What Target Do You Test Your Eyepieces On?

[Guest]

If you get a new eyepiece, what target(s) do you test it on?  Personally, I use the moon as it's fairly easy to get consistent viewing conditions on it.

[John]

Depends on the time of year and the type of eyepiece. Short focal length eyepieces I usually test on tight double stars, bright stars one and off off axis (to test scatter and internal light control), planets if they are around, E & F Trapezium, smaller planetary nebulae that sort of thing.

Low power to medium eyepieces I test on bright and fainter galaxies, rich star fields such as the double cluster are good for testing sharpness across the field of view,

I usually want to try some more challenging targets because that reveals issues quite quickly.

I also try the eyepiece in a range of scopes and under different observing conditions before reaching any conclusions. 

You can see why the reviews that I used to do for the forum took some time to produce !

I'm always a bit doubtful of conclusions reported when folks "first light" an eyepiece I'm afraid.