BST Starguider 12mm vs StellaLyra LER 12.5 - Attempted Comparison.

[Don Pensack]

Also sold under the labels:

Orion Edge On Planetary

Altair Lightwave LER

Omegon LE Planetary.

All the same eyepieces made by Long Perng in Taiwan.

[Chris]

5 hours ago, John said:

The StellaLyra 12.5mm seems very similar in many ways to the current version of the William Optics 12.5mm SPL. I would not be surprised to find that they are the same under the skin:

The StellaLyra seems to be twenty quid less expensive though

More similarities here as well:

 

 

I think you're right John. For starters not all sets of eyepieces have a 12.5mm, the black tapered barrel's are identical, and looking at the Altair page the specs are identical. 7 elements in 4 groups, 20mm ER, 55 degrees etc. It almost seems conclusive.   

[Louis D]

I think the only US retailer still selling any variant of the 55 degree LER line of eyepieces from Long Perng is Orion USA with their Orion Edge-On Planetary.  Formerly, there were also the Astro-Tech LER, Smart Astronomy LER, Zhumell Z Series Planetary, and William Optics SPL (and possibly others I've forgotten).  I think the Paradigm/Starguiders, Meade HD-60s, and Celestron X-Cel LXs pretty much ate their lunch, so to speak.  Of course, the HD-60s are now discontinued themselves.