30 mm / 80 degree UWA eyepieces.

[bomberbaz]

I have been on one of my website mooches considering a lighter weight, wide field 2" eyepiece for my F10/100mm achromatic frac, At F10 I am happy to buy something at the lower end of the market as they are far more forgiving.

Anyway, came across a 30mm eyepiece from Starguider. starguider  They are the same purveyors of the BST brand.

Further rooting around found this from APM,  APM They sell some very good quality glass although this is clearly not the top of the range.

I have owned in the past a Moonfish of the same specs. moonfish

So I know an eyepiece of this design will perform reasonably well at F10 and offers a lovely 2.5 degrees tfov. 

So my query really is, excluding the moonfish which would you buy if you had option too of the other two.

I thought about quality control but are these produced by the same company with different badges or are they clones produced by different companies with varying QC.

APM is slightly more expensive mainly due to shipping costs but which of the two companies is going to have the better QC and subsequent re-sale value. My gut instinct says APM but I really don't know anything for sure.

Any information gratefully received.

Steve

[Don Pensack]

I think they are merely rebadged versions of the same eyepiece.

I wouldn't buy either because of the unresolved outer field astigmatism, but they are inexpensive.

I certainly wouldn't buy one thinking they had some re-sale value  down the road, not because they wouldn't be worth anything, but because they are really not good in f/ratios

shorter than yours, and these days f/10 or longer is becoming rarer, so your resale market is constantly shrinking.

Personally, I'd save my pounds and get an APM UFF 30mm, which is a stunningly good eyepiece at any f/ratio.

Admittedly, it is in a different price range.

[John]

These are chinese clones of the Japanese Widescan ultra-wide eyepieces.

Even the Japanese versions, which cost a lot more, were not too well corrected in F/8 or faster scopes.

For £30 or so they give you an idea of what an ultra widefield is about if you have a slower scope but I would not pay more than that for one.

 

 

[bomberbaz]

Thanks john and Don, you said what I expected but I like to ask the question.

I have come upon an alternative on the 2nd hand market but will wait until after the test drive before I start making any predictions.

Steve

[Louis D]

I can't help you sort out which 30mm 80 degree UWA clone is best, but I can point you to my new thread showing the view through my Agena Astro version of this eyepiece in a 127mm f/12 Mak.  It improves to the point of being a very usable wide field eyepiece.