Svbony Vs Celestron Zoom

[Sulaco85]

Sorry I know this is covered in various existing posts. However hard to find specific advise on this. 

I have a heritage 130p and looking at my first eyepiece upgrade. I was looking at the BST starguider as they seem to be well reviewed on here. Especially for my level which is a permanantly experienced beginner! 

However I do like the idea of zooms, albeit with the loss of AFOV. Mainly for exposing doubles, general exploring and without having to swap out eyepieces is an appeal. I'm narrowed down to a svbony and celestron zoom. I was then going to couple this with my existing barlow and and BST 25mm or a superplossi 32mm

So long story short. Anyone have experience with these zooms?  And what would you recommend I go for. 

Or are there any other suggestions? I'm happy to learn.

 

Thanks!

 

[Sulaco85]

I should have mentioned that I am aware of better more expensive eyepieces but they're out my budget. 

I do like the idea of at least one low magnification piece with a large AFOV. To get lost in space to.

[cajen2]

I use one of these:

https://www.firstlightoptics.com/ovl-eyepieces/hyperflex-72mm-215mm-eyepiece.html

It does a good job at a relatively low price. They do a 9-27mm too.  Sorry I can't compare it with the Svbony or Celestron as I haven't tried them.

Edited October 19, 2022 by cajen2

[Mark at Beaufort]

I have two zooms both SvBony which I use my PST and the 90mm Achro frac. Of the two I would say that the 7-21mm is better. I have used many more expensive zooms but I am satisfied with the quality of the SvBony zooms. I have never bought a Celestron zoom.

[Louis D]

Here's a thread on CN from two years ago on this very subject.

[Sulaco85]

Ah thanks for that! 

Seems like much of a muchness. Tempted to go for the svbony then 7-21 and and then maybe a 25 and 35 for wider viewing. 

[Guest]

Maybe look at the Celestron 8 to 24 as well.  At its price point its pretty decent. 

[LDW1]

I went with the 7.2-21.6 Svbony zoom because it has a wider fov, works well. But I must admit I also have the Svbony 10-30 and 8-24 and they work just as well and all are solidly built.  PS:  And I have the Baader IV but for 3-4x the price it is no better in any way.

[LDW1]

I had the older model Celestron 8-24 zoom with the chrome barrel which apparently was the better Celestron zoom, as a matter of fact I had 2. When I got into the Svbonys I sold the Celestrons.

[Second Time Around]

Here are some thoughts on the zooms I've used so far, excluding the expensive APM Superzoom that is now my most used eyepiece:

Hyperflex 9-27mm.

I compared it with my Baader during the day on my shed. Even though the focal lengths are lower, the actual field of view at 27mm is about the same as the Baader 8-24mm at 24mm. Nor was it as sharp as the Baader in my f/6 refractor. I was planning to try it with my Quark, but there were no sunny days or clear nights before I passed it on to two of my grandkids to use with the 70mm f/10 I bought them for Xmas. Not surprisingly, it was better at f/10. Not Dioptrx compatible.

Svbony 7-21mm.

I tested it on a very low down Saturn, and surprisingly found that on my f/6 refractor it was as good as the Baader on axis. However, sharpness fell off somewhat off axis plus the field of view was quite a bit smaller. However, trying it on prominences with my Quark it was way behind the Baader, seemingly because of lower contrast. I bought this firstly for outreach rather than risking my Baader zoom. Secondly, it's very small and light, even compared to other Svbony models, so I thought it might therefore be useful in binoviewers. I need to test it further at night when my binoviewers come back from repair, but will almost certainly keep it for the reasons given. Dioptrx compatible with O-ring.

Celestron 8-24mm.

The version I bought was the spotting scope one, so it might be different to the astro model. The first thing I noticed was that it was even less parfocal than my Baader. In fact, none of these 4 zooms are parfocal to my aged eyes, but might be to someone younger. The field of view was also smaller. What disqualified it completely though was that it wasn't threaded for filters or screw in Barlows. I therefore returned it without further testing. Dioptrx compatible with O-ring.

Baader 8-24mm.

This is more expensive than those above, and not surprisingly outclassed all of them, both in sharpness/contrast and field of view.  Until I bought an even better but more expensive APM Superzoom it used to be by far my most used eyepiece, although I also own a selection of quality fixed focal length eyepieces. Dioptrx compatible with O-ring. The only downside, that's really important only for binoviewing with a Dioptrx, is that unlike most zooms the eyelens rotates when zooming.

Edited December 31, 2022 by Second Time Around