Advice prior to buying new eyepieces

[Red Top Miguel]

Good Morning All,

So I thought I would post prior to buying that way I don’t waste my money and end up with something that isn’t useable. Also the advice and help here is fantastic. 
My telescope is “Sky-Watcher Explorer 130PS AZ5 Deluxe” and I’m looking to buy the following items:

1. https://www.firstlightoptics.com/bst-starguider-eyepieces/bst-starguider-2x-short-barlow-lens.html
2. https://www.firstlightoptics.com/bst-starguider-eyepieces/bst-starguider-60-8mm-ed-eyepiece.html
3. https://www.firstlightoptics.com/bst-starguider-eyepieces/bst-starguider-60-18mm-ed-eyepiece.html
4. https://www.firstlightoptics.com/bst-starguider-eyepieces/bst-starguider-60-25mm-ed-eyepiece.html
5. https://www.firstlightoptics.com/moon-neutral-density-filters/astro-essentials-variable-polarising-moon-filter.html
 

So the question is, will these add to my viewing experience, improve on the supplied basic eyepieces (I kind of know that answer), and would you recommend anything else or different? My budget is somewhat limited (£200) however I would consider a bit more if it was a benefit! 
Thank You Mick

[Sasumba]

Hi there, I wish I would of seen your post before I went out and bought the Sky-Watcher 28mm 2” Long Eye Relief, for my Sky-Watcher Startravel 102, basically I ordered it online and it arrived this morning, which I was really excited about, but to my dismay, it does not fit 😩 my prism is 1.25, but the eye piece that arrived this morning is 2inch, is there an adapter that I maybe could purchase rather than sending this eye piece back? Any advise would be more than appreciated 😊

[Ricochet]

2 hours ago, Red Top Miguel said:

Good Morning All,

So I thought I would post prior to buying that way I don’t waste my money and end up with something that isn’t useable. Also the advice and help here is fantastic. 
My telescope is “Sky-Watcher Explorer 130PS AZ5 Deluxe” and I’m looking to buy the following items:

1. https://www.firstlightoptics.com/bst-starguider-eyepieces/bst-starguider-2x-short-barlow-lens.html
2. https://www.firstlightoptics.com/bst-starguider-eyepieces/bst-starguider-60-8mm-ed-eyepiece.html
3. https://www.firstlightoptics.com/bst-starguider-eyepieces/bst-starguider-60-18mm-ed-eyepiece.html
4. https://www.firstlightoptics.com/bst-starguider-eyepieces/bst-starguider-60-25mm-ed-eyepiece.html
5. https://www.firstlightoptics.com/moon-neutral-density-filters/astro-essentials-variable-polarising-moon-filter.html
 

So the question is, will these add to my viewing experience, improve on the supplied basic eyepieces (I kind of know that answer), and would you recommend anything else or different? My budget is somewhat limited (£200) however I would consider a bit more if it was a benefit! 
Thank You Mick

The longer focal length Starguiders will struggle in an f5 scope. The 5/8/12 should be good though. At the longer lengths I suggest looking at the ES68° range, even though they are a lot more expensive. 

[Ricochet]

49 minutes ago, Sasumba said:

Hi there, I wish I would of seen your post before I went out and bought the Sky-Watcher 28mm 2” Long Eye Relief, for my Sky-Watcher Startravel 102, basically I ordered it online and it arrived this morning, which I was really excited about, but to my dismay, it does not fit 😩 my prism is 1.25, but the eye piece that arrived this morning is 2inch, is there an adapter that I maybe could purchase rather than sending this eye piece back? Any advise would be more than appreciated 😊

Fort future reference I think it would have been better to have posted in a new thread as your query is not the same as the original post. 

If your telescope has a 2" focuser and you have a decent amount of inward travel left then you could look at buying a 2" diagonal to use 2" eyepieces. If the eyepiece you've bought is the only 2" eyepiece you intend to get then you may be better off sending it back and buying a 24mm ES68° instead, which maximises the field of view for 1.25" eyepieces and is pretty much the same as that given by the 28mm you have bought. 

[Captain Scarlet]

The Skywatcher 25mm LET eyepiece is a very similar focal length to your 28, but is a 1.25" ... I would exchange it for that if you want as close to like-for-like. I very recently bought as a gift to my neighbour a SW Heritage 150p scope, and I gave him my 25mm LET which I had lying around. I had an observing session with him last night and I was very impressed with it. Much, much better than the stock one that came witht he scope. We compared it to my DeLite 18.2mm which I brought with me, a MUCH more expensive eyepiece, and the comparison was very good!

https://www.teleskop-express.de/shop/product_info.php/language/en/info/p9041_Skywatcher-LET-25-mm-eyepiece-with-50--apparent-field-of-view--1-25--barrel-size.html

Cheers, magnus

Edited June 26, 2020 by Captain Magenta

[Red Top Miguel]

1 hour ago, Ricochet said:

The longer focal length Starguiders will struggle in an f5 scope. The 5/8/12 should be good though. At the longer lengths I suggest looking at the ES68° range, even though they are a lot more expensive. 

Thank you very much Ricochet, I will amend my order to reflect the 5mm, 8mm, 12mm and 2x Barlow BST Star-guilder.
 

Any newbies reading this, please ask before a buy the guys/ladies here are full of so much helpful information and possibly save you from wasting you’re money  

Thanks again Mick! 

 

[Ed in UK]

I use these eye pieces with my scope and I saw a massive jump in quality. So much better than the kit EPs. I have the 18mm, 12mm and the x2 Barlow. All give a great viewing experience. I decided to stick with the kit 25mm as that seems to work fine for me.

[Louis D]

2 hours ago, Red Top Miguel said:

Thank you very much Ricochet, I will amend my order to reflect the 5mm, 8mm, 12mm and 2x Barlow BST Star-guilder.
 

Any newbies reading this, please ask before a buy the guys/ladies here are full of so much helpful information and possibly save you from wasting you’re money  

Thanks again Mick! 

 

If you want to max out your true field of view (TFOV) in that scope, I would get a GSO/Revelation 32mm eyepiece.  It will work pretty well at f/5 and won't break the bank.  However, I notice they're sold out everywhere in the UK, so I would get FLO's version as it should be very similar.

[Sasumba]

On 26/06/2020 at 12:59, Captain Magenta said:

The Skywatcher 25mm LET eyepiece is a very similar focal length to your 28, but is a 1.25" ... I would exchange it for that if you want as close to like-for-like. I very recently bought as a gift to my neighbour a SW Heritage 150p scope, and I gave him my 25mm LET which I had lying around. I had an observing session with him last night and I was very impressed with it. Much, much better than the stock one that came witht he scope. We compared it to my DeLite 18.2mm which I brought with me, a MUCH more expensive eyepiece, and the comparison was very good!

https://www.teleskop-express.de/shop/product_info.php/language/en/info/p9041_Skywatcher-LET-25-mm-eyepiece-with-50--apparent-field-of-view--1-25--barrel-size.html

Cheers, magnus

Thank you so much for the good advice, it is very much appreciated .