alanjgreen Posted January 3, 2019 Share Posted January 3, 2019 (edited) After discovering that my Borg 107FL could take the magnification provided by the Ethos 3.7mm with ease, I have been working (or waiting...) for the chance to make a few changes to my "planetary eyepiece" department for 2019. After a bit of a wait (>4 months), I finally grabbed the chance to get a second hand 4mm DeLite from astrobuysell (I have been looking for one of these since the review by @iPeace). The recent pre-Christmas TeleVue sale allowed me to bag the rare 3mm DeLite at a discount. I really liked the Ethos 3.7mm but as it was rendered redundant by my plan, it had to go and luckily it has covered the cost of the two new DeLite's! [The two new DeLites are pictured with a 5mm DeLite that I picked up second hand last summer.] The 4mm is wearing a 'Baader 2"-1.25" low profile adapter for Steeltrack' (which I find very good, as I don't like to mess with adapters when wearing gloves!) https://www.firstlightoptics.com/adapters/baader-low-profile-eyepiece-adapter-for-steeltrack.html Just need some PLANETS now! Alan Edited January 3, 2019 by alanjgreen 7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alan White Posted January 3, 2019 Share Posted January 3, 2019 Nice little set Alan. I like the look of the DeLite's so much so I have gone for a 5mm to see what they are like. The lighter weight is part of the appeal to me as well as the usual TV quality. You could of use yours on the Moon sooner than a wait for night time planets. Venus early am of course. I take it that they cut through cloud well? ? 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
iPeace Posted January 3, 2019 Share Posted January 3, 2019 Well done. The 'short' DeLites are just SO nice (this is no judgement of the 'longer' ones)... if what they do for me in a Borg 71FL is anything to go by, you won't be missing that 3.7mm Ethos. The fun (and torment) really starts when you get the chance to compare them with a 3.4mm Vixen HR... I'm glad I don't have to make an outright choice. I could do with a half-decent night out, though, it's been so long. Hope you get yours soon with the new EPs. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moonshane Posted January 3, 2019 Share Posted January 3, 2019 Yep, I have 7, 9 and 11mm and they are fabulous eyepieces. They work well in my scopes (FL 1840mm, 1600mm, 1340mm and 900mm). 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
iPeace Posted January 3, 2019 Share Posted January 3, 2019 1 hour ago, alanjgreen said: low profile adapter Side note: interestingly (perhaps), I find that I need some extra travel to reach focus with these. Will read your reports with interest. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JeremyS Posted January 3, 2019 Share Posted January 3, 2019 39 minutes ago, iPeace said: The fun (and torment) really starts when you get the chance to compare them with a 3.4mm Vixen HR... That would indeed be an interesting comparison! 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
iPeace Posted January 3, 2019 Share Posted January 3, 2019 25 minutes ago, JeremyS said: That would indeed be an interesting comparison! For what it's worth, this is as far as I got on a previous occasion: https://stargazerslounge.com/topic/315216-short-shootout-vixen-hr-34-delite-4-nagler-35/ I'm sure there will be other nights on which to try this again. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Highburymark Posted January 3, 2019 Share Posted January 3, 2019 Nice one Alan. I've just picked up an 18.2mm Delite to add to my 7, 4 and 3. Supremely good eyepieces I reckon. The fov feels about perfect, with the added advantages of lightness, compactness and comfort using the lens adjustment feature. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stardust1 Posted January 3, 2019 Share Posted January 3, 2019 Alan, what a beautiful set of eyepieces you got there ? Looking forward to your review. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stu Posted January 3, 2019 Share Posted January 3, 2019 4 hours ago, iPeace said: Well done. The 'short' DeLites are just SO nice (this is no judgement of the 'longer' ones)... if what they do for me in a Borg 71FL is anything to go by, you won't be missing that 3.7mm Ethos. The fun (and torment) really starts when you get the chance to compare them with a 3.4mm Vixen HR... I'm glad I don't have to make an outright choice. I could do with a half-decent night out, though, it's been so long. Hope you get yours soon with the new EPs. I'd love to know more of a conclusive result from the Vixen vs Delite comparison. At some point I'm considering a high power eyepiece in the 3 to 4mm range, but given my floaters I'm likely to want to binoview. I suspect the Delite may be the better choice from a comfort perspective, but I do like to have the best performance for solar white light. The other issue is whether I would be better with a 5mm Delite and still using a GPC to compensate for the prism CA in the binoviewers. Trouble is it is an expensive experiment to try! 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Posted January 3, 2019 Share Posted January 3, 2019 Nice choices Alan I've yet to use a DeLite. A few tempting ones popped up for sale during the Xmas period but I resisted. I had a 3mm Radian for a while and that was good but I expect the Delite of that focal length would exceed it by some margin being a later design using newer glass types and coatings. Currently I use a 2-4mm TV Nagler zoom or a Pentax XW 3.5mm to cover that FL and they seem pretty good to me but there is always room for a little more improvement I'm sure I ran an Ethos SX 3.7mm alongside the Pentax 3.5mm for several months but eventually concluded that the XW was just a touch sharper and scatter free. So my Ethos SX's (I had the 4.7 too) went to other homes as well. 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
iPeace Posted January 3, 2019 Share Posted January 3, 2019 1 hour ago, Stu said: I suspect the Delite may be the better choice from a comfort perspective, but I do like to have the best performance For what it's worth (as always): Whenever I use an HR, it invariably gives me a 'wow, that's nice' - no matter how much I thought I was expecting it. Yes, the FOV is what it is, and if you're nudging manually you have to work for it, but it's just worth it. The eye relief doesn't bother me; I suppose it feels like using a Nagler Zoom. Then there's the DeLites. They are absolutely luxurious to use. So nice, you'd feel guilty if they didn't cost so much. Or maybe not, but you understand. And the view is so good, you don't mind not using the HR...until you use the HR again, of course... Not being helpful here, I guess... I'm somehow inclined to think that the HR is for those who like 'orthos'. Thing is, I've never used an ortho myself, so who am I to say? Given that you like your orthos and your Nagler Zoom, I can't help but think you'd really, really like an HR. Not that you'd regret a DeLite... I'll stop now. 1 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zeta Reticulan Posted July 28, 2022 Share Posted July 28, 2022 Well, I'm definitely a DeLite fanboy. They're basically a 62 degree 'orthoscopic' IMO. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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