best illuminated reticule eyepiece

[bomberbaz]

Looking for a good, quality one. Bought one a couple of years back and its always been pretty rubbish. Think it was a clone of a sw version.

Found this one here 23mm IR-EP which is attractive due to higher eye relief.

Can anyone make anymore recommendations of a quality one that will last a good few years?

cheers all

steve

[Davey-T]

I've got a Meade one it has twin crosshairs so you get a little square in the middle rather than a cross that hides the star, had it for about 15 years I guess.

Dave

[MarsG76]

I have the Celestron one and it's very well built and very good quality....

[bomberbaz]

1 minute ago, Davey-T said:

I've got a Meade one it has twin crosshairs so you get a little square in the middle rather than a cross that hides the star, had it for about 15 years I guess.

Dave

Seen that Dave and although it claims good ER, can't find specs for it. Don't suppose you have them do you fella?

[bomberbaz]

1 minute ago, MarsG76 said:

I have the Celestron one and it's very well built and very good quality....

Thanks mate, thats 2 of you straight away happy with a fairly budget, of the shelf type version. Seems like I got had with a cheapo off ebay I think.

[Davey-T]

1 minute ago, bomberbaz said:

Seen that Dave and although it claims good ER, can't find specs for it. Don't suppose you have them do you fella?

Not off hand I'll have a look tomorrow.

Dave

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

I have a very similar one (rated at 22mm focal length) which I can use readily with my glasses on.

[johnturley]

13 hours ago, bomberbaz said:

Looking for a good, quality one. Bought one a couple of years back and its always been pretty rubbish. Think it was a clone of a sw version.

Found this one here 23mm IR-EP which is attractive due to higher eye relief.

Can anyone make anymore recommendations of a quality one that will last a good few years?

cheers all

steve

This looks identical to an Ascension one I bought from Opticstar, and I note that APM also do a virtually identical one, although stated focal length of this is 26 rather than 23mm. Mine was specified as having an apparent field of 70 degrees, but in reality around 50 - 55 degrees.

John

[Louis D]

Avoid illuminators that look like this one:

I've had no end of problems with mine.  They unscrew in the wrong places causing internal wires to pull free of where they are soldered.  Resoldering is just a temporary fix I've found.  They are also much too bright until they just about turn off.

I've had much better luck with this style of illuminator:

It just seems a lot more robust and the brightness is much more controllable down to a reasonable level.

That said, I use the Orion 20mm 70 degree reticle eyepiece but with the better style of illuminator that came with my Celestron 12.5mm Microguide eyepiece.  The Orion has tight eye relief (8mm) so you can only see about 55 to 60 degrees with glasses on which is probably best because the outer field is highly aberrated.

[Space Hopper]

Alot of the generic IRE's are crap.

Finally, i found a decent one from TS.

https://www.teleskop-express.de/shop/product_info.php/info/p966_TS-Optics-Reticle-Eyepiece-32-mm-70----2--barrel-size---illuminable.html

They also do a 26mm version and a 20mm version.

The reticule is laser etched, and the eye relief on the eyepiece is excellent.

It has the screw in type above that Louis D has had trouble with, but they seem fine to me.

 

[Louis D]

15 hours ago, Tubby Bear said:

It has the screw in type above that Louis D has had trouble with, but they seem fine to me.

The problems start if and when the flat cap just below the knob unscrews from the widest part of the unit.  This can rip the wires off the circuit board just below the cap.  Trying to solder those short wires back in place is a royal pain.

[bomberbaz]

thank you all for your responses, I will have a ponder before I decide. 

I know its best to have one but then tonight I used the old out of focus star method on my mount/scope for aligning and it gave me the best alignment I have had since buying said mount, it was accurate to within a 1/4 of a degree. ???