Heads up on a Vixen 2" 30mm

[Franklin]

If anyone fancies one of these Bresser UK are selling them at a terrific discount right now, less than 1/2 price.

[Alan White]

That is a significant discount.

I owned one of these a few years back, but sadly it would focus in my Vixen 103,
something of a surprise with a Vixen EP and scope combination.
 

[Froeng]

Wow, that is an amazing deal! My favourite deep-sky eyepiece for my C8. I would buy one if I hadn’t got one already! 

[Franklin]

1 hour ago, Alan White said:

I owned one of these a few years back, but sadly it would focus in my Vixen 103,
something of a surprise with a Vixen EP and scope combination.

You are right, they do have a very short focus and I can only use mine with the 103 when combined with the stock visual back. With the Baader clicklock on, forget it!

[Louis D]

That's a great deal, but they don't ship to the US.  Explore Scientific (the US Vixen distributor) still has it at $249 before tax.

[bomberbaz]

Should work nicely in my 102ed and my existing eyepiece at that size isn't the best. Order placed, thanks for the heads up

[bomberbaz]

3 hours ago, Franklin said:

If anyone fancies one of these Bresser UK are selling them at a terrific discount right now, less than 1/2 price.

telescope house also same price but I think they are one and the same

 

[badhex]

Would love to read a review of this one - anyone on SGL or CN written anything substantial? 

[bomberbaz]

2 hours ago, badhex said:

Would love to read a review of this one - anyone on SGL or CN written anything substantial? 

According to @Don Pensack review on here Vixen 30mm NLVW... - Eyepieces - Cloudy Nights the design is probably same/similar to an erfle, more suited to a longer focal length ota.

I am beginning to wonder if I should cancel mine now, twas an impulse buy and reading this review (and a few others which are readily available), other than looking nice and being vixen, it isn't all that spectacular.

[badhex]

8 minutes ago, bomberbaz said:

According to @Don Pensack review on here Vixen 30mm NLVW... - Eyepieces - Cloudy Nights the design is probably same/similar to an erfle, more suited to a longer focal length ota.

I am beginning to wonder if I should cancel mine now, twas an impulse buy and reading this review (and a few others which are readily available), other than looking nice and being vixen, it isn't all that spectacular.

Cheers Steve, I saw this as well and wondered if anyone had written any more in depth reviews/comparisons. My feelings are similar to yours; although it is obviously a lot cheaper (whilst on offer), it seems at least from a cursory search like it may not beat the 30mm UFF. I'll have a dig around and report back if I find anything.

[badhex]

Silly me. Should have just checked if Ernest had written a review before posting here, which of course he has:

https://astro--talks-ru.translate.goog/forum/viewtopic.php?f=32&t=573&start=25&_x_tr_sl=ru&_x_tr_tl=en&_x_tr_hl=en-US&_x_tr_pto=wapp&_x_tr_sch=http#p46443

Short version: he does not recommend it for a number of reasons including the image quality being like a sub-par Erfle, and the significant focus travel needed to reach focus. I'll read the rest in more detail later but seems like it may not be comparable to the rest of the line. 

@Froeng seems to have had good experiences though - would love to hear more! 

[Froeng]

I am using this eyepiece in my C8. I have no experience with it in shorter focal ratio telescopes.

The main advantage over the 30mm UFF is - in my opinion - the weight. The Vixen is very light weight for what it is. I compared the two in the shop when I bought the Vixen.

Generally, I also like the (not ultra) wide field of view. I prefer the view to be framed. I can see the fieldstop all the way around wearing glasses.

It is also VERY easy to look through - no black out, eye position is not critical. Overall I find the experience very relaxing and therefor enjoyable.

As far as I can tell, the stars are sharp across the field.

Another aspect I like is that it comes to focus with my (short) 2” diagonal and the Celestron reducer. Yes, the star shapes deteriorate slightly towards the edge and there is some vignetting. But you cannot beat the view of the Veil Nebula using an O3-Filter in this combination.

There may be other, optically better eyepieces. I do not have a lot of comparisons as I don’t have access to many similar eyepieces. I have compared it to the old 30mm LV and the new version has a slightly wider field of view and is even easier on the eye-placement.

My only (subjective) criticism is the enormous aluminium cloak, which in my opinion would not have been necessary.

All very subjective, but these are my opinions. YMMV - as they say…

Frank

Edited February 11, 2023 by Froeng

[Don Pensack]

If you can afford it, the 30mmUFF is a far better eyepiece.

[badhex]

42 minutes ago, Don Pensack said:

If you can afford it, the 30mmUFF is a far better eyepiece.

I'll almost certainly buy the 30mm UFF eventually because the 24mm is very nice - not that I'm particularly in the market for a 30mm EP and I'm also without scopes for the next few months! When I saw that these Vixens are currently on offer for half-ish the cost of the UFF I thought maybe I'd get one posted to family ahead of my return but I'll probably give it a miss for now. 

[badhex]

1 hour ago, Froeng said:

I am using this eyepiece in my C8. I have no experience with it in shorter focal ratio telescopes.

The main advantage over the 30mm UFF is - in my opinion - the weight. The Vixen is very light weight for what it is. I compared the two in the shop when I bought the Vixen.

Generally, I also like the (not ultra) wide field of view. I prefer the view to be framed. I can see the fieldstop all the way around wearing glasses.

It is also VERY easy to look through - no black out, eye position is not critical. Overall I find the experience very relaxing and therefor enjoyable.

As far as I can tell, the stars are sharp across the field.

Another aspect I like is that it comes to focus with my (short) 2” diagonal and the Celestron reducer. Yes, the star shapes deteriorate slightly towards the edge and there is some vignetting. But you cannot beat the view of the Veil Nebula using an O3-Filter in this combination.

There may be other, optically better eyepieces. I do not have a lot of comparisons as I don’t have access to many similar eyepieces. I have compared it to the old 30mm LV and the new version has a slightly wider field of view and is even easier on the eye-placement.

My only (subjective) criticism is the enormous aluminium cloak, which in my opinion would not have been necessary.

All very subjective, but these are my opinions. YMMV - as they say…

Frank

Thanks Frank, glad to hear you've had good experiences with it, nice to hear some more in depth reports. It is a weird looking thing as you say! I'm not really in the market at the moment - I have a 24mm, 35mm 40mm and 41mm already 😂 but at the low price I was toying with the idea! 

[Zermelo]

Confused.
That CN thread, and Ernest's bench review, says 5 elements/3 groups, consistent with an Erfle variant.
But the Bresser web page says 8 elements/5 groups, more like the UFF (9 elements/5 groups).
But Bresser quote the same weight as Ernest (within a couple of grams), so is that a cut-and-paste error by Bresser?

[badhex]

9 minutes ago, Zermelo said:

Confused.
That CN thread, and Ernest's bench review, says 5 elements/3 groups, consistent with an Erfle variant.
But the Bresser web page says 8 elements/5 groups, more like the UFF (9 elements/5 groups).
But Bresser quote the same weight as Ernest (within a couple of grams), so is that a cut-and-paste error by Bresser?

Am I right in thinking the other LVWs are 8 elements/5 groups?

[F15Rules]

I owned one of these for a short time, being tempted by the (N)LVW moniker. 

Having owned most of the LVW range in the past (including the quite superb LVW 22mm), I was intrigued to try one. But a proper LVW it ain't! 

I didn't like the ergonomics at all, and the performance was IMHO mediocre at best.

Vixen also made a 30mm Version of the LV line, and if you can find one (they are quite old now), I think that would be a better choice than this one.

But there are other more capable modern eyepieces available, such as the ES 24mm or 34mm 68 degree (oddly I didn't get on with the ES28 mm though 🤔).

Dave

[Franklin]

11 minutes ago, F15Rules said:

But a proper LVW it ain't! 

Maybe this is why they're being sold off?

I have a full set of LVW's and they are super eyepieces even if a little on the heavy side. The LVW42mm is the only 2" I've got and to be honest, with the scopes I use, a jump from 42mm down to 22mm is not too wide really. I did have an original LV30 and thought it was very good, but that also had a very short back focus like the NLVW30. It does seem a bit of an odd one. Never tried any of the NLV's and assume they are similar to the LV and SLV ranges.

[Don Pensack]

2 hours ago, Zermelo said:

Confused.
That CN thread, and Ernest's bench review, says 5 elements/3 groups, consistent with an Erfle variant.
But the Bresser web page says 8 elements/5 groups, more like the UFF (9 elements/5 groups).
But Bresser quote the same weight as Ernest (within a couple of grams), so is that a cut-and-paste error by Bresser?

Yes.

[Don Pensack]

1 hour ago, badhex said:

Am I right in thinking the other LVWs are 8 elements/5 groups?

Not all.

Here are specs from Vixen Japan:

 

[NGC 1502]

2 hours ago, F15Rules said:

Vixen also made a 30mm Version of the LV line, and if you can find one (they are quite old now), I think that would be a better choice than this one.

 

Hi Dave, it was me that bought your original version Vixen LV 30mm from you.  For those not familiar with that one, it has a 60 degree apparent field and 20mm ER.  In use the 60degree field looks much larger than expected and the ultra easy eye placement a delight. In my 10” f4.8 Dob the off axis aberrations are surprisingly well controlled.

It’s become one of my low power favourites, rivalling my 27mm Panoptic.  The Pan is a bit  better off axis but it’s a close run thing.

I’ve looked through a 30mm NLVW and was not impressed. Bit of a mystery that one, definitely not Vixen’s finest hour. All of Vixen’s LVW range are superb. My only LVW is the 22mm, and I regret selling the others.

I agree Dave, the original 30mm LV is a better choice than the much later 30mm NLVW.

Just one downside to the original 30LV (apart from being hard to find) it needs a lot of infocus travel.

Ed.

 

[Louis D]

The one low powered LV/NLVW that I'd like acquire someday would be the 50mm LV.  By all accounts I've read, it was an excellent ultralow power eyepiece with no modern peer.  The problem is, unless you come across one as new old stock in some small, old, out of the way astro/photo shop, you'll never be able to purchase one new or used.  I can't recall the last time I saw one up for sale on CN or anywhere else used.

[Froeng]

This is a very interesting discussion. It highlights the subjectivity of each observer’s personal impression.

I did a direct comparison of the old LV30 and the new NLVW30 in a friend’s C11. The only significant difference to my eye was the slightly wider field of view.

Thinking further about this - it may have to do with my eyesight, as I have astigmatism. I am wearing glasses that correct for this while observing. Maybe the glasses level out the optical differences? Or maybe the view could be sharper in either of the eyepieces…?

Thank you for all input.

Frank

[Franklin]

5 hours ago, Louis D said:

The one low powered LV/NLVW that I'd like acquire someday would be the 50mm LV.

I sold mine about 6 months ago, it was too long for my scopes and light pollution conditions here. Big chunky eyepiece!

 

Edited February 12, 2023 by Franklin