New eye pieces

[Harry85]

Hi all, 

Just a quick question saw a previous post on here for the x-cel eye pieces vs the BST Starguiders was looking at getting a 25 mm and a 10-12mm but would any one reccomend a zoom lens 8-24mm are these any good? If so any particular make I should go for instead of the starguiders or should I just stick to my original plan of getting 2 starguider eyepieces 

Thanks all

[John]

To get a similar optical quality to the Starguiders I think you would need to consider the Baader 8-24mm zoom which cost about as much as 4 Starguider eyepieces. The less expensive zooms are OK but the Starguiders provide better overall performance in my experience.

At the 24mm end zooms have quite a narrow field of view so you would still ideally want a fixed focal length low power eyepiece as well as the zoom, say a 30mm or 32mm so the investment needed increases again.

 

 

[russ]

I owned the Vixen 8-24 and Meade 8-24, both were good optically but not cheap. The Baader 8-24 is excellent but really pricey. And as John says, they are compromised at the long end. So i had a Meade 24mm SWA for widefield. All adding to the cost. 

I really enjoyed my BST's. Had the 8mm, 12mm and 18mm. Good eyepieces for not much money. I personally would go for that over a zoom.

[Harry85]

That's brilliant thank you both for your answers think I will stick with the BST's for now and maybe in time I'll look at zoom pieces thanks again

[Louis D]

5 hours ago, russ said:

I owned the Vixen 8-24 and Meade 8-24, both were good optically but not cheap.

Which ones?  The Meade 8-24 is $64 at OPT while the Starguiders are $60 at Agena Astro.  Pretty much the same price.

[Saganite]

Hi Harry,

I had the 18mm , 12mm & 8mm starguiders and used them for probably 18 months. They are very nice sharp 60 deg AFOV eyepieces at a very good price, and I would recommend  them . I have used one or two of the  X -Cel eyepieces and found them to be less well constructed, in short, I much preferred the BST units.

[russ]

4 hours ago, Louis D said:

Which ones?  The Meade 8-24 is $64 at OPT while the Starguiders are $60 at Agena Astro.  Pretty much the same price.

Wow they certainly weren't that price back in 2008.......pretty sure it was £150 back then. Same as the Vixen. Everything has got so cheap.

Edited May 28, 2020 by russ

[Louis D]

17 minutes ago, russ said:

Wow they certainly weren't that price back in 2008.......pretty sure it was £150 back then. Same as the Vixen. Everything has got so cheap.

You may have the more desirable Japanese made version.  Check the eyepiece and/or box.  If so, they go for $100+ on the used market in the US, so price accordingly if you ever plan to sell it.

The Japanese one looks like the following, note the step in the eye cup:

The newer Chinese one has a straight sided eyecup; the same diameter as the upper barrel:

[Skywatcher130]

I am a big fan of the BST Starguiders. I already had a 15mm and, a couple of weeks ago, decided to purchase the 5, 8 and a 25mm. They were already a great price but I also got a multi-buy deal online too. Was so pleased when I redid my eyepiece case that I had to take a photo, lol. I've used them a few times already and am very impressed so far. They suit me and my budget and it has meant that I could give my stock 10 & 25mm Skywatchers to my son which he can safely use with his little Meade ETX 70 without fear he'll drop mine on the patio!

[Harry85]

Love the case skywatcher130 today I sold my celestron powerseeker and hopefully tommorrow I'll recive my skywatcher 150p then in 2 weeks I'll be picking up the starguiders, what are the stock 25mm and 10mm skywatcher eyepieces like thanks all for replies really need a case like that though lol 

[John]

The stock 25mm is not bad but the stock 10mm is a bit poor. The BST Starguiders are a lot better.

 

[Damien2904]

Are you able to use the BST Starguiders with a DSLR using some kind of T-Adaptor?

I spoke to someone from FLO who said you can't....and recommended me to the Baaders (more costly)? 🤷‍♂️

[ScouseSpaceCadet]

2 hours ago, Skywatcher130 said:

I am a big fan of the BST Starguiders. I already had a 15mm and, a couple of weeks ago, decided to purchase the 5, 8 and a 25mm. They were already a great price but I also got a multi-buy deal online too. Was so pleased when I redid my eyepiece case that I had to take a photo, lol. I've used them a few times already and am very impressed so far. They suit me and my budget and it has meant that I could give my stock 10 & 25mm Skywatchers to my son which he can safely use with his little Meade ETX 70 without fear he'll drop mine on the patio!

The 8mm an 15mm BSTs are very nice. Use skies_unlimited on Ebay if buying more than one new and save a couple of quid.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/1-25-15mm-BST-Starguider-ED-eyepiece/381534741945?hash=item58d53e25b9:g:fzoAAOSwpzdWrdWG

My mosted used eyepiece though is a Celestron XCel LX 25mm bought used. Excellent.

The Skywatcher 6mm 58° degree planetary is nice too for the price. Had it out on the moon earlier in a 150p and it was perfect. The only bug bear is the rubber eye cup isn't secured as well as I'd like.

I'm waiting for a 4mm Skywatcher UWA 82° to arrive to replace a TMB II 4mm. Totally different ends of the quality (and price!) spectrum. Although the TMB II was bought used very cheap and served me well as a stop gap ep.

 

[Harry85]

54 minutes ago, ScouseSpaceCadet said:

The 8mm an 15mm BSTs are very nice. Use skies_unlimited on Ebay if buying more than one new and save a couple of quid.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/1-25-15mm-BST-Starguider-ED-eyepiece/381534741945?hash=item58d53e25b9:g:fzoAAOSwpzdWrdWG

My mosted used eyepiece though is a Celestron XCel LX 25mm bought used. Excellent.

The Skywatcher 6mm 58° degree planetary is nice too for the price. Had it out on the moon earlier in a 150p and it was perfect. The only bug bear is the rubber eye cup isn't secured as well as I'd like.

I'm waiting for a 4mm Skywatcher UWA 82° to arrive to replace a TMB II 4mm. Totally different ends of the quality (and price!) spectrum. Although the TMB II was bought used very cheap and served me well as a stop gap ep.

 

Thanks for the link scousespacecadet 👍

[Louis D]

1 hour ago, ScouseSpaceCadet said:

The 8mm an 15mm BSTs are very nice. Use skies_unlimited on Ebay if buying more than one new and save a couple of quid.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/1-25-15mm-BST-Starguider-ED-eyepiece/381534741945?hash=item58d53e25b9:g:fzoAAOSwpzdWrdWG

My mosted used eyepiece though is a Celestron XCel LX 25mm bought used. Excellent.

The Skywatcher 6mm 58° degree planetary is nice too for the price. Had it out on the moon earlier in a 150p and it was perfect. The only bug bear is the rubber eye cup isn't secured as well as I'd like.

I'm waiting for a 4mm Skywatcher UWA 82° to arrive to replace a TMB II 4mm. Totally different ends of the quality (and price!) spectrum. Although the TMB II was bought used very cheap and served me well as a stop gap ep.

 

Why not support FLO, our sponsor, by buying from them?  They give a 10% discount on 2, 15% discount on 4, and 20% discount on 7.  How is skies_unlimited's 5% discount better?

[ScouseSpaceCadet]

24 minutes ago, Louis D said:

Why not support FLO, our sponsor, by buying from them?  They give a 10% discount on 2, 15% discount on 4, and 20% discount on 7.  How is skies_unlimited's 5% discount better?

Mate, inclusive of discounts, two BST Starguiders, including postage from FLO cost £87.55. The same from skies_unlimited costs £83.58. I'm not going to steer someone toward (on this occasion) a more expensive retailer because they sponsor a forum.

I've spent around £500 at FLO in the last twelve months. Is that enough sponsor support for you?

Edited May 30, 2020 by ScouseSpaceCadet

[Louis D]

1 hour ago, ScouseSpaceCadet said:

Mate, inclusive of discounts, two BST Starguiders, including postage from FLO cost £87.55. The same from skies_unlimited costs £83.58. I'm not going to steer someone toward (on this occasion) a more expensive retailer because they sponsor a forum.

Not just A forum, this forum.  Exactly what forum does this other retailer support?  If it was an argument between FLO and Astronomics (CN sponsor), I'd have to agree with you.  Do you know for a fact that @Harry85 has been helping SGL's sponsor recently?  This is exactly how manufacturing moved to China, to save a few bucks per item.

Edited May 30, 2020 by Louis D

[ScouseSpaceCadet]

4 hours ago, Louis D said:

Not just A forum, this forum.  Exactly what forum does this other retailer support?  If it was an argument between FLO and Astronomics (CN sponsor), I'd have to agree with you.  Do you know for a fact that @Harry85 has been helping SGL's sponsor recently?  This is exactly how manufacturing moved to China, to save a few bucks per item.

I've recommended FLO on several occasions, however not this time. Not everyone has spare change to throw around, including me.

Recommending FLO every time, even if their price for that particular item is significantly higher, isn't fair to the reader considering a purchase. Neither is it fair to the retail competitor. End of.

 

Edited May 30, 2020 by ScouseSpaceCadet

[John]

OK folks - we have established 2 options on where to source these now and I'm sure there are other vendors as well. They come up quite a lot on the pre-owned market too so there is another option