What is your top 3 eyepieces under $100?

[spcookiee]

Pretty new here and i'm looking for a medium to high power eyepiece. I have an f4.7 scope.

Regards

[Elp]

What scope, and what are you planning on looking at?

[Louis D]

If you can find used copies of the discontinued 9mm and 6.5mm Meade 5000 HD-60 eyepieces, they are real gems that perform very close to Pentax XL/XW and Morpheus levels at f/6.  They were under $100 each when new.  They're also quite usable with eyeglasses.  They should still perform well at f/4.7, but I can't confirm that as I don't have a scope that fast.

If eye relief isn't an issue, there are a whole lot of options out there; but many, like the Abbe Orthoscopic suffer a bit at f/4.7.

[IB20]

9mm BGO

10mm BCO

5mm BST Starguider

Don’t know if they work well at f4.7 though.

 

[Roy Challen]

55 minutes ago, IB20 said:

9mm BGO

10mm BCO

5mm BST Starguider

Don’t know if they work well at f4.7 though.

 

Not had a 5mm Starguider, but concur with the Baaders. 

For me, I'd go with Baader 32mm Plossl, Baader 18mm BCO, and Baader 10mm BCO. 

Like IB20, no idea if they're any good at f/4.7, my fastest scope is f/10...by some margin!

[Mr Spock]

I use the Vixen SLV 6mm, 5mm and 4mm in my 12" f5. They are razor sharp right to the edge.

[Roy Challen]

13 minutes ago, Mr Spock said:

I use the Vixen SLV 6mm, 5mm and 4mm in my 12" f5. They are razor sharp right to the edge.

Yep, but over $100 new, at least in the UK they are.

[Mr Spock]

Difficult to see US prices. One site came up at $90.

[Louis D]

Vixen SLVs are $175 before tax from most reputable retailers here in the US.  You can get used Pentax XLs for that money quite regularly.

I forgot to mention used Vixen LVs.  They generally go for under $75 each on the astro classifieds here in the US.  They view like Pentax XLs/XWs, just narrower in field of view.  They should perform excellently at f/4.7.  I've had my 9mm version for 25 years.

[spcookiee]

9 hours ago, Elp said:

What scope, and what are you planning on looking at?

I have a 10 inch dobsonian. Mainly planets 

Edited April 14, 2022 by spcookiee

[spcookiee]

Eye relief and FOV is not an issue.

[spcookiee]

5 hours ago, IB20 said:

9mm BGO

10mm BCO

5mm BST Starguider

Don’t know if they work well at f4.7 though.

 

I'm a bit confused as to what the baader BCO is.

[Victor Boesen]

40 minutes ago, spcookiee said:

I'm a bit confused as to what the baader BCO is.

Baader Classic Ortho. The BGO is the older Baader Genuine Ortho.

[Guest]

I have 3 of the Orion planetary edge on 1.25 inch eyepieces.  5mm, 9mm and 12.5mm.  They do quite well on the planets and run right about 100 bucks a pop.  

[jetstream]

2 hours ago, spcookiee said:

I'm a bit confused as to what the baader BCO is.

 The 10mm Baader Classic ortho is an excellent eyepiece, very sharp, deep and with excellent contrast. A bit low on mag with your 10" dob on the planets but this eyepiece barlows extremely well.

[spcookiee]

I have decided on either the: Baader BCO 10mm or the BST starguider 8mm/12mm

[NGC 1502]

1 hour ago, spcookiee said:

I have decided on either the: Baader BCO 10mm or the BST starguider 8mm/12mm

I can recommend the BST 8mm, works surprisingly well in my 10” f4.8. Same for the BST 5mm for high power.

[IB20]

4 hours ago, jetstream said:

 The 10mm Baader Classic ortho is an excellent eyepiece, very sharp, deep and with excellent contrast. A bit low on mag with your 10" dob on the planets but this eyepiece barlows extremely well.

I had some astoundingly good views of Mars with a barlowed 10mm BCO last opposition in an 8” f5.9 dob. The BST 5mm was also excellent, only a hair’s breadth behind.

They’ve got some competition this year with the Pentax 5XW. 😀

Edited April 15, 2022 by IB20

[wookie1965]

My 15mm BST is my goto eyepiece absolutely brilliant when going to higher mag I have got a old 10mm vixen silver top which is crystal clear amazing eyepiece and when barlowed in my Tal x2 it does not lose anything.

[Elp]

Bst is good though the 3.2 might be too much mag so one of the above recommended would be better. One of my sharpest is the WO swan 9mm. More comfortable to use than a TV 11mm plossl. My comparison is via a f5.9 refractor and f5 Newtonian.

[Zermelo]

4 hours ago, IB20 said:

barlowed 10mm BCO

Agreed. When I've been trying to split tight doubles with a faint companion, I've often had more success with the barlowed BCO than with a shorter, unbarlowed EP. The low level of scatter helps the faint ones to stand out.

[Ricochet]

18 hours ago, Louis D said:

If you can find used copies of the discontinued 9mm and 6.5mm Meade 5000 HD-60 eyepieces, they are real gems that perform very close to Pentax XL/XW and Morpheus levels at f/6.  They were under $100 each when new.  They're also quite usable with eyeglasses.  They should still perform well at f/4.7, but I can't confirm that as I don't have a scope that fast.

If eye relief isn't an issue, there are a whole lot of options out there; but many, like the Abbe Orthoscopic suffer a bit at f/4.7.

Aren't the HD-60s supposed to be the same eyepiece as the Celestron X-Cel LX internally? I had the 7mm X-Cel LX and remember it as being a very good eyepiece. In a way it is a shame that I sold it as it would have been good to reassess it now I'm a much more experienced observer.

[Louis D]

1 hour ago, Ricochet said:

Aren't the HD-60s supposed to be the same eyepiece as the Celestron X-Cel LX internally? I had the 7mm X-Cel LX and remember it as being a very good eyepiece. In a way it is a shame that I sold it as it would have been good to reassess it now I'm a much more experienced observer.

Since I've never used the Celestrons, I cannot confirm that.  However, there is a strong possibility they are related making the 7mm and 9mm basically the same.  I just like the adjustable eyecup design on the Meades better, so I bought a set of them for comparison to the BST Starguiders (Paradigms).  Those two focal lengths were noticeably better in head to head comparison with the 5mm and 8mm BSTs.

[Ricochet]

6 minutes ago, Louis D said:

Since I've never used the Celestrons, I cannot confirm that.  However, there is a strong possibility they are related making the 7mm and 9mm basically the same.  I just like the adjustable eyecup design on the Meades better, so I bought a set of them for comparison to the BST Starguiders (Paradigms).  Those two focal lengths were noticeably better in head to head comparison with the 5mm and 8mm BSTs.

I thought the same comparing the 7mm X-Cel LX to the 8mm Starguider. 

[jetstream]

7 hours ago, IB20 said:

I had some astoundingly good views of Mars with a barlowed 10mm BCO last opposition in an 8” f5.9 dob

The 10mm BCO will pull away from many other eyepieces under the right conditions ie cooled, collimated accurately and great seeing. Honestly the 10mm BCO hangs right in there with my Docter 12.5mm UWA for sharpness and contrast.

The 10mm BCO goes deeper than the Docter however.

The BCO is a Zeiss design and some say it is not a "true" ortho. The field is opened up to 50 deg and will show some small distortion with ortho purists quick to point this out. Years ago I tested many orthos with some also showing hints of distortion....

Just for reference balancing distortion is a function of eyepiece design- TV chooses pincushion distortion over barrel distortion- Many Televue enthusiasts dislike the Docter 12.5mm UWA for this reason as it shows a small bit of it at the edges, squeezing stars together a tiny amount.

In my large dobs I use a 10mm Delos a lot and when wanting to confirm very faint objects I use the 10mm BCO as it shows a tiny, but real amount deeper than the Delos.

Edited April 15, 2022 by jetstream