Best eyepieces for Celestron Evo 8"?

[Mai Ai Bing]

Read several people who thought it was not worth getting the full Celestron eyepiece "package" and many seem to use at least one zoom. Also there's the Barlow. Not easy to know how to start! Do not mind buying several pieces to be covered for various subjects. But of course want to avoid having pieces lying around that do not get used. So what are people actually happy using with such a telescope type? Do not mind paying for quality when it makes a difference.

[Neil H]

Hi i use the celestron zoom 8 to24 dont use the 7 to 21 in celestron they dont focus well. bst 2x barlow dont go for celestron omni barlow its not good  my eyepieces are celestron  omni they are ok but not on a really fast telescope the celestron X cel are ment to be good 

But if i was to buy again i would go for the BST range 

You need to work out what your use able mag for your scope and not go over it seeing changes all the time so what works one day may not the next 

[AstroTim]

Most of my observing to date has been of the planets. I have the Baader zoom (8-24), however, my most used “cyclops” eyepiece is an X-Cel LX 9mm. The 9mm seems to hit the sweet spot for my sky conditions and therefore I tend to go straight for that rather than the zoom (which gives similar quality views). You could go with an 8-24 zoom and use that to work out where your most used focal length would be, and then buy a good quality eyepiece at that length if you feel you need to. You could also add a 2x barlow to use with the zoom (at say its 14 or 12 setting) to give you a little more magnification for when the seeing is particularly good. That would save purchasing a dedicated 6mm or 7mm that would then get little use (unless one of those happens to be where your sweet spot lies). 

By far the best purchase I’ve made is the William Optics Binoviewer. Binoviewers don’t suit everyone however, but I find that mine give me much better views, and more comfortable viewing, than any of the single eyepieces I own (none of which are high end eyepieces). The 20mm eyepieces and 1.6x barlow nosepiece that come with the Binoviewer work well for the planets and lunar. I haven’t tried the matching 2x barlow nosepiece so not sure if it would give too much magnification.

I can’t really advise on eyepieces for deep sky objects, as I haven’t done enough of that type of viewing yet. You would probably want to look at a 2” diagonal and then maybe something like a 35mm OVL Aero ED eyepiece. That’s certainly what I’m considering.

[randomic]

+1 for the Baader Hyperion Zoom, it's supposedly not parfocal when changing focal length but it's so close that I can't tell whether or not I need to refocus. I think rather than a barlow it might be better to grab a ~5mm eyepiece to get close to max useful magnification without needing extra glass. That said, a barlow can be used with imaging so you might find it useful to have.

[AstroTim]

I think you would need exceptional seeing to be able to use a 5mm (406x magnification). The maximimum I’ve achieved is 250x but then I don’t live in Abu Dhabi. My point about the barlow (combined with the zoom) is that it would allow you to try those shorter focal lengths without investing a lot of money upfront on eyepieces that you end up not using. Once you know which focal length(s) work best for the sky conditions you have access to, then you invest in a quality eyepiece (or eyepieces) to suit your needs. The barlow might still be useful to fill in the gap, or extend into the less used lengths. As long as you get a half decent barlow, I don’t think it will degrade the view that noticeably on an f10 SCT.

[jonathan]

+1 for having a Baader 8 - 24 zoom.  Not sure why but the 8mm end is usable in my 8SE whereas none of my fixed eyepieces below 14mm work (same night, seconds apart).  It may be that there are X-Cel LX (or other) eyepieces that work and I just haven't tried them, but my X-Cel LX 5mm and X-Cel 10mm just don't work with my 8SE.  I need to try using the matching Baader barlow at 12 - 14mm settings to see if that works too.  Quite frankly, with experience of my current eyepieces I wouldn't spend money on a fixed eyepiece to try and match a zoom setting that worked as I don't have the confidence that it wouldn't be a waste of money for me on my 8SE, my eyepieces work fine in f5 scopes but it seems an f10 SCT can be more picky when it comes to high magnification.  If the zoom gives great views then why spend money anything else?

Edited October 6, 2020 by jonathan