25mm Celestron X-Cel LX

[Zeta Reticulan]

The Celestron X-Cel LX has an apparent field of view of 60º. There are six internal elements. I have no information on the amount of groups. The eyepiece body is made of black anodised aluminium with orange and white lettering. Celestron declares that it has a 16mm eye relief. They also claim the X-Cel LX are parfocal with the others in the range. Although this is not strictly true in my experience with them. I paid £109 for the 25mm last year.

The housing (including barrel) is approximately 85mm in length and 95mm with the twist-up eyeguard extended. It has a generous eye lens and I make the field stop about 26mm. The housing sports a novel equatorial treaded rubber grip reminiscent of a tractor tyre. The barrel includes a filter thread, adequate baffling and a shallow undercut. The eyepiece weighs around 170g according to my scales and is supplied with its own bolt case.

I now own several X-Cel LX eyepieces. About seven years ago I acquired the 9mm.

It was the first X-Cel LX I bought. As it had a 60º FOV I tended to use it predominantly as a planetary eyepiece. It was only years later that I discovered just how good the 9mm X-Cel was for rich field observing, particularly in short tube refractors.

The original Celestron X-Cel eyepiece range were reputedly among the worst designed eyepieces in the world. They were not particularly successful. Celestron eventually released a new range with the same X-Cel brand name but with the letters ‘LX’ added. So, no confusion there then! These LX versions generally have a very good reputation. Although I have had quality control problems with them in the past. Three or four years ago I had to return three 7mm focal length LX’s consecutively due to visible debris in the field. This was a known problem with some other focal lengths as well. Apparently due to a bad batch. I’ve not had the same problem with recent purchases.

X-Cel LX eye lens dust caps are very close fitting. This seems to be the same throughout the range. The upside is that the cap won’t come off if the eyepiece is in your pocket. The downside is that you may lose a fingernail trying to remove the cap in the first place. Okay, maybe it’s not that bad. The field lens caps are fine.

I got first light with the 25mm X-Cel LX in my 72ED DS Pro Evostar. It gave 16.8x for (about) 3º, 34’ FOV with a 4.3mm exit pupil. My main observing was in the Summer Triangle and the rich star fields within and around it. Collinder 399 (Coathanger Cluster), M57, M29 and M27 were all duly observed. I used an Explore Scientific broadband OIII filter for the Dumbbell/Applecore Nebula and the Veil Nebula. The overall sharpness and colour separation were superb. It is a well corrected eyepiece and showed very little edge astigmatism and no lateral colour. I’d say it had a slight edge on my 25mm TS Optics Planetary HR which has a similar field of 58º. I found the eye placement excellent and with no ergonomic problems, although the 16mm eye relief is a little long for me. The twist-up eyeguard helped with ameliorating this somewhat. I’ve always liked the X-Cel eyeguards. They have an elegant simplicity that works well during actual observing.

Overall this is an enjoyable eyepiece to use and I specifically bought it for the 72ED, primarily due to its comparatively light weight. It’s definitely a keeper.

 

 

[ScouseSpaceCadet]

The 25mm Celestron X-Cel LX was the first mid range eyepiece I bought to replace the stock Skywatcher 25mm. A pre-owned bargain I had for three years, being replaced with a 24mm 65° Altair UFF. I did enjoy the feel, eye relief, relatively light weight and view through the Celestron, however combined with f5-f6 reflectors there was some edge 'seagulling'.

The new price has increased by approx. a third since I bought mine, so they're less of a bargain with the likes of Vixen, APM, Svbony, Altair etc offering excellent glass in the same price range and for beginners, the ever popular BST Starguiders still holding their price below £50.

Great review, thanks. 👍

[Zeta Reticulan]

25 minutes ago, ScouseSpaceCadet said:

The 25mm Celestron X-Cel LX was the first mid range eyepiece I bought to replace the stock Skywatcher 25mm. A pre-owned bargain I had for three years, being replaced with a 24mm 65° Altair UFF. I did enjoy the feel, eye relief, relatively light weight and view through the Celestron, however combined with f5-f6 reflectors there was some edge 'seagulling'.

The new price has increased by approx. a third since I bought mine, so they're less of a bargain with the likes of Vixen, APM, Svbony, Altair etc offering excellent glass in the same price range and for beginners, the ever popular BST Starguiders still holding their price below £50.

Great review, thanks. 👍

You're welcome, and thanks. I agree they're probably less of a bargain these days. I've used the 9mm with a Barlow in a a Newt' for planetary, so never noticed any avian distortion. It's odd how some eyepieces used in reflectors with faster focal ratios can show edge astigmatism, and yet are fine in refractors of the same f/number. 

Edited September 4, 2022 by Zeta Reticulan

[McQ]

I own the 25, 7, 5 mm, and 2x barlow Xcel eyepieces and like them very much although I don't have anything better to compare against. Compared to 25mm Orion/Celestron/etc Chinese plossls, the Xcel is much more comfortable and easy to use with better contrast and wider fov of course. The 7mm vs a 7mm TMB II = Xcel has a wider fov but otherwise they are more similar than I would have expected. The Xcel has a slight edge but both are good on planets. I haven't been able to use the 5mm yet. 

[LDW1]

Several years ago I had almost the full line up of LX's and 2x barlow, they put up great views in my 8-10 scopes but alas I up graded not because I had to but because I just wanted to so I sold them. For the price they are many times overlooked for their quality, their performance. And then I bought another LX 25mm, my smaller refractors couldn't live without it, they preferred it to my 24mm Panoptic, lol !

Edited February 5, 2023 by LDW1

[andrew63]

The 25 LX performs very well in my fast F5 refractors. False colour aside from the scope, it's sharp to near the  edge of view.  Image taken through 4" F5 with 25mm Celestron x-cel lx provides an immersive 3 deg. view.

[bosun21]

I bought three X-Cell’s and just couldn’t get to like them at all and sold them. I was looking at the LX-Cells for a time as they appeared to be a substantial improvement on their predecessors and had positive reports. Maybe in the future 🤔