Vixen HR 3.4mm

[Franklin]

I have had the HR 1.6, 2.0 and 2.4mm for some time now and am blown away each time I use them, seeing permitting. I didn't feel the need to get the HR 3.4mm as I already have that focal length covered with my LVW 3.5mm and the wider angle SSW 3.5mm, but of course as a long time sufferer of "Vixenitis" I soon caved in. Today I received my new to me HR 3.4 and although it's still day time I couldn't wait to try it out and see what it can do. Pointing my SD81s at the chimney of a farmhouse about 500yd away I popped in the LVW 3.5 giving 178x with a 65deg field. Very nice, I love the LVW's they never fail to impress, their 65deg field is ample for my taste and I find them very easy to look through with their long eye-relief, a little on the heavy side compared to other designs, I like to use them in 2" mode with a big chunky diagonal. I was looking at the brickwork of the chimney like I was on the roof. Next in was the SSW 3.5mm, same magnification but an 83deg field and this range of eyepieces demand work, you have to hold your eye at the correct distance, there is little room for error, it's either in the right place or it's not, but when it is you are rewarded with a very clean and very wide field of view. Again, I felt I was stood on the roof examining the brickwork but also taking in more of the surrounding panorama. Finally the HR 3.4mm giving 183x in the little 3"ED refractor with a 42deg field and 10mm of eye-relief. These HR's are something else, a well defined field stop, zero aberrations and the delivery of an image so clean and crisp that I can only describe it as "High Definition". Here the view of the brickwork was like I was actually there, doing a pointing job. Absolutely stunning optics, I don't know how Vixen make these things but I'm really glad they did and I can't wait to get this thing pointed at the Moon. The LVW is a great eyepiece and so too is the SSW, only lighter and with a wider field but the HR is exceptional.

 

[jetstream]

I still cant believe I didnt buy them all

[Franklin]

1 hour ago, jetstream said:

I still cant believe I didnt buy them all

Fastest finger first😁.

[mikeDnight]

 I bought all four when they first came out and I'm really glad I did. "Absolutely stunning" is a great way to describe their performance when the seeing allows. Just taking a close look at the mechanical design in the diagram below, illustrates nicely how much thought, time, effort, skill, & love went I to their design. One can glean from this just how much thought, effort, skill, & love went into the optics housed within this awesome eyepiece.

If anyone can find a diagram of the optical layout of the TOE it would be interesting. The TOE being 6 elements in 4 groups.

 

 

 

Edited April 7, 2023 by mikeDnight

[Frenchastro]

2 hours ago, Franklin said:

I received my new to me HR 3.4

by chance didn't you receive it from paris 🤔🫣?

[jetstream]

2 minutes ago, mikeDnight said:

Just taking a close look at the mechanical design in the diagram below, illustrates nicely how much thought, time, effort, skill, & love went I to their design.

So much for those that dont think stray light affects eyepieces and telescopes. This design is a testament to Vixen excellent approach to control stray light and everything else.

[Franklin]

1 minute ago, Frenchastro said:

by chance didn't you receive it from paris 🤔🫣?

Yes I did, it seems the French have great taste in astro-goodies😁.

[Franklin]

6 minutes ago, jetstream said:

Vixen excellent approach to control stray light and everything else.

Apart from the RRP😁.

[Alan White]

Great find you made, not at all envious......oh no, no no, not a bit...
OK I am.

I used to love my HR 3.4, it stood out as special, but I then passed it on to someone desperate for one, 
thought I was doing the right thing, then it got sold on fairly soon after, sad about that.

Oddly my regrets on selling often are about Vixen kit, yes I know I am a fanboy, but all the same.

The HR series is quite an engineering marvel for light control.
Are the Tak TOE of a similar build I wonder?

[Franklin]

1 minute ago, Alan White said:

Are the Tak TOE of a similar build I wonder?

See @mikeDnight post above.

[Franklin]

8 minutes ago, Alan White said:

I used to love my HR 3.4, it stood out as special,

I think this and the HR 2.4 will get the most use, the 2.0 and especially the 1.6 need very good seeing in the F/7.7 scopes. All work great in the little FL55ss, in fact I think these eyepieces were made for this scope. When looking at flowering plants in the garden from the house, the FL55ss paired with the HR's is like watching a David Attenborough nature program in HD, seeing all the little bugs crawling around inside the flowers so close up and in such vibrant colour, amazing optics.

[Deadlake]

I’m think the main difference in use is the TOE add a brightness to the object, however this really only pops up on the moon and a moon filter can control this.

With average seeing the 3.4 mm HR and 4 mm TOE are the most used EP.

[jetstream]

3 minutes ago, Deadlake said:

I’m think the main difference in use is the TOE add a brightness to the object, however this really only pops up on the moon and a moon filter can control this.

With average seeing the 3.4 mm HR and 4 mm TOE are the most used EP.

Do you mean scatter with the TOE?

[Deadlake]

1 hour ago, jetstream said:

Do you mean scatter with the TOE?

If this is a blueish warmth to the presentation then yes, not present on the HR.

[jetstream]

1 minute ago, Deadlake said:

If this is a blueish warmth to the presentation then yes, not present on the HR.

??

Blueish warmth? is this a colour tone of the eyepiece? you see it in your other frac? This is not scatter IMHO, but really no clue to what it is or causes it, never heard a TOE doing this before.

[Highburymark]

2 hours ago, mikeDnight said:

 I bought all four when they first came out and I'm really glad I did. "Absolutely stunning" is a great way to describe their performance when the seeing allows. Just taking a close look at the mechanical design in the diagram below, illustrates nicely how much thought, time, effort, skill, & love went I to their design. One can glean from this just how much thought, effort, skill, & love went into the optics housed within this awesome eyepiece.

By comparison Takahashi TOE's are not quite made to the same spec, mechanically at least. In fact the diagram below appears to show an LE incorporating a quality barlow. 

 

 

Mike - I’m not sure that second diagram is of a TOE??  I presume it’s a comparison of two different HR designs??

[Highburymark]

4 hours ago, jetstream said:

I still cant believe I didnt buy them all

And I can’t believe I didn’t buy any of them……

[mikeDnight]

6 minutes ago, Highburymark said:

Mike - I’m not sure that second diagram is of a TOE??  I presume it’s a comparison of two different HR designs??

Hi Mark,

I found the second diagram under Tak TOE design images, and it did have a footnote saying it was a TOE. What makes me think it may be is the design. It's a Zeiss Astroplanar/Masuyama which is the same a Tak's LE, except it incorporates a Barlow.  Its not a criticism on my part as I love the design. In fact most of my eyepieces use the five element masuyama design. I love them!

 If anyone can shed more light on the TOE layout, it would be very helpful.

[markse68]

It looks more like a Vixen LV the way the body is drawn with the smooth rubber outer- wouldn't it have been a bit cheeky for them to put a cross section of a competitors ep up like that? The shorter fl LVs were Pseudo Masuyamas with Smith barlow elements from what I can gather though only supposed to have 2 element barlows whereas that shows 3?

Mark

[Don Pensack]

It looks like an SSW, to me--8 elements.  Nope.  The SSW is 7 elements.

TOE is 6 elements.  The LV didn't have 8 elements.  Some (but not all) of the focal lengths of LVWs did.

It's a mystery.

 

By the way, HR stands for High Resolution.  That pretty much says it all.

The baffle at the bottom makes a difference.  Try removing it when looking at something bright.

A bottom baffle like that is the reason I always use the Apollo 11 as a 2" eyepiece.  Remove the 2" adapter and the bottom baffle disappears,

and it makes a visible difference in the image.

I wish the bottom baffles were an accessory you could buy.  Unfortunately, what is under the Vixen HR's bottom baffle is not a filter thread, so if you use a planetary filter of some kind, it has to be attached elsewhere.

Edited April 6, 2023 by Don Pensack

[Stu]

I keep wanting to want the full set, and nearly jumped at Tim’s 2.0mm, but then I remember it’s floater city once I get to these really high powers/small exit pupils in the frac. I have the 3.4mm which I must use more, and I guess can either pair it with the Zeiss Abbe Barlow for higher powers or use the 2 to 4mm Nag, which I know is not as good but for the occasional use it gets is fine.

[Louis D]

I wonder if that lower "TOE" image used to accompany the following Vixen comparison of the HR line to the 2.5mm LV:

They basically threw the LV under the HR bus.  Those Vixen pages seem to mostly be gone now that the HR line is discontinued.

However, it might be the 2.5mm Vixen LV internal diagram despite the odd lens and group count.

[Deadlake]

2 hours ago, jetstream said:

??

Blueish warmth? is this a colour tone of the eyepiece? you see it in your other frac? This is not scatter IMHO, but really no clue to what it is or causes it, never heard a TOE doing this before.

Maybe back scatter, it’s there will every scope I’ve used the TOE EP with.

[Highburymark]

37 minutes ago, Deadlake said:

Maybe back scatter, it’s there will every scope I’ve used the TOE EP with.

There was a well documented problem with internal dust on Tak orthos and TOEs a year or so ago - see various CN threads -  I had to return three eyepieces to FLO because of it. Maybe that’s what you are seeing Martin? I certainly haven’t detected any such scatter with mine. But don’t want to derail the HR thread - pretty much everything I’ve read about the two lines over many years suggests they are equally outstanding eyepieces. 

 

[jetstream]

1 hour ago, Deadlake said:

Maybe back scatter, it’s there will every scope I’ve used the TOE EP with.

Whats the bottom of these EP's look like? In my quest to eliminate scatter Ive even painted the bottom of the EP adapters flat black. What do you mean by back scatter? reflected light off the eyepiece bottom?