9mm which one Morpheus or Delite

[Trikeflyer]

Hi I’m looking to get a 9mm eyepiece and in my price range are either Morpheus or Delite.

has anyone compared the two? 

Id appreciate your opinions

steve 

[iPeace]

DeLites are more compact and lighter. Morpheus has a larger eye lens and FOV. Both have generous eye relief. All of this you know already.

It's in the shorter focal lengths, below 7mm, that I'm personally most impressed by the DeLites. Not in any way to detract from the performance of the longer ones, super and lovely, it's just that for me they make more difference at the short end.

At 9mm, between the two, I'd say it's all to play for in terms of sheer performance. You may as well base your decision on the physical traits of the units (FOV, eye lens size, weight and bulk). Both are very well constructed, quality bits of kit.

I'd have the DeLite, myself, but that's for weight, bulk and green lettering matching that of my other eyepieces.

[mikeDnight]

Morpheus all the way! 76°'s of high contrast heaven with large eye lens and no kidneybean. Also, they are light weight, slim enough for binoviewer use and significantly cheaper,  and they don't suffer from those infernal undercuts, which in the case of TV are the most savage of any eyepiece ever I've used. If you get chance to read Bill Polini's Morpheus review on CN before you get drawn into the Televue £££ black hole, I'd suggest you do so. 

[Telescope40]

1 hour ago, mikeDnight said:

Televue £££ black hole, I'd suggest you do so. 

I am winning the gravity fight with the TV ep’s.  ????

Edited April 28, 2019 by Telescope40

[iPeace]

2 hours ago, mikeDnight said:

If you get chance to read Bill Polini's Morpheus review on CN before you get drawn into the Televue £££ black hole, I'd suggest you do so. 

Agreed. Bill has also reviewed the DeLites, another good read.

[iPeace]

2 hours ago, mikeDnight said:

before you get drawn into the Televue £££ black hole

A good point, and the Morpheus are excellent value indeed.

Black holes have a tendency not to yield any matter whatsoever, once consumed, whereas a TeleVue eyepiece tends to hold - and yield - its value. A used TV eyepiece is often bought and sold without loss.

But we've been over all this before and will again.

If you don't need minimum size and/or weight, Smart Sterling is on Morpheus, they are really very nice indeed.

[Trikeflyer]

Thanks for the input. I have seen a used TV in mint condition on ABS for less than the Morpheus, thus taking the price out of the equation really.

I’m still debating ?

[Louis D]

I have the 9mm Morpheus, 9mm Vixen LV, and 9mm Meade HD-60.  All do quite well edge to edge at f/6.  I'd say my 10mm Delos edges them all somewhat in absolute sharpness, but not by much.  I guess it really depends on how picky you are about correction, field width, sharpness, contrast, flare control, etc.  It's the last three that start to differentiate among the contenders.  There is also the size differences to contend with which becomes important for binoviewing.  Eye relief wise, all are easy to use with eyeglasses.  The Delos and Meade have infinitely adjustable eye guard heights.  The Vixen is also fully adjustable, but difficult.  The Morpheus requires adding an included spacer ring to move the eye cup upward.

[AngryDonkey]

Sorry don't have any experience with either eyepiece but just bought a Pentax XW 10mm and it works really well with my 12inch dob.

[faulksy]

APM/LUNT 100* is the way to go

cant see anything different compared to my ethos at the moment

[F15Rules]

+1 for the Morpheus, wonderful eyepieces. I have only owned one Delite, a 5mm, and I just didn't like it. 

It's a very personal decision, and Mike (iPeace) summed it all up very well. 

Good luck with making your decision - and by the way, the Pentax 10mm XW is another cracking eyepiece, great value new at £249... now Morpheus 9mm vs XW 10mm WOULD be an interesting shoot out!

Dave

[mikeDnight]

8 hours ago, AngryDonkey said:

Sorry don't have any experience with either eyepiece but just bought a Pentax XW 10mm and it works really well with my 12inch dob.

The 10mm XW is one of the purest, most contrasty DSO eyepieces  ive ever owned. 

[Trikeflyer]

39 minutes ago, mikeDnight said:

The 10mm XW is one of the purest, most contrasty DSO eyepieces  ive ever owned. 

Well, a while ago I did think the Pentax 10mm would be my grail eyepiece. Then read some articles vs other top end ones including Morpheus and felt it was maybe not all I had expected - I know that everyone will have a different view and that is all part of the investigation process for me. Perhaps now I have to put that back in the mix too, although the original position I was in was a used Delite and a Morpheus at about the same price. The Pentax is £100 more than the used Delite and £60 more than the Morpheus. Aaarrrgghhhh ???. Opinions welcome folks - Delite Morpheus or Pentax? Or maybe some other 9/10mm eyepiece recommendations. 

 

Steve 

[iPeace]

1 hour ago, Trikeflyer said:

Delite Morpheus or Pentax?

I've owned the XW as well; true excellence. I was slightly more impressed with the views through the Pentax than those offered by the Morpheus, but I struggle to qualify this precisely. The XW has the 'chunkiest' feel to it, perhaps the most 'premium' build of the three (but none of them are lacking in any way...). With its FOV and huge eye lens, it's more similar to the Morpheus, the DeLite being a slightly different concept - smaller and lighter.

So, for me, between them, it's still a choice based on eye lens size, FOV, size and weight, with the XW as a slightly more posh alternative to the Morpheus.

At the prices for new, the Morpheus is pretty compelling value. They're all popular enough to not have to worry too much about passing them on if whatever you try isn't quite the ticket for you.

[Trikeflyer]

OK guys Morpheus it is ?

Steve 

[John]

Borrowing a 10mm Pentax XW from FLO moved me away from my beloved Nagler T6's a few years back. Steve (FLO) said I'd be impressed but I didn't (quite) believe him until I compared the Pentax with the T6 9mm, and then I found out. Trouble was that I also wanted 100 degree eyepieces so ended up with some Ethos AND some XW's - expensive excercise !

Still, I've yet to actually try a Morpheus so I'll look forward to that someday.

 

[Highburymark]

I'm sure you'll be happy with whatever you decide at this end of the market. Size and weight have become more important issues for me, so I sold my Delos and now have mainly DeLites - apart from the slightly ridiculous name, and some might prefer a wider fov, they are simply exceptional. But with such slim margins between the best brands, personal preferences like comfort and adjustable eye relief can become deciding factors. 

[Trikeflyer]

What do people think about the Pentax 14mm?

Steve 

[F15Rules]

In my honest opinion, the 14mm is the weakest of the Pentax XWs. It has significant field curvature which I found unpleasant, and I sold mine and replaced it with a Morpheus 14mm which I found very noticeably better, with much less FC, as well as having the wider, 76deg fov.

I found the same with my 20mm XW (less bad than the 14mm though), and replaced it with a Vixen LVW 22mm which I found to be a better, more pleasing eyepiece to use. It is still one of my favourite  eyepieces.

I have owned all the shorter focal length XWs except the 3.5mm (ie 5mm, 7mm and 10mm) and found them to be exceptional eyepieces. So, for me, it would be Pentax or Morpheus from 3/4mm up to 10mm, and Morpheus for 12.5, 14, and 17.5mm (the 17.5 is fabulous IMO), LVW 22mm (only available used now), and if you are very rich and very lucky, Pentax 30mm and 40mm if you can find them. For ordinary folk like me, the 30mm slot is admirably filled by the Skywatcher Aero 68 deg which is great for well under £100 used?.

HTH.

Dave

 

[Trikeflyer]

2 minutes ago, F15Rules said:

In my honest opinion, the 14mm is the weakest of the Pentax XWs. It has significant field curvature which I found unpleasant, and I sold mine and replaced it with a Morpheus 14mm which I found very noticeably better, with much less FC, as well as having the wider, 76deg fov.

I found the same with my 20mm XW (less bad than the 14mm though), and replaced it with a Vixen LVW 22mm which I found to be a better, more pleasing eyepiece to use. It is still one of my favourite  eyepieces.

I have owned all the shorter focal length XWs except the 3.5mm (ie 5mm, 7mm and 10mm) and found them to be exceptional eyepieces. So, for me, it would be Pentax or Morpheus from 3/4mm up to 10mm, and Morpheus for 12.5, 14, and 17.5mm (the 17.5 is fabulous IMO), LVW 22mm (only available used now), and if you are very rich and very lucky, Pentax 30mm and 40mm if you can find them. For ordinary folk like me, the 30mm slot is admirably filled by the Skywatcher Aero 68 deg which is great for well under £100 used?.

HTH.

Dave

 

Thanks Dave for the feedback on the Pentax I’ve read that people think the 14mm Morpheus is also the weakest link in their offering.  Based on your experience it sounds like the Pentax isn’t great at this FL and doesn’t compare well with the Morpheus. I Have a 15mm Starguider which I want to replace with a better quality eyepiece and am undecided whether to go for the 17.5 Morpheus or the 14 Morpheus and then either the 10mm Pentax if I can justify the extra £ or the Morpheus 9mm if not. I heard the 17.5mm Morpheus is a gem so leaning a bit that way at the moment . Thought I’d settled on the 9mm Morpheus  as well but now am wobbling a bit on the Pentax 10mm. Thanks to everyone for their input so far you have helped me with my decision making. In the end I suspect they all have slight pluses and minuses, it’s a lot of money though and I want to be sure before splashing the cash.

Steve 

[John]

I've not used the 20mm or 14mm XW's but I played cautious with those because of the sorts of issues that Dave mentions being reported. I went for the 14mm and 17.3mm Delos instead which play very nicely with the 10 through 3.5mm XW's including reaching focus quite close to the same point as the XW's, which the other Delos don't.

Since I've owned the "short" XW set I've compared them with a number of excellent rivals (eg: the Ethos 4.7 and 3.7, good quality HD orthoscopics etc) and each time found the XW optical performance, build and comfort combination superb. So they have stayed with me

The XW's are not a "scaled" range so the optical layout varies between some of the focal lengths which accounts for their varying characteristics:

 

 

[Trikeflyer]

Well I’ve ordered the 17.5 Morpheus so I’m probably going to order the 10mm Pentax.  Thinking I’ll get the best of both ?. I’ll let you all know how it turns out and maybe do a first light review. 

Steve 

[John]

Good idea - play the field a bit !

I really must try a Morpheus sometime soon.

[Trikeflyer]

6 hours ago, John said:

Good idea - play the field a bit !

I really must try a Morpheus sometime soon.

John, I’ll let you know what I think.  I don’t have many other what I consider to be top end eyepieces - my top eyepiece until now is an Es 82 24mm which I really love. For me it will be interesting to see if the Morpheus is so much better than the cheaper eyepieces I have now and how it compares to rage es82.  I’d like to try an ethos sometime but I’m scared I might like it ?. 

Steve 

[F15Rules]

Hi Steve,

I had several ES Argon purged 68s and especially liked the 24mm version. I have read that the 82 deg versions like yours are even better. 

I am confident that both your incoming  Pentax and Morpheus EPs will compare well with your ES82?.

Look forward to reading your thoughts on them☺.

Dave