Eyepieces

[Robkaz1]

Hi all, newbie here looking for advice, I have acquired a Saxon 767az, I know its crap !! ( knew this b4 buying, but got for pennies) So EXTREMELY cheap starter option !! Now the eyepieces are just about completely useless so looking for suggestions for better options please, I have stock item x3 Barlow, 25mm,12.5, and a 6mm, and erector, now apart from 25mm which is clouded up junk , others are next to useless, lucky to get a half decent look at a clear moon view, let alone saturn, mars etc, so I was thinking of looking for an upgrade at something around 23-30mm for looking at mainly planets Dso,s will just have to wait 🤪so all suggestions appreciated ( apart from throw it in bin 🤣)

[DaveL59]

Hi and welcome to the forum.

Re the eyepieces, does it take the regular 1.25-inch eyepieces?

Depending on your budget you might consider a zoom eyepiece, that way you get a whole range for a single price and unit. Something like a 7-21mm or 8-24mm might suit which would get you a range of x30-88 ish. Quite likely the barlow is junk too so adding a decent 2x barlow may be worth doing. Decent single eyepieces would be around £50 each for BST's so which way you go would depend on budget and can quickly add up when you build a collection of these.

Something like the SVbony SV135 7-12mm zoom might work fine in this scope and is reportedly good.

For your current eyepieces you might get a result by cleaning the lenses tho dismantling to get all the internal glass clean can be a bit daunting and needs care so you can reassemble in the correct order and orientation.

Edited October 26, 2020 by DaveL59

[Louis D]

You might also want to check collimation on that Newtonian with a cheshire.  This is assuming it has the ability to be collimated.

I'd start with some Revelation/GSO Plossls or similar.  Perhaps 32mm and 12mm to start with.  Eye relief will be a bit tight on the 12mm.  If the view still looks terrible, it's the scope or seeing conditions and not the eyepieces.

[Robkaz1]

42 minutes ago, DaveL59 said:

Hi and welcome to the forum.

Re the eyepieces, does it take the regular 1.25-inch eyepieces?

Depending on your budget you might consider a zoom eyepiece, that way you get a whole range for a single price and unit. Something like a 7-21mm or 8-24mm might suit which would get you a range of x30-88 ish. Quite likely the barlow is junk too so adding a decent 2x barlow may be worth doing. Decent single eyepieces would be around £50 each for BST's so which way you go would depend on budget and can quickly add up when you build a collection of these.

Something like the SVbony SV135 7-12mm zoom might work fine in this scope and is reportedly good.

For your current eyepieces you might get a result by cleaning the lenses tho dismantling to get all the internal glass clean can be a bit daunting and needs care so you can reassemble in the correct order and orientation.

 

42 minutes ago, DaveL59 said:

Hi and welcome to the forum.

Re the eyepieces, does it take the regular 1.25-inch eyepieces?

Depending on your budget you might consider a zoom eyepiece, that way you get a whole range for a single price and unit. Something like a 7-21mm or 8-24mm might suit which would get you a range of x30-88 ish. Quite likely the barlow is junk too so adding a decent 2x barlow may be worth doing. Decent single eyepieces would be around £50 each for BST's so which way you go would depend on budget and can quickly add up when you build a collection of these.

Something like the SVbony SV135 7-12mm zoom might work fine in this scope and is reportedly good.

For your current eyepieces you might get a result by cleaning the lenses tho dismantling to get all the internal glass clean can be a bit daunting and needs care so you can reassemble in the correct order and orientation.

 

42 minutes ago, DaveL59 said:

Hi and welcome to the forum.

Re the eyepieces, does it take the regular 1.25-inch eyepieces?

Depending on your budget you might consider a zoom eyepiece, that way you get a whole range for a single price and unit. Something like a 7-21mm or 8-24mm might suit which would get you a range of x30-88 ish. Quite likely the barlow is junk too so adding a decent 2x barlow may be worth doing. Decent single eyepieces would be around £50 each for BST's so which way you go would depend on budget and can quickly add up when you build a collection of these.

Something like the SVbony SV135 7-12mm zoom might work fine in this scope and is reportedly good.

For your current eyepieces you might get a result by cleaning the lenses tho dismantling to get all the internal glass clean can be a bit daunting and needs care so you can reassemble in the correct order and orientation.

Hiya dave, I agree with you about the x3 Barlow I think saxon were having a laugh !! I've beaten you to it in pulling the OTA to bits already 😱😱😱 but glad I did as it's a lot cleaner/clearer now but still need better eyepieces, you've given me food for thought with the svbony as I've seen them advertised about so will seriously consider these so cheers 👍👍👍

Sorry to answer your question yes they are 1.25 eyepieces 

Edited October 26, 2020 by Robkaz1
Addition

[domstar]

Hi and welcome to the forum,

If your eyepieces have a big H written on them, then almost anything will be a significant upgrade. I bought a couple of cheap skywatcher plossls from ebay for just a few pounds. These eyepieces come with new scopes and people who already own better eyepieces sometimes sell them. When I bought mine, it transformed my observing. A few months later I bought a better scope and never used them again but at around 10 pounds for two, it was well worth it.

[DaveL59]

you might find the focuser rocks a bit, may be possible to improve its action, thhere's a useful guide here:

http://www.astro-baby.com/Skywatcher Focuser Tune up/Skywatcher Focuser Tune-up.htm

[Robkaz1]

3 minutes ago, DaveL59 said:

you might find the focuser rocks a bit, may be possible to improve its action, thhere's a useful guide here:

http://www.astro-baby.com/Skywatcher Focuser Tune up/Skywatcher Focuser Tune-up.htm

Cheers will surely look into this, will try anything at mo 🤪 I've dried eyepieces out on radiator ( bit drastic I know ) but seems a good improvement and cleaned secondary mirror which has made a good difference 👍

[Robkaz1]

52 minutes ago, Louis D said:

You might also want to check collimation on that Newtonian with a cheshire.  This is assuming it has the ability to be collimated.

I'd start with some Revelation/GSO Plossls or similar.  Perhaps 32mm and 12mm to start with.  Eye relief will be a bit tight on the 12mm.  If the view still looks terrible, it's the scope or seeing conditions and not the eyepieces.

Hi Louis, 

I was thinking about the 28 to 32 mm eyepieces so will have a look at them because even though my saxon is crap the 25mm eyepiece supplied with it does give a half-decent view so I think it is the cheapo eyepieces and not the OTA so fingers crossed if I get a plossl or something similar it should help 🤞

But thanks for the tips 👍👍👍

[Zermelo]

Welcome,

So according to their website this is a 76mm aperture, 700mm focal length reflector, i.e. around F9.2.

As reflectors go, this aperture is very much on the small side, so the amount of light you can gather will be limited. But you will still be able to see things with it, though you may struggle to see fainter DSOs, especially if you don't have access to darker sites. Planets and the moon may be more successful.

You mention getting a 23-30mm eyepiece, well 30mm would give a magnification of around 23, and 23mm (if you could find such a beast) would give magnification around 30. This would be better suited for larger DSOs or perhaps the moon, but planets will require greater magnification to see any details. The absolute maximum magnification is normally around twice the aperture in millimetres, so about 150 in your case, under perfect conditions. In practice you are unlikely to be able to push it to that.

The suggestion of a decent zoom to start with is a good one, either the Sybony mentioned or perhaps this one which is very decent if you can stretch to it. Provided you're planning to stay with the hobby, money spent on reasonable eyepieces won't be wasted as they are pretty much usable with any scope.