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Upgrade route.


Kluson

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With our Nexstar 6SE SCT we have been using the Celestron eyepiece and filter kit. This has been great to get started but now the time has come to start upgrading. The 25mm which came with the scope is ok. I like the 17mm too.  Our plan is to sell the kit and replace with perhaps 3 quality eyepieces and perhaps the 2.5 powermate.  The choice of Manufacturers seems huge. 
Do you guys have any recommendations. 
I was thinking perhaps the Baader Hyperion range and Tele Vue powermate.  Maybe the Tele Vue Delite? What about Williams Optics?

looking forward to your thoughts

cheers

D

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What do you like to look at? What field of view are you comfortable with as minimum is usually 50 degrees which I find restrictive. Do you need long eye relief due to wearing glasses? Budget? 1.25 or 2 inch?

I've got all sorts of 1.25 inch plossls from 3.2mm to 32mm and Televue aren't necessarily the best, they are also the lowest FOV eyepieces I have. I wear glasses and pretty much all of them aren't usable whilst wearing glasses.

I like my Vixen NPL 30mm, Meade UWA 8.8mm 82 degrees, WO Swan 9mm and 15mm, the TV 20mm and 32mm are arguably sharpest and most contrasty but not the most used.

Edited by Elp
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+1 for the Morpheus - my favourite range of EPs. Also check out the two StellaLyra 2" 80° (14 and 20mm) for really wide views. The 20mm has a similar FOV to a 30+mm Plossl, with obviously much larger magnification and is bright and sharp right across the field.

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With your focal length a 7mm eyepiece would give x214 which is perfect for high power.

I'm not sure a x2.5 Powermate would be the best choice therefore. I have one, they are fabulous, but better in short focal length scopes unless you want only a couple of long focal length eyepieces. An 18mm eyepiece would give x208.

If you want something compact, I'm getting a lot of enjoyment from these at the moment:

1750103409_DSC_0368_DxO1200.jpg.780d7fe6e05eadedb756d1e78b35fce4.jpg

You can get two for the price of a Powermate :wink2:

You might want to think about a low power eyepiece too. As you will be limited to 1.25" eyepieces how about a 24mm 68° like an Explore Scientific, or, twice the price, but not necessarily twice as good, the TeleVue Panoptic.
I say 1.25" eyepieces - this is because the baffle tube on the 6SE is 27mm, therefore, moving up to 2" eyepieces would be a waste of money as you wouldn't be able to go much wider than the 24mm 1.25" options.

There are so many to choose from! But, a good quality eyepiece will always increase your enjoyment.

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14 hours ago, Louis D said:

Your scope is an f/10 with a 1500mm focal length.  It's already exit pupil challenged.  Why would you want to pile on that with a 2.5x PM?  You'd effectively have an f/25 at 3750mm focal length scope.

 I also have a 60mm refractor 360mm fl, F5.9, so the power mate would be used for that scope

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8 hours ago, Kluson said:

 I also have a 60mm refractor 360mm fl, F5.9, so the power mate would be used for that scope

Okay, that makes perfect sense.  You didn't mention that up front.  The Hyperions will be fine in the SCT, but a bit iffy at the edges in the refractor.  The main reason to choose them is the long eye relief with 68 degree AFOV.  The 24mm is the worst of the bunch because it's purely a positive-only design along the lines of an Erfle.  Here's a Vixen LVW vs Baader Hyperion comparison written up a decade ago when the LVWs were still available new.  You can substitute Pentax XW, Delite, Delos, or Morpheus for the Vixen because all are similarly well corrected for the most part.  FWIW, 20+ years ago I chose the Pentax XLs over the Vixen LVWs, so if you come across either XLs or LVWs used, both are excellent options.  I would avoid used Radians because they suffer from SAEP (kidney beaning).  They're super sharp and contrasty otherwise.

If you don't need long eye relief, there are the Nirvana-ES/Astro-Tech UWA series with 82 degree AFOV and 12mm eye relief.  They are pretty well corrected for the price.  If that price is a bit high, there are the Starguider BSTs.  There are also the StellaLyra 68º LER / WA, but it's not clear that they're an improvement in correction over the Hyperions.

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5 hours ago, Louis D said:

The ES 68/82 lines used to be a great deal when they came out, then they jacked up the prices to very close to Tele Vue prices.  For instance, the 40mm ES-68 is $519 while the 41mm Panoptic is $576.

Not quite, the ES 40mm is £299 and the Panoptic is £598 - twice the price. 

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8 hours ago, Mr Spock said:

Not quite, the ES 40mm is £299 and the Panoptic is £598 - twice the price. 

Louis forgot you don't pay the punitive 25% tariff for ES that US dealers have to pay.

Still, a 25% add-on to the wholesale price should only add 20% to the retail price, so that doesn't explain a 65% higher price in the US than in the UK.

Explore Scientific is well-known to jack the prices up and then put them on sale 20% off for extended periods of time, here in the US.

So that may be what is going on.

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19 hours ago, Moonlit Knight said:

I think they are astonishingly good value for money in the UK at least, check out the FLO website 

I agree with you, however, I bought all mine at the early US prices from Agena Astro, they were a real snip when they first came out.

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