Svbony 8-3 zoom

[Don Pensack]

Ernest Maratovich has tested a bunch of zoom eyepieces:

https://astro-talks.ru/forum/viewtopic.php?f=32&t=1483#p101290

Note which ones are highlighted blue (poor performance) and which are highlighted yellow (excellent performance).

Edited March 3 by Don Pensack

[LondonNeil]

On 02/03/2024 at 09:45, Ratlet said:

There is currently a sale on the official svbony website.  There are a few shipping options but I usually go for the one that includes customs and taxes which is more expensive but avoids hassle.  Using this option you can pick up the eyepiece for under £100 including delivery.

If the item is under £135, seller is supposed to collect the tax, so there should be no fees at customs.. .I think. 

I just had it in my basket and with shipping its a few pence over £81 shipped.  Tempted 

[Naughty Neal]

5 hours ago, LondonNeil said:

If the item is under £135, seller is supposed to collect the tax, so there should be no fees at customs.. .I think. 

I just had it in my basket and with shipping its a few pence over £81 shipped.  Tempted 

£81 shipped is as good a price you will likely see.  My one was £75 so with the popularity and sales they must have had, it surprises me that they are still selling a very nice ep at a discounted price.

For £81 one is effectively buying 10 ep's in one as one can use 0.5mm increments in between the main 1mm stops, nab one while the going is good.

Edited March 4 by Naughty Neal

[John]

After the initial run, I was half expecting the Svbony 3-8 zoom to jump in price. It would still be a decent buy at £200 apiece IMHO. I'm glad that has not happened though. It will be interesting to see if it comes out under one of the big name brandings at some point - I'll bet it would be a £200 eyepiece if it had Celestron, William Optics or Meade branding.

 

 

Edited March 4 by John

[Mr Spock]

You can get top quality now without spending hundreds per eyepiece. If I was starting from scratch on a limited budget, I reckon a 30mm UFF, 13mm Nirvana and the Svbony 3-8 would be a hard combination to beat for value. About £350 for the lot - or £20 more than just one of my TOE eyepieces 

[LondonNeil]

OK  I've ordered.  £81.18, I would not expect any vat/import to be due on top under current rules but I may be wrong so I'll have to wait and see. 

[Ratlet]

Provided you don't need long eye relief, I think it's probably one of the best options for a planetary eyepiece.  It covers such a vast range you don't need to worry about having too much power for the seeing and you are unlikely to stump out when you have great seeing.

Edit:  best options for a beginner planetary eyepiece.  Was mid fixing my doorbell when I posted and didn't proof read.

Edited March 4 by Ratlet

[Saganite]

12 minutes ago, Ratlet said:

Provided you don't need long eye relief, I think it's probably one of the best options for a planetary eyepiece.  It covers such a vast range you don't need to worry about having too much power for the seeing and you are unlikely to stump out when you have great seeing.

This I found again last night, and apart from a bigger FOV I saw nothing to complain about when I compared it to my Vixen LVW 3.5mm

Double star observing is one aspect and the 3-8mm zoom excels, but I have also had very high power views of the Moon with it, across its range, and I so far cannot fault it. 

Edited March 4 by Saganite

[Naughty Neal]

1 hour ago, LondonNeil said:

OK  I've ordered.  £81.18, I would not expect any vat/import to be due on top under current rules but I may be wrong so I'll have to wait and see. 

One shouldn't  get any others fees to pay.

I saw none with my Sv215, 18mm uff or xcel lx when I bought them.

[ST_Steve]

I too couldn’t resist at this price, just have to cope with the wait now…

[Highburymark]

On 03/03/2024 at 20:44, Don Pensack said:

Ernest Maratovich has tested a bunch of zoom eyepieces:

https://astro-talks.ru/forum/viewtopic.php?f=32&t=1483#p101290

Note which ones are highlighted blue (poor performance) and which are highlighted yellow (excellent performance).

Interesting that the 7-21 seems to be the best SVBony zoom according to these bench tests. Impressive.

[Highburymark]

3-8 zoom now £81 on SVBony website! Having just offloaded a couple of Delites because I have all the planetary eyepieces I need, I can’t justify joining the queue for the 3-8, but it’s an amazing price.

[Nakedgun]

~

Mine arrived yesterday, and I found the wider apparent field at the high-end more useful than the TV 3-6 zoom. Both showed round stars to the field edge.

 

 

.

[Ratlet]

If anyone me has been given the royalmail website and a tracking number that doesn't work on it, this works instead:

https://t.17track.net/

I ordered stuff from them ages ago and that was the original site they sent then.  Although thinking back to it I don't think it updates very often so it's not a great deal of use other than to know that it has actually been shipped.

[LondonNeil]

Tracking in mine still shows just 'sender dispatching the item' 🙁😩😫

Still.... forecast is still clouds so it shan't matter for a while!

[Ratlet]

I was an early adopter so I took a punt on their 2" click lock diagonal and the aluminium carry handle instead.  Will be interesting to see how it goes, although at the moment my 102ed is fitted with a 1.25" circle T prism diagonal so I'm hopeful it will be an improvement.

[ST_Steve]

Thanks @Ratlet I too had a Royal Mail tracking number from Svbony that I couldn’t track. Using the site you quoted it turns out EVRI are the UK carrier.

Just hope it gets delivered as I have had three non-deliveries via EVRI recently, all were ‘lost’ in their systems (thankfully fully refunded by senders) 😭

Edited March 13 by ST_Steve
added further information

[Ratlet]

I was an early adopter of the 3-8mm so I took a punt on their 2" sv223 click lock diagonal and the aluminium carry handle and finder bracket instead.  Will be interesting to see how it goes, although at the moment my 102ed is fitted with a 1.25" circle T prism diagonal so I'm hopeful it will be an improvement.

Edited March 13 by Ratlet

[LondonNeil]

So Wednesday tracking showed as dispatching,  and 15 minutes ago it arrived!  Looks and feels good quality. 

Also in the box were some svbony glasses. Very very dark indeed,  highly mirrored. Eclipse viewers?  No paperwork or label and just a freebie it seems.....🤷‍♂️🤷‍♀️🤷‍♂️

[Mr Spock]

Mine just says 'We've got it, parcel accepted by Evri gateway'. Who knows when it will arrive 

[Naughty Neal]

I have a lot more faith in EVRI delivery here then I do with RM. 

Edited March 15 by Naughty Neal

[Ratlet]

7 hours ago, Mr Spock said:

Mine just says 'We've got it, parcel accepted by Evri gateway'. Who knows when it will arrive 

From memory my last order came through from evri and it didn't really update until it had basically arrived.  My recent order was received by the on 06/03, no updates since.  Fortunately the weather is rubbish and I'm working.

[ST_Steve]

On 15/03/2024 at 12:36, Mr Spock said:

Mine just says 'We've got it, parcel accepted by Evri gateway'. Who knows when it will arrive 

My understanding is that EVRI knows the parcel is on its way and are ready to collect when released by customs.

My order was placed 4th March and for information I had the same tracking message on the 8th March. Yesterday (17th) changed to ‘We’ve got it’ parcel collected. Tracking details by EVRI aren’t the best and items can be delivered before any updates! I’ll report back if and when this changes. HTH?

[John]

The message you don't want is "We've got it and we rather like it so we are going to keep it" 😁

[ST_Steve]

I should laugh @John but it’s happened to me three times recently (all EVRI) 😭