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Which eyepieces would suit me?


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Hey everyone, this is a follow up to my last thread, I was going to buy an eyepiece set but have been advised to get a few higher quality ones instead.

I have a Skywatcher 200p on an eq5 mount, I have the 25 and 10mm eps that came with and also a 2x barlow.

I would like ideally to have a good planetary ep which will give the best views of jupiter and also what would be good for viewing dso's?

Is the barlow that came with my scope ok or does that need replacing too?

Stefski is selling some ep's, are these a good deal or should I go for new? http://stargazerslounge.com/sale/76864-credit-crunch-ep-sale.html

Really, i'd only like to spend £150 at the moment as funds are low so could I get 2 or maybe 3 good eypieces?

Thanks for any input:)

James

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Skywatcher ep`s are not to bad quality, you have a good aperature (8") in that scope which is more important as lets in more light, put a request out one the wanted forum for a second had set, for £150 you would get a better bargain than buying individual pieces and a nice case to keep them all in, you should get something like a Meade 4000 series set or something like that for the amount of money you have to spend

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Hello James,

I've had a Skywatcher 200mm Explorer Newtonian - with the same eyepieces as you have now. (10mm, 25mm and the 2x Barlow). I found that the 10mm was pretty basic (OK for views of Moon), the 25mm was OK, and so was the Barlow. (In fact I used the Skywatcher Barlow successfully with a pair of Binoviewers I have).

With Regard to buying eyepieces, I would tend to wait until you see something suitable in the "for Sale" sections of SGL. You can pick up some nice "second hand" eyepieces at very reasonable prices. Eyepieces don't wear out, and I would think that all the eypeices you would see for sale on SGL, have been well looked after.

I would tend to look for the "Meade's" and "Celestron's." Also "Vixen" and TAL are good. These eyepieces tend to go for reasonable prices.

For £150 you should be able to obtain at least 4 decent eyepieces and perhaps a TAL 3x Barlow.

Regards,

philsail1

P.S. I'll have a rummage around in my eyepiece box and see if I have anything which is suitable for the Skywatcher 200mm.

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Hi James,

Phil gives some good advice there. Buying used is a great way to get good eyepieces at great prices, you just need to be a bit patient.

Apart from the brands that Phil lists I would also look out for:

TMB / Burgess Planetaries - they come in medium to short focal lengths and are very good medium to high power eyepieces.

Celestron Ultimas - now discontinued but excellent and often at bargain prices used.

Orion Ultrascopics / Parks Gold Series - clones of the Ultimas and the same applies.

Tele Vue Plossls - possibly the best plossl's available and can be suprisingly cheap used.

Meade 3000 series - good glass (Japanese), often very low cost and underrated IMHO

Skywatcher Ultra Wide Angle - 9mm - the 9mm is reputed to be the best of this series and, again, is often low cost used.

Thats just a few names to look out for and all should be under £50 apiece used (well under that in some cases).

John

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Hello James,

I've looked through my eyepiece collection and unfortunately, I don't have any suitable ones to offer you at present.

I would take note of the selection that John mentions above, and look out for any that may appear from time to time in the "For Sale" section on SGL.

Of course you could go for the "Revelation" eyepiece collection which "Red Dwarf" mentions. It does seem very good value at £134.00. It is made up of "Plossls" which are reocgnised as being excellent eyepieces for the money. (You would need to decide if you are going to use the "extras" in the set).

In my opinion, the best eyepieces (for the money) to look out for are the Celestron Orthoscopics. Look for sizes such as 9mm, 10mm, 14mm, 18mm. I don't know if they make any above those sizes. All these can be used in conjunction with a decent Barlow (such as a Celestron Ultima, or TAL 2x or 3x - which you can buy new a a reasonable price). I have the 18mm Celestron, and it's an excellent eyepiece for my Orion Optics 8" f4.5 scope, so it should work fine for your Skywatcher 200mm.

Best wishes,

philsail1

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Hi James,

I have a set of Revelation plossls and they work well on my F/7.5 Refractor but when I got a Meade F/4 10" SNT they couldn't handle the steep light cone so I bought secondhand (£45 each) 15mm and 20mm Televue plossls which are superb and work very well on short focal length scopes.

But testing both against the revelations at F/7.5 there was actually not much of a noticable difference ie revelations are good in the right scope!, you have an F/5 scope so the Televues may be a good choice.

I bought a skywathcher 26mm Panaview EP (astrobaby has the 38mm) and that is nice on both my scopes. see thread http://stargazerslounge.com/equipment-reviews/76392-sw-panaview-26mm-ep.html

But look around for secondhand there is a lot of stuff out there.

Good hunting and clear skies

Pete

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If you can afford a premium Plossl, then I would suggest the Celestron Omni, Meade 5000, or Televue Plossl, in that order. The Televues are the most expensive in that lot. A Plossl will give you a good view of planets, the Moon, or DSOs. It's sort of the chevy sedan of eps.

I like the Antares w70 that I have. It's a comfortable, sharp ep to use, and about the price of the Celestron Omnis. It has a AFOV of 67º.

I would suggest lengths of 5, 7.5, 20, and 32mm, which combine with your 2x Barlow to give 2.5, 3.75, 5, 7.5, 10, 16, 20 and 32mm. If you cant' afford them all at once, get the 5 and the 32 last.

Just a thought.

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It is a fast scope, so you don`t want to buy any cheap wide-angle eps, as you will probably lose considerable sharpness at the edges. The eps mentioned above should serve you well, but it`s a good idea to ask the vendor how the ep performs in an f\5 scope.

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