Vixen LVs LVWs and SLVs

[Ricochet]

4 hours ago, Don Pensack said:

I may be a contrarian here, but I don't regard that as an "upgrade".

A true upgrade to the Starguiders would be the TeleVue Delites.  They are optically better in nearly every way.  But don't expect miracles.  We're talking maybe 5% better.

I would consider the SLVs as "optically better" than the Starguiders. They're sharper, with less scatter and no reflections (except some old ones, apparently). The only thing the Starguiders have over the SLVs is the extra 10° field of view, so it depends how much stock you place on that feature. Personally, 50° isn't wide enough for my taste (except for solar, where I use SLVs), so I see where you're coming from in that regard. In terms of image presentation, my SLVs, Delites and XWs all feel very similar, just with different fields of view.

[Guest 12green]

On 21/11/2021 at 00:50, Ricochet said:

I would consider the SLVs as "optically better" than the Starguiders. They're sharper, with less scatter and no reflections (except some old ones, apparently). The only thing the Starguiders have over the SLVs is the extra 10° field of view, so it depends how much stock you place on that feature. Personally, 50° isn't wide enough for my taste (except for solar, where I use SLVs), so I see where you're coming from in that regard. In terms of image presentation, my SLVs, Delites and XWs all feel very similar, just with different fields of view.

Thanks for your advice. Tele Vue Delite are just a little more than I'm prepared to pay at the moment. It looks like SLV 9/10mm, ES82 8.8mms or stick with my trusted Starguiders?

[Paz]

I have almost a complete set of SLVs plus pairs at 20mm and 10mm for binoviewing, plus a pair of 30mm NLVs. I rate them very highly except that the recess on the NLV is very deep and I can't quite get the full view with glasses. That said I haven't found anything better to suit me yet.

 

I would love a pair of 22mm LVWs for binoviewing. If anyone has a pair they need to get rid of let me know!😀

[Ags]

1 hour ago, 12green said:

It looks like SLV 9/10mm, ES82 8.8mms or stick with my trusted Starguiders?

The first question is, what would the upgrade fix? Are you chasing the last 5% of on-axis performance, or do you want generous eye relief? Then SLVs. Do you want excellent performance with an ultrawide field of view, then ES 8.8mm. If there is nothing in particular bothering you about the performance of the Starguiders, stick with them 🙂

Edited November 22, 2021 by Ags

[DeanCJ]

On 18/11/2021 at 13:06, IB20 said:

Looking on the used market for some SLVs and occasionally I have come across the LV range, LVWs a bit rarer. Do members have any experience with the older Vixen ranges and how do these compare to the current SLV range? 

My wife and I have SLVs from 25 to 9mm and also the older 7,6,5, and 4mm LVs. We recently purchased an Altair Starwave 102ed ( fpl51 ) and were very fortunate to observe the 28th August Io transit. The views of Jupiter and Io’s shadow with the 7, 6, and 5mm eyepieces were stunning, good colour, contrast, and very sharp (we bought the 4mm afterwards) We also use the 7 and 6mm in our 8se, when the seeing permits, for high power lunar, again very sharp across the entire, albeit nowadays small 45° fov with excellent contrast between inky black shadows and a slightly warm tone lunar surface. Perhaps this is down to the coatings as they are a different colour, and age to the SLVs.

We have no modern eyepieces of the same focal lengths, so unfortunately cannot compare them directly. As for price? we paid between £45 and £65 second hand including postage, although as with everything recently, prices are rising. I would say, if you could find one in good condition around this price, try it! they were, after all, in their day, well regarded, made in Japan optics.

 

[F15Rules]

3 hours ago, Paz said:

I would love a pair of 22mm LVWs for binoviewing

You and loads of others, Chris!! Join the orderly queue now...😂🤣

Seriously,. wonderful eyepieces, the LVW22mms..

Dave

[Don Pensack]

3 minutes ago, F15Rules said:

You and loads of others, Chris!! Join the orderly queue now...😂🤣

Seriously,. wonderful eyepieces, the LVW22mms..

Dave

If you have 2" capability, the 70° Super Wide Angle eyepieces from Barsta are just as good and have more modern coatings, so a little bit brighter.

Available as:

Arcturus Ebony

Omegon Redline

Astromania SWA

Skywatcher SWA

Tecnosky SWA

Telescope Service Expanse ED

[Louis D]

1 minute ago, Don Pensack said:

f you have 2" capability, the 70° Super Wide Angle eyepieces from Barsta are just as good and have more modern coatings, so a little bit brighter.

Except that @Paz specifically wants a pair for binoviewing, so I'm assuming limited to 1.25" eyepieces.  I would think a pair of 17.5mm Morpheus might be a good fit in that case.  Anyone know the difference in field stop diameters between these two eyepieces?  Regardless, a pair of either would add quite a bit of weight to a BV setup.

[Mr Spock]

I sold my T4 22mm and 17mm Naglers to replace with 22mm and 17mm LVWs. It was a great decision 

[John]

I used to have a LVW 22mm for about 6 months. It was a lovely eyepiece. It probably ought to be on my "should not have been sold" list

 

[Don Pensack]

18 hours ago, Louis D said:

Except that @Paz specifically wants a pair for binoviewing, so I'm assuming limited to 1.25" eyepieces.  I would think a pair of 17.5mm Morpheus might be a good fit in that case.  Anyone know the difference in field stop diameters between these two eyepieces?  Regardless, a pair of either would add quite a bit of weight to a BV setup.

17.5mm Morpheus--21.75mm field stop

22mm LVW--24.9mm field stop

22mm Barsta 2"--26.8mm field stop.

24mm Panoptic--27.0mm field stop

Not really a fair comparison, since one is not usable in a binoviewer.

I would caution that many people cannot use the Morpheus eyepieces in binoviewers either because they are 54mm in diameter.

 

Edited November 23, 2021 by Don Pensack

[Guest 12green]

I have nothing against my Starguiders and I do really enjoy using them. For me the potential upgrade would be to chase that extra 5% of on axis performance. Is that possible with my suggestion in this price range?

[Guest 12green]

On 22/11/2021 at 16:48, Ags said:

The first question is, what would the upgrade fix? Are you chasing the last 5% of on-axis performance, or do you want generous eye relief? Then SLVs. Do you want excellent performance with an ultrawide field of view, then ES 8.8mm. If there is nothing in particular bothering you about the performance of the Starguiders, stick with them 🙂

I have nothing against my Starguiders and I do really enjoy using them. For me the potential upgrade would be to chase that extra 5% of on axis performance. Is that possible with my suggestion in this price range?

[Mr Spock]

If you are happy with the Starguiders, then why change? If you want that little bit extra and don't mind the field of view sacrifice then the SLV is the way to go. They really are as close to orthoscopics as you can get. Alternatively, if you don't mind a smaller field of view and tight eye relief then orthoscopics are the way to go. Even my old Circle-Ts have a bright, crisp views.

Expensive wide field eyepieces can be sharp, but aren't flawless. I don't know what the ES' are like because I haven't used them, but I did have a 7mm T6 Nagler in the past. It was very sharp on the moon, but, the odd shadings and colour changes when moving your eye around were distracting. I couldn't put up with that so I sold it in favour of an 8mm LVW which has none of those issues.

[apaulo]

i had the starguiders, then wanted to upgrade, mostly for contrast, so went with the vixen slv,s i found them an improvement, better contrast but less fov. i have now gone onto the morpheus, contrast  to me seems a bit better but the fov makes a massive difference.  but  it seems ,greed through demand for them has increased the price.

[Guest 12green]

Thanks for help. Are Vixen SLV are warmer/cooler colour on axis than Starguiders.

[Louis D]

3 hours ago, 12green said:

Thanks for help. Are Vixen SLV are warmer/cooler colour on axis than Starguiders.

If they're similar to the older LVs, then they are warmer and view a bit darker.

[John]

3 hours ago, 12green said:

Thanks for help. Are Vixen SLV are warmer/cooler colour on axis than Starguiders.

The SLVs have a very similar presentation to the Pentax XWs I felt, but with a smaller AFoV of course.

 

Edited November 27, 2021 by John

[Guest 12green]

Should there still be a marginal upgrade in performance using binoviwers with SLV over Starguiders in SCT? 

[Ricochet]

3 hours ago, John said:

The SLVs have a very similar presentation to the Pentax XWs I felt, but with a smaller AFoV of course.

 

I agree with this. 

45 minutes ago, 12green said:

Should there still be a marginal upgrade in performance using binoviwers with SLV over Starguiders in SCT? 

Definitely. Most people concentrate on image correction when comparing eyepieces and internal baffling, light scatter and reflections are ignored. The SLVs are significantly better than the Starguiders in this regard. Space will be blacker, the object you are looking at will be sharper and there will be no reflections of the object floating around the view (although you may still see reflections and scatter from the binoviewer).