Vixen HR's VX10

[Louis D]

49 minutes ago, Stu said:

I have a Vixen 2.5mm LV which will make a good comparison. I guess I could try the nag zoom, and maybe a barlowed 5mm BGO.

Lunar targets I guess, plus some tight doubles.

According to Vixen's own HR press release:

Approx. 100% Strehl ratio on the axis

The resolving power outperforms similar eyepieces designed for planetary viewing. The HR-series maintains more than a 97% Strehl ratio to the edge of the field of view when combined with a Vixen AX103S refractor. In comparison, the ratio is about 90% with the use of a standard LV2.5mm eyepiece.

I guess you're in the perfect position to verify this claim.

[dannybgoode]

28 minutes ago, John said:

With your 105mm try for 32 and 52 Orionis. 32 is pretty tight but 52 is tighter still !

 

 

Deal. Will give them a go

[John]

7 minutes ago, dannybgoode said:

Deal. Will give them a go

If at first you don't succeed, don't think it's the optics. Splitting tight double stars needs stable seeing conditions and those are by no means regularly available in the UK !.

Seeing conditions can be a great leveller with regards to quality optics.

[Piero]

3 hours ago, John said:

What would be some challenging test targets for these eyepieces ?

Mars and Uranus are about, but small. Fine detail on the Moon. Some tight, unequal brightness doubles plus Sirius I guess are the obvious ones.

Some small planetary nebulae perhaps ?

What are the comparison eyepieces going to be ?

Looking forward to the feedback on these

The Sun in white light is interesting with the HRs.

[Stu]

I'm a very bad boy. No pass available for tonight, so I grabbed a very quick 15 mins on the way home at our local meeting point. Had the Tak in the car, with Gitzo and Tak prism, and the 2.4mm HR of course. Scope not really cooled straight out of the car, but it improved even within the short time I was out.

Rigel was very flarey due to cooling, but the secondary was nice and sharp. Finding things with a 0.13 degree fov and a not very well aligned finder was challenging, but Alnitak split easily, as did the little tiny double on the corner of the 7 in the 37 cluster. Finally, Eta Orionis was equally trivial, two uneven bullseyes, not something you always say about a 1.8" split, very nice. The diffraction rings around these stars started to look much cleaned as some level of cooling set in.

32 and 52 will have to wait for another day, but I also had a look at the Alpine Valley and did spot a little more of the rille than last night in the Mak.

Good initial impressions, but getting it on a tracking mount and properly cooled will, I'm sure, show much better performance.

[dannybgoode]

3 minutes ago, Stu said:

I'm a very bad boy. No pass available for tonight, so I grabbed a very quick 15 mins on the way home at our local meeting point. Had the Tak in the car, with Gitzo and Tak prism, and the 2.4mm HR of course. Scope not really cooled straight out of the car, but it improved even within the short time I was out.

Rigel was very flarey due to cooling, but the secondary was nice and sharp. Finding things with a 0.13 degree fov and a not very well aligned finder was challenging, but Alnitak split easily, as did the little tiny double on the corner of the 7 in the 37 cluster. Finally, Eta Orionis was equally trivial, two uneven bullseyes, not something you always say about a 1.8" split, very nice. The diffraction rings around these stars started to look much cleaned as some level of cooling set in.

32 and 52 will have to wait for another day, but I also had a look at the Alpine Valley and did spot a little more of the rille than last night in the Mak.

Good initial impressions, but getting it on a tracking mount and properly cooled will, I'm sure, show much better performance.

Sounds very promising. I have the frac cooling now but the Vixen will arrive tomorrow. Hopefully be at least a short time of seeing to get a go on it  

What’s the general build quality etc like - I’m expecting it to he first class. 

[Stu]

33 minutes ago, dannybgoode said:

Sounds very promising. I have the frac cooling now but the Vixen will arrive tomorrow. Hopefully be at least a short time of seeing to get a go on it  

What’s the general build quality etc like - I’m expecting it to he first class. 

Build quality is excellent, comes in a nice little bullet case. All good.

I did see floaters on the moon, but generally manageable. I can see myself being tempted into Binoviewing these though!

[John]

Sounds very promising indeed

As far as I can tell, floaters and the extent to which they are noticeable varies person to person although, if they are present in the eye, a tiny exit pupil with a bright background will highlight them. Generally for me they can get distracting when the eyepiece focal length dips shorter than 3mm whatever scope I'm using.

I believe that floaters don't appear when binoviewing, is that correct ?

 

 

[Stu]

32 minutes ago, John said:

Sounds very promising indeed

As far as I can tell, floaters and the extent to which they are noticeable varies person to person although, if they are present in the eye, a tiny exit pupil with a bright background will highlight them. Generally for me they can get distracting when the eyepiece focal length dips shorter than 3mm whatever scope I'm using.

I believe that floaters don't appear when binoviewing, is that correct ?

 

 

I did see floaters through it John, I do see them with any eyepiece giving exit pupils nearing 0.5mm, probs my anything below 1mm really but the get worse as you get smaller as you know.

Binoviewing doesn't get rid of then completely, but they do cancel out to a degree and become much less intrusive.

I will perhaps try the 2.4mm in one side of my binoviewers to see if it will focus natively, then maybe bite the bullet and try two!! Would be amazing for solar white light too. Trouble is, I could see the 3.4mm being very useable too and that gets really expensive!!

[dannybgoode]

Well I’ve just seen on the Royal Mail track & trace that my wife has signed for the package. And the weather is looking promising! Could be on for first light tonight

[Pig]

Clear skies tonight in Northampton ? and a decent moon for termination... ? I can see the moon now as it happens ? May I’ll get time for another comparison of all my high powers.

 

[Pig]

On 15/02/2019 at 14:02, Pig said:

Duplicate post - removed

 

[Louis D]

3 hours ago, dannybgoode said:

Well I’ve just seen on the Royal Mail track & trace that my wife has signed for the package.

"What have you been buying now?" asks the wife scoldingly while holding the package when you get home. ? At least that is how it plays out in my household.  She makes me feel like she found a girly mag under our mattress.

[Louis D]

5 hours ago, John said:

I believe that floaters don't appear when binoviewing, is that correct ?

Binoviewers lessen the distraction because the image from the other eye can fill in the areas obscured by the floaters if you give your brain a few seconds to process the image.

I can see floaters at 1x looking at just about anything if I swivel my eyeballs around to swirl the aqueous humor (eyeball fluid).

[dannybgoode]

Gave mine a whirl last night. Seeing from ideal but lunar views , when the air was still were stunning. So much detail and apparent texture to the various features I observed.  Had absolutely no issues with the magnification in the scope though so very happy with that aspect  

Gave Mars a whirl but that was just a bit much as was the trapezium in M42. 

Can’t wait for more stable skies - have a lot of hope for this EP.

[Stu]

I recently picked up a second Vixen LV 2.5mm to have a go at binoviewing with short fcoal length eyepieces. If it works out ok then I may at some point take a shot at either a second 3.4mm or a 2.4mm.....