KunMing United Optics (KUO) has been around since 2006 and has been sold under many labels.

The new Meade PWA 28 is this same eyepiece with a pared-down top.

Here is an older review:

https://www.cloudynights.com/articles/cat/cn-reports/eyepiece-reports/cn-report-the-uwan-eyepieces-r1388