New EP for my Nexstar 8SE

[Beardy30]

Hi all what’s  people’s choice from one of the following - to enhance my observations- please vote or your favourite!

1 Vixen NPL 15mm

2 BTS Starglider 60 degree ED - either 12 mm or 15mm

3 OVR Nirvana ES IWA - 82 degree ultra wise 16mm

4 Celestron X -CRL LX 12mm
 

I just want one upgrade to help me enjoy my new experience in a moderately light  polluted area ! 

thanks

Edited April 23, 2020 by Beardy30

[Alan White]

What other EP do you have?

What are you wanting to look at with the addition of a new EP at about 130x magnification?
If your scope is 2000mm FL as I think it is??

OK edite from here:

As others are just voting, Vixen NPL.
Good optics, Good Price, with a driven mount FOV in my view is irrelevant.
 

Edited April 23, 2020 by Alan White

[johninderby]

Of those you have listed I would rank them in this order.

1st - Nirvana 16mm

2nd - Tie between the Starguider and X-Cel LX

3rd - Vixen NPL

[Cosmic Geoff]

The C8 is a f10 telescope, so while any of the suggested eyepieces should do nicely, the choice of eyepiece is not critical, and a Plossl eyepiece will work well enough for the lower to mid-range of eyepiece focal lengths.

As a priority, you should look at acquiring a set of at least three eyepieces. My C8 SE came with a 25mm Plossl which I supplement with 15mm Celestron Omni plossl, an 8mm Celestron LX and an 8-25mm zoom from my eyepiece collection.  I also have a cheap Plossl of about 30mm which gives a wider field but isn't very good.

[Beardy30]

27 minutes ago, johninderby said:

Of those you have listed I would rank them in this order.

1st - Nirvana 16mm

2nd - Tie between the Starguider and X-Cel LX

3rd - Vixen NPL

Thanks John I’d be inclined to agree with your choices 👍🏼

[John]

Baader 8-24 zoom then you just need a 24mm 68 degree to have a "full set" for most occasions

Thats off topic though.

Of the ones you list I would go for the Nirvana 16mm 82 degrees because I love ultra-wide views and it's a fine eyepiece for the money.

[Beardy30]

5 minutes ago, Cosmic Geoff said:

The C8 is a f10 telescope, so while any of the suggested eyepieces should do nicely, the choice of eyepiece is not critical, and a Plossl eyepiece will work well enough for the lower to mid-range of eyepiece focal lengths.

As a priority, you should look at acquiring a set of at least three eyepieces. My C8 SE came with a 25mm Plossl which I supplement with 15mm Celestron Omni plossl, an 8mm Celestron LX and an 8-25mm zoom from my eyepiece collection.  I also have a cheap Plossl of about 30mm which gives a wider field but isn't very good.

My poll was to see what you thought of the four ..not what I should buy ..be interested to know your opinion: experiences 

[Beardy30]

4 minutes ago, John said:

Baader 8-24 zoom then you just need a 24mm 68 degree to have a "full set" for most occasions

Thats off topic though.

Of the ones you list I would go for the Nirvana 16mm 82 degrees because I love ultra-wide views and it's a fine eyepiece for the money.

That’s two for the Nirvana ! 

[laudropb]

Another for the Nirvana. The extra FOV wins it for me.

[jonathan]

I don't have experience with any of those eyepieces in particular, however I would say the best experiences I've had with my 8SE have been with the wide view eyepieces I own so I'd probably go for the 60 degree 15mm.

12mm is getting towards the difficult end for the 8SE (10mm has been useless for me on many occasions, just a muddy messy view, and I live out in the countryside so it's going to be worse near a city), you start to need good seeing conditions for it to be useful.  The only exception might be for the brighter planets, though I have found that a middle point, say around 14 - 16, can give a sharper and more useful view than a muddy, blurry, larger 10-12mm view.

EDIT:  Wait, was the Nirvana 8 or 82 degrees view?  If 82 then definitely that one over any of the others, wide field views are awesome.

ANOTHER THOUGHT: If you're using the single arm Celestron mount then you also need to consider weight, as a large heavy eyepiece might unbalance the scope considerably and add more wobble.  My 14mm 82 degree Explorer Scientific eyepiece is surprisingly small and light, probably the most versatile eyepiece I own for any of my scopes.

Edited April 23, 2020 by jonathan

[johninderby]

7 minutes ago, laudropb said:

Another for the Nirvana. The extra FOV wins it for me.

82 degree fov is the big advantage of the Nirvana compared to the X-Cel and Starguiders 60 degrees and it’s a fine eyepiece that will be just as good as a Nagler in the 8SE.. 🙂

Edited April 23, 2020 by johninderby

[Beardy30]

3 minutes ago, jonathan said:

I don't have experience with any of those eyepieces in particular, however I would say the best experiences I've had with my 8SE have been with the wide view eyepieces I own so I'd probably go for the 60 degree 15mm.

12mm is getting towards the difficult end for the 8SE (10mm has been useless for me on many occasions, just a muddy messy view, and I live out in the countryside so it's going to be worse near a city), you start to need good seeing conditions for it to be useful.  The only exception might be for the brighter planets, though I have found that a middle point, say around 14 - 16, can give a sharper and more useful view than a muddy, blurry, larger 10-12mm view.

EDIT:  Wait, was the Nirvana 8 or 82 degrees view?  If 82 then definitely that one over any of the others, wide field views are awesome.

Yes nirvana is 82 

BST 60 

[Beardy30]

Looks like Nirvana 82 wins hands down 

[John]

The only drawback of the Nirvana over the others is that, for some, the 12mm of eye relief might be on the "tight" side. The 15mm NPL (a plossl design) will be similar in this respect but you don't get the benefit of the ultra-wide view. Also some people find that they just don't like apparent fields of view much over 70 degrees.

They would all work very well with the F/10 SCT though. Most eyepieces do.

 

 

 

[DeanCJ]

I also have a Celestron 8se , I also have a BST Starguider and a Vixen NPL not in your chosen range but both 8mm, my wife and I were looking at the Eskimo nebula two nights ago and the Vixen was the better eyepiece. The BST revealed the central star but was kind of soft and blurry, whereas the Vixen was much sharper. This was exactly the same for M13.

So of your list I would probably go with,

1st Vixen npl

2nd Nirvana 

3rd Ex-Cel lx / Starguider 

[Beardy30]

Had two votes for the BST as well - interesting? 🤔

[Beardy30]

Thanks all I’ve just ordered the 16mm Nirvana from FLO - I’ll report back 👍🏼

[Beardy30]

My order arrived this morning - very swift dispatch from FLO