Eyepiece for viewing Doubles

[almach]

Hi Guys,

I have an Orion XT6 which came with 25mm and 9mm eyepieces. I subsequently bought a 2x Barlow. This gives me magnifications of 40x, 80x, 120x and 240x. I tend to use the 25mm and the Barlow as necessary because quite frankly I hate using the 9mm. I find it uncomfortable and obviously things move out of the FOV very quickly.

I've been looking at the Orion Expanse range as they are advertised as having great eye relief and a wide FOV. Are these any good and if so which one would people recommend that I get?

[John]

The Orion Expanse and the Skywatcher Ultra Wide Angles are the same eyepieces with the exception that I think the Orion's have slightly better quality coatings.

The 9mm Expanse is supposed to be the best of the bunch but the others should work OK in your scope as I think it's an F/8. Expanses (with the exception of the 9mm) don't work so well at shorter focal lengths.

Wide field (or even ultra wide field) eyepieces are helpful in dobsonian scopes because you can keep an object in the field of view for a bit longer.

The Expanse has a wide-ish field of view at 66 degrees but there are wider eyepieces around of course.

John

[almach]

John,

Thanks for the reply. I read a few reviews that say much the same thing so I have ordered a 9mm. The 15mm is supposed to be good as well, but I'll wait and see what the 9mm is like before I get one of those.

Cheers

Andy