Reorganising EP collection

[FlyerOne]

Hi all,

I am looking into reorganizing my EP collection as I fell into the trap over over-buying EPs on AliExpress, I have a Meade Mak 127/1900 f/15 scope.

Most of the time its used in a light polluted area Bortle 8-ish with only stars unto Mag 3,5 easily visible with the naked eye.

At the moment I have:

Meade 26mm and 9.7mm that came with the scope.

SVBONY 6mm, 15mm "redline"

SVBONY 12mm, 32mm plossl (I find the 32 mm quite difficult to use as I need to hover my eye in a precise spot to avoid black areas)

SVOBONY 18mm 72dg SWA

2x Barlow and 0,5x reducer.

I tend to most often use the 26mm and the 18mm from the above list.

Would it make sense to add a Meade 40mm super plossl (hoping to increase the brightness but the lightpollution will probably ruin it at 40mm) or to upgrade the Svbony 15mm to a Televue Delite 15mm. 

Also heard good things about the Baader Zoom 8-24mm. Would it make sense to exchange the whole lot of above with just this one?

At the moment I am quite happy with the Svbony quality of the eyepieces at $20-25 a piece.

[Guest]

Where are you based? There are some cheap, but highly recommended eyepieces available like the BST StarGuider range.  They are marketed under different names in different countries, but are the same good quality, for not a lot of money.

[FlyerOne]

Hi, thanks for the suggestion. I'm in Poland.

[John]

I think the idea of the Baader zoom is worth thinking about. Probably better optical quality than the Svbony plossls. I would hang on to either the Meade 26 or the 32 plossl for low power because zooms have a narrower field of view at the long FL end and I might hang on to the 6mm plossl for the highest power viewing under great seeing conditions but otherwise the zoom would cater for all the others and much of your observing needs I think.

 

[bomberbaz]

Just been having a look at the sybony eyepiece range and I think your favoured 18mm is a modified erfle design which should work well at F15 and if you like it, keep it. 

However I agree with John above saying get the zoom and keep the 6mm for those odd nights when seeing allows for exceptional magnification.

If you don't get on with an eyepiece, I always say don't persist and get rid.  Keep the 26 and lose the 32mm. 

I think that if you buy the zoom you may stop using some of the others almost entirely and then you can decide from there what to do. 

[FlyerOne]

Thanks everyone for the advice. Definitely leaning towards to Baader Zoom.

yesterday evening I decided to give the 32mm Plössl another try before deciding what to do with it. Surprisingly combined with the 0,5x it gave great views with hardly any issues (except at the edges). Ended up using it most of the night at random moving through the sky awaiting to stumble onto something 😀 It did a great job on the double cluster in Perseus. 

Doubting again what a 40mm with 0,5x could do there. As a Mak is a bit like looking through a straw. The initial plan was to spend most of the time on the planets, but of course I started wandering around🔭 

edit: never mind the above, restriction of the 1.25 inch barrel makes the 40 near identical to 32mm apparently 

Edited July 19, 2020 by FlyerOne