I'm a lucky, lucky boy! Who now needs some eyepiece advice

[MikeStickley]

For the last few weeks I'd been mulling over getting a starter scope and had narrowed it down to a few choices (Astromaster 130EQ or the SkyWatcher 130P being two of the main contenders). Over the weekend an Astromaster 130EQ came up on Facebook marketplace at £75 which looked to be a good bargain.

I went to take a look and was in pretty good condition (almost new and practically unused I suspect), the only downside being it only had the original 10mm EP and the orginal 25mm had been lost. I ended up going for it, at which point my wife announced she would buy me it for my Birthday!

WooHoo! Free telescope!

Which of course now means I have the money I was originally going to spend on a budget scope now burning a hole in my pocket ...

Now being somewhat impatient to spend spend spend like a crazy man I immediately headed over to Amazon and bought an cheap and cheerful 4 piece eyepiece set, a barlow and a moon filter. I almost immediately regretted the eyepiece set after clicking the buy button however I'm happy enough with the barlow and the moon filter I went for. Well Amazon today delivered the package to me, which was missing the eyepiece set and the moon filter, but had somehow gained a wireless doorbell in the process... hey ho.

Needless to say I've been on to Amazon and they could re-deliver the moon filter but not the eyepices as they were third party so they're just refunding me for those. They told me to just keep the unordered doorbell (Anyone need a doorbell?)

Having calmed down from my buying frenzy I'm hoping for advice on what eyepiece(s) to go for - I'm thinking a 25mm as a priority for low mag wider field and maybe something in-between that and the 10mm that came with the scope? I know the price range can go from cheap as chips to eyewateringly expensive but was thinking to maybe budget £30ish per eyepiece (is this realistic for decent quality?)

The scope itself is a 130mm aperture Newtonian with a focal length of 650mm.

Other future upgrades I'm thinking of is a Telrad to replace the finder (which I gather is pretty cruddy on these scopes and in any event came with a flat battery) and at some point maybe a motor drive so I could make a start on trying some basic astrphotography - although for now I plan to just play with the scope and get familiar with it's capabilities and use etc. and I do realise that it's not by any means a great scope/mount for serious astrophotography so I'm mainly planning a little visual astronomy on Moon, Clusters and the easier DSOs and so on.

Thoughts on what might be a good buy eyepiece wise? I'd rather buy from FLO than Amazon if possible.

 

[domstar]

Welcome to the forum. You had a lucky escape with those H eyepieces. I think plossl eyepieces are fine (new or used). You could go a step up and get BST Starguiders. Whatever you choose will be considerably better than the ones that you originally looked at. Good luck and have fun.

[fozzybear]

+1 For the BST Starguiders they are highly rated eyepieces on a budget   I even have a couple well 3 to be exact and am happy with them.

Andy

[fozzybear]

If your budget is tight maybe chat over these as starter eyepieces and go from there?

[rwilkey]

Hi Mike, I too would recommend the BST StarGuiders, some of the best out there and at a reasonable cost, found here: https://www.firstlightoptics.com/bst-starguider-eyepieces.html

BTW, don't run before you can walk, the Telrad would be too big and clumsy for your small scope and the motor drive would not give you the satisfaction you are after, esp. for astrophotography. 

If you want to improve your experience of astronomy upgrade to a better scope (bigger aperture) later, rather than hacking away at 'improving' your current scope's performance, which is limited. 

Above all, enjoy it!

[MikeStickley]

4 minutes ago, rwilkey said:

Hi Mike, I too would recommend the BST StarGuiders, some of the best out there and at a reasonable cost, found here: https://www.firstlightoptics.com/bst-starguider-eyepieces.html

BTW, don't run before you can walk, the Telrad would be too big and clumsy for your small scope and the motor drive would not give you the satisfaction you are after, esp. for astrophotography. 

If you want to improve your experience of astronomy upgrade to a better scope (bigger aperture) later, rather than hacking away at 'improving' your current scope's performance, which is limited. 

Above all, enjoy it!

Thanks, I did wonder about the size on the telrad, any suggestions for a lightweight budget alternative?

[Sky-searcher]

BST starguider lenses all the way & your best option for finder would be a Rigel.

https://www.firstlightoptics.com/finders/rigel-quikfinder-compact-reflex-sight.html

[John]

I agree with the advice re: BST Starguider eyepieces and the Rigel Quikfinder.

Amazing how easy it is to spend quite a bit more than your scope cost on a few eyepieces and a replacement finder isn't it ?

 

[fozzybear]

2 minutes ago, John said:

I agree with the advice re: BST Starguider eyepieces and the Rigel Quikfinder.

Amazing how easy it is to spend quite a bit more than your scope cost on a few eyepieces and a replacement finder isn't it ?

 

John

Don't tell the wife as all I get is "what do you need that for"  To further my education Then my reply is why do you need so many "pairs of shoes"  then silence. enough said.

Andy 

 

[MikeStickley]

1 hour ago, fozzybear said:

If your budget is tight maybe chat over these as starter eyepieces and go from there?

Wonder if he'd swap them for a wireless doorbell? 🙂

[Barry-W-Fenner]

2 hours ago, Sky-searcher said:

BST starguider lenses all the way & your best option for finder would be a Rigel.

https://www.firstlightoptics.com/finders/rigel-quikfinder-compact-reflex-sight.html

Them there are wise words. The BST range and a rigel have really enhanced my viewing experience.

baz

[Barry-W-Fenner]

2 hours ago, John said:

I agree with the advice re: BST Starguider eyepieces and the Rigel Quikfinder.

Amazing how easy it is to spend quite a bit more than your scope cost on a few eyepieces and a replacement finder isn't it ?

 

I have had quite a few people say to me they are surprised that the SW 200p was so cheap. Then they find out about all the bits I have bough to go with it, 🤯 to be fair my setup is a fraction of the price of some of you pros on here 😂

Baz

[fozzybear]

1 hour ago, MikeStickley said:

Wonder if he'd swap them for a wireless doorbell? 🙂

If it was a "Ring system" then maybe 

[MikeStickley]

1 minute ago, fozzybear said:

If it was a "Ring system" then maybe 

I should be so lucky, some made up Chinese brand worth all of £8.99 when I looked it up ... Now here's the real question, what astronomical accessory can I buy with the 4 quid I might get for it on fleabay? 🙂

[MikeStickley]

Thanks everybody for the replies so far! The BSTs certainly seem to be getting a lot of love so far. I'll probably go for the 25mm, but should I replace the Celestron supplied 10mm with something for high mag? or split the difference for something medium power, say a 15mm, and put up with the existing 10mm (that's to say if I can only get the one for now)

[fozzybear]

The 25mm will give you a lower magnification so hang on till you get that and compare it with the quality of magnification with the supplied 10mm you say you bought a barlow of amazon yes the celestron one 2x so the 25mm will go down to 12.5 and your 10mm will go down to 5mm see how you go on for now before spending any more money.

[MikeStickley]

8 minutes ago, fozzybear said:

The 25mm will give you a lower magnification so hang on till you get that and compare it with the quality of magnification with the supplied 10mm you say you bought a barlow of amazon yes the celestron one 2x so the 25mm will go down to 12.5 and your 10mm will go down to 5mm see how you go on for now before spending any more money.

Good point! Thanks, hadn't quite thought it through that way...

[fozzybear]

7 minutes ago, MikeStickley said:

Good point! Thanks, hadn't quite thought it through that way...

No worries been there have the T'shirt and more

Edited January 27, 2020 by fozzybear