Nirvana 28mm 82 degree 2 inch ?

[John]

This 2 inch 28mm 82 degree eyepiece has appeared on the TS (Germany) website:

https://www.teleskop-express.de/shop/product_info.php/language/en/info/p2757_TS-28mm-UWA-82--2--High-Perfomrance-Eyepiece.html

Looks like the re-working of the Nirvana 82 degree 1.25" eyepieces has now extended to the 2 inch 28mm as well.

I've used the older design (also used to be sold as the William Optics UWAN) and it was a very good 82 degree low power eyepiece. The drawback with the old design was a very wide dish shaped eye cup (face cup !) which took some getting used to. 

The revised eye cup and the taper to the top barrel section of this new design should prove easier to use I think. Price is good as well, for an eyepiece in this class.

This is the old design when I tested it alongside my Nagler 31 and the Pentax XW 30:

This is the new shape 28mm / 82 :

[johninderby]

The thing that always put me off the old design was that huge flat top.  The new one looks as if it would be more comfortable to use. 🙂

[jetstream]

It might look Long Perngish to me, this could be a good thing.

[Ruud]

They're made by Kunming United Optics. Here they are on the top left of the 2011 UO site, when they still had the old twist-up eye cup :

On the new UO website most products have been moved out of sight. Pretty much anything they make is available from various brands for quite different prices.

As far as I know, these particular eyepieces were first marketed by William Optics as UWAN. Then others started selling them as Nirvanas for considerably less money, spoiling the fun for WO. I imagine this happened a lot with United Optics products, which may explain why they now longer show their full product line to the general public.

The Nirvana is a well corrected 82° eyepiece. For the 1.25" models I prefer the old twist-up eye cup. On the 28mm 2" the new eye cup is an improvement though: the old twist-up was so wide that it required cocking your head to get your nose out of the way.

[Louis D]

Looks like KUO may be making the APF UFF line based on the marked similarities between this updated 28mm UWA and the 24mm UFF.

[Don Pensack]

Yes, KUO does make these eyepieces.

[ash73]

I have the Nirvana 4, 7 & 16mm and really rate them, they are sharp and the ultra-wide field of view is great with a Dob.

I also have a Panaview 2"x32mm which is nice but blurry at the edges, I expect this 28mm would be a good upgrade.