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Beginners telescope and eye pieces


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It's long been rumoured that the Meade 5000 HD60 and Celestron X-Cel LX eyepiece ranges have identical optics made in the same factory. It's a distinct possibility. These two 12mm eyepieces are so similar I can actually use them in a binoviewer.

Edited by Zeta Reticulan
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That's crazy have you been observing the sky long I did have a 250p sky watcher dob which was great but was to bulky and big and due to having a baby I had to make room but I did persuade the wife to let me have a smaller scope lol I will be ordering the svbony zoom tonight with amazon as it's only £49.99 

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3 hours ago, Zeta Reticulan said:

long been rumoured that the Meade 5000 HD60 and Celestron X-Cel LX eyepiece ranges have identical optics

I have often wondered just how many of the 'optics' from Asia come from the same factory. May Paul Rini and Gary Russell EP's rule the cosmos! 🙂

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2 hours ago, CLOUD90 said:

That's crazy have you been observing the sky long I did have a 250p sky watcher dob which was great but was to bulky and big and due to having a baby I had to make room but I did persuade the wife to let me have a smaller scope lol I will be ordering the svbony zoom tonight with amazon as it's only £49.99 

Yeah, a big Dob' is not really suitable for a baby lol. I'd love to know who actually makes the SvBony/Orion zoom. 

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I did track SvBony to a residential area in the Yantian District at one stage. This area is also a 'Special Economic Zone' I believe. 

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Who knows?

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2 hours ago, SthBohemia said:

I have often wondered just how many of the 'optics' from Asia come from the same factory. May Paul Rini and Gary Russell EP's rule the cosmos! 🙂

I think they are all made in one huge automated underground factory by robots. I'm not sure where the robots are made. Probably in a huge automated underground factory in China. 

Edited by Zeta Reticulan
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On 01/08/2022 at 02:03, Zeta Reticulan said:

These Meade, Celestron and Astromania zooms are basically identical. The Meade has an aluminium barrel as opposed to the chromed brass of the other two. I can use two of them in a binoviewer.  

Looks like my cheap Starguider zoom, haha.

The OP should get one or two Plossl eyepieces, starting with a 25mm. Not expensive, and good enough for a long focal length beginner refractor.

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1 hour ago, Cosmic Geoff said:

Looks like my cheap Starguider zoom, haha.

Yep, that's the one!

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Does yours have a vase-type carrying case and MZT8-24 written on the screw top? These obviously all issue from the same factory. FWIW I think they're pretty decent zooms. The only real differences are cosmetic. The Meade has an aluminium barrel rather than the chromed brass of the others. I should imagine Meade requested this from the OEM. The Celestron has 'Celestron' written on the lid. I bet they don't cost 20 quid to actually make.

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I agree with Louis about a 32mm Plossl. I didn't originally recommend one as I don't always get on with eye positioning with most 32mm Plossls. The eye relief is a bit long for me as a rule. However, the 30mm Vixen NPL I find doesn't suffer from this. At one stage I always took the 30mm NPL out with my short tube refractors. I still find it a very useful eyepiece.

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The 40mm NPL is the only 40mm Plossl I find I can use comfortably. I have Celestron (Barsta) and Tele Vue 40mm Plossls and the Vixen is still used more. 40mm Plossls aren't very popular as they have a limited field. They can be useful on slow scopes though. The 40mm Celestron was bundled with my 9.25" Evolution.

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11 minutes ago, Zeta Reticulan said:

I bet they don't cost 20 quid to actually make.

Definitely a job for a spy such as yourself Zeta to ascertain. I will patiently look forward to your report once you infiltrate, 'one of the huge underground factories run by robots' within China (as you so aptly put it). Just hope they don't catch you as I am quite sure that capturing a spy who wishes to divulge the TRUE manufacturing costs of goods that the Chinese 'flog' to an unsuspecting world is a closely guarded secret! Punishable via an instant death sentence 😞 

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6 minutes ago, SthBohemia said:

Definitely a job for a spy such as yourself Zeta to ascertain. I will patiently look forward to your report once you infiltrate, 'one of the huge underground factories run by robots' within China (as you so aptly put it). Just hope they don't catch you as I am quite sure that capturing a spy who wishes to divulge the TRUE manufacturing costs of goods that the Chinese 'flog' to an unsuspecting world is a closely guarded secret! Punishable via an instant death sentence 😞 

I'm already on it ... (maybe)

 

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