5mm Eyepiece suggestions

[Mr Spock]

I'm looking for a new eyepiece which must be 5mm. The purpose of this eyepiece is for use in an f12 Rumak for high power double stars. Ideal characteristics would be:

• sharp central image
• freedom from flare or any other reflections
• comfortable eye relief
• FOV unimportant

I've had a good look at all the options, from inexpensive to mega expensive, new or used. But as usual, can't decide what to do. I wonder what other people are using or have had experience of. All suggestions welcome.

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

My Vixen SLV 5mm is excellent, essentially the same quality as my Pentax XW 5mm which differs only in FOV (and price)

[cloudsweeper]

The Celestron XCel LX EPs are good.  I have the 5, 9, and 12mm.  Quite light, good build, twist-up eyeguard, and agreeable 16mm eye relief.

Doug.

[John]

Personally I find the Nagler zoom an outstanding eyepiece for double stars. Currently I use the 2mm-4mm with my refractors and the ability to instantly rack up or down the power is very, very useful when pushing the scope / conditions / observer on tight double stars.

The 3-6mm is still in production. Expensive when new but can be bought for somewhat less used.

If it's a 5mm fixed then the XW or SLV would be my suggestion.

 

 

[scarp15]

A TeleVue 5mm DeLite will comply with each of those bullet points.

[bomberbaz]

I have Not used the Vixen SLV but I believe they are amongst the best in the £100 bracket, a little higher in price up you get the delites which again are well reported upon but there is a lot to be said for pushing the budget that little further as per @John suggestion and going for the nagler zoom at 3-6. That's 4 eyepieces in one and I personally use a zoom in my star splitter scope due to the versatility it offers in the main.  And lets be honest, you can never really go wrong with a TV eyepiece. 

[MarsG76]

Depending on how much you want to spend, the Televue Nagler 5mm would most likley be the best choice as my Televue optics are excellent, but if you want a cheaper option than the Celestron X-Cel 5mm has given me some of the best and sharpest views of Jupiter and Saturn during those nights of exceptional seeing in my 8" SCT... but the seeing had to be perfect otherwise it was not a performer... mind you I am talking a magnification of 406X.

My next recommendation is a LV... the 7mm LV I own is also excellent.

 

 

Edited November 14, 2020 by MarsG76

[Sunshine]

All eyepieces mentioned are great, I have a 5mm Pentax XW,  I love it but it weighs as much as a hand grenade and about the same size lol.

[Mr Spock]

I tried to get a 5mm LVW used, but, no-one seems to want to part with them - no surprise there. With my C9.25 I used a TMB 6mm, but you can't get them either.

The short list is:

Pentax XW - £269
TeleVue Delite - £243
Takahashi LE - £189
Vixen SLV - £104

I have three NLVs which are excellent, so that draws me closer to the SLV. But I would like to try something else at some stage.

I previously had a 10mm Radian which I compared side by side to the 10mm NLV - the Radian got sold  Kinda makes me wonder about the Delite.
The Pentax would be similar to the LVW in terms of comfort and field size.
I've never looked through a Takahashi LE, so I have no clue about that one.

[John]

I have yet to use a Delite but the reports I'm reading here and elsewhere seem to be very encouraging indeed. 

I've not used a Morpheus either - I wonder what the 4.5mm is like ?

I've only owned and used one Tak LE and that was the 30mm. It was decent but not really outstanding. The shorter focal length ones might be better ?

 

 

[Mr Spock]

4.5mm is a bit too short - 6mm not enough. 5mm comes in just under the ideal 0.5mm exit pupil for close doubles without going to far.

[Louis D]

I've been using a 5.2mm Pentax XL for 20+ years.  It's very comfortable to use with eyeglasses, is absolutely sharp to the edge, and has very good contrast and transmission.  It works very well to resolve globular clusters, for instance.  The image of them is unchanged as they drift across the FOV.  I've had no incentive to replace it.

The 4.5mm HD-60 and 5mm Paradigm (Starguider) are a bit less sharp and contrasty, but good for those on a budget.  It comes down to quality of lens polish and coatings as well as internal stray light control.

[IB20]

I have the 5mm BST and it’s given me some great views of Mars and the moon in my 8” dob but have yet to really test it with some tight doubles. 
 

Seems you are narrowing it down to more premium EPs however. Look forward to seeing what you plump for and a first light review.

[Armand Popa]

I use a 2.5mm TMB clone,  ore of my friends uses the 5mm version (also a clone) and even beeing a clone it is a gerat eyepiece

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

The XW5  is absolutely superb, I simply cannot fault it, but the SLV 5mm I have in my travel/solar kit is every bit as good, it just has the smaller FOV. I have looked through a TMB clone, which was very good, but not quite as good as the XW5 and SLV 5mm. I understand the Delites are similar to the Delos in performance, and the Delos EPs I have are every bit as good as the XWs. I have never looked through the Takahashi LEs. 

[Guest]

Another vote for the 5mm BST StarGuider ED! 👍

[Fozzie]

I'm in the SLV camp, very sharp and comfortable EP to use, yes only 50deg but I have a tracking eq mount, quite accurate pa, so I can keep most objects I view for well over 5mins.. and that's with a 2x Telextender in play... 

Very neutral cool colour tone as well.. 

ES do a 52 LER at 5.5mm for £70 ish.. fairly new EP.. another in the mix for you..

[Mr Spock]

Assuming the Tak has dropped out of the race, I'll see if I can sum up the negatives as the rest mostly seem to be equal on image quality.

• XW - expensive, big and heavy
• Delite - expensive
• SLV - 45° FOV

Both the XW and Delite are two and a half times more expensive than the SLV. But the SLV only has a 45° FOV - does that really matter? I'll have to have a think about this.

[Fozzie]

Keep forgetting the SLV is only 45deg... I use a tracking mount so that's probably why I don't see a narrow FoV as too much of an issue..

[bomberbaz]

2 hours ago, Mr Spock said:

Assuming the Tak has dropped out of the race, I'll see if I can sum up the negatives as the rest mostly seem to be equal on image quality.

• XW - expensive, big and heavy
• Delite - expensive
• SLV - 45° FOV

Both the XW and Delite are two and a half times more expensive than the SLV. But the SLV only has a 45° FOV - does that really matter? I'll have to have a think about this.

Being as your using it to split doubles i would have thought the fov has less bearing on your choice than price. 

[JeremyS]

2 hours ago, Mr Spock said:

Assuming the Tak has dropped out of the race, I'll see if I can sum up the negatives as the rest mostly seem to be equal on image quality.

• XW - expensive, big and heavy
• Delite - expensive
• SLV - 45° FOV

Both the XW and Delite are two and a half times more expensive than the SLV. But the SLV only has a 45° FOV - does that really matter? I'll have to have a think about this.

If your mount is undriven, I'd go for a wide field like the Pentax or Nagler. Otherwise you have more choice.

[Paz]

With the Vixens, at 5mm I think the NLV is 45 degrees afov (and NLV afov vary across the range), the SLVs  are 50 degrees across the range.

[Mr Spock]

According to Vixen, the SLVs are 45° from 6mm downwards which doesn't match what other sites are saying. FOV isn't important anyway and I think this one is coming out on top regardless.

[Sunshine]

If you can manage the 5mm XW you won't regret it, i say just dive in.

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

The SLV 5 does have a slightly smaller FOV than the SLV 9 and 15 I have. I have never found that to be a big issue, especially on a tracking mount, but also on my mini-giro for solar observing. I have never found the weight of the XW 5 a problem, I should say, but then it is dwarfed by the Nagler 31T5 "Panzerfaust"