Eyepiece regrets

[Littleguy80]

Buying and selling eyepieces is part of the fun of the hobby but every now and then we let a gem go. For the most part, I’ve always been pleased with the results of my wheeling and dealings but I do have a couple of regrets. 

Regret number one is selling my 12.5mm BGO. I bought a Docter/Noblex which is the same focal length and sold a couple of eyepieces, including the BGO, to fund it. The Docter is superb and for night time viewing I don’t miss the BGO. However, for white light Solar, it has been missed. Simpler eyepieces like orthos are pretty much unbeatable for white light Solar so here I do miss the BGO. 

Regret number is selling my Pentax XF zoom. It’s terrible at night but is a dream for Ha. Mine was sold to purchase another zoom. Sadly the new zoom has an issue and went back. This story has a happy ending as I’ve sourced another XF zoom so that regret can be put to rest. 

Anyone else have any regrets on selling eyepieces? What would you buy back tomorrow given the chance?

[Space Hopper]

(Good to hear the Docter is performing well. I still have its old partner)

I had a full set of Vixen LVW about 15 years ago. I only sold them to help fund other stuff, but wish i'd held on to them.

They are hard to find now ; particularly the 3.5mm and 22mm.

 

[Littleguy80]

4 minutes ago, Space Hopper said:

(Good to hear the Docter is performing well. I still have its old partner)

Love it! All round brilliant performer and works great with the Baader VIP. Thank you for letting it find a new home with me!

6 minutes ago, Space Hopper said:

I had a full set of Vixen LVW about 15 years ago. I only sold them to help fund other stuff, but wish i'd held on to them.

The only Vixen eyepiece I have is an HR 3.4. That’s another special eyepiece. I’ve seen lots of love for the LVWs on here. Despite the talk of modern coatings, it does seem some of the older eyepieces more than hold their own. 

[John]

I had a TMB Supermonocentric 5mm for a while. I sometimes wish that I had held onto it for longer simply because it would probably be worth 4x as much as I sold it for, today. 

I've owned two 3mm-6mm Nagler zooms in the past and I do wish that I still had one of those. Back then (about a decade ago I had the last one) I didn't find them that exciting but I've now grown to really enjoy and value the 2mm-4mm version so I find myself hankering after another copy of it's 3-6mm brother again.

At a more reasonable cost level, I had a nice set of the shorter focal length University Optics "classic" orthoscopics for a while and sometimes wish that I had held onto those as light weight, low cost high performers.

A couple of years back I re-bought a Ethos SX 4.7mm having sold my previous one plus the 3.7mm version a couple of years earlier because I thought that my short FL Pentax XW's would fill that gap. Then started to miss the hyper-wide high power views. I guess I'd like Ethos SX 3.7mm again in all honesty but I already have crowded short FL sections in my eyepiece cases and those big Ethos take up so much room.

To counter the above there are a few that I've owned in the past, then re-bought, only to find that they did not suit me now as much as they had when I first owned them. 

If I do get another Nagler 3-6mm zoom I think it would be the only eyepiece that I have bought 3 times !

I have owned a few of the Vixen LVW's as well in the past but for some reason I don't miss those as much as the ones above. They were excellent though, I remember that.

"Regrets, I've had a few....." as "Old Blue Eyes" sang 🙄

 

 

 

 

Edited April 20, 2023 by John

[Stu]

How does buying and selling two Docter 12.5mms sound for regrets then @Littleguy80? 🤪🤪🤣🤣. I would buy another one if given the chance as they are superb.

Strangely I’ve had two examples each of the 13mm and 21mm Ethos, plus a 17mm and also the APM 13mm and 20mm but have always sold them on.  They’re something about the 100 degree afov that just doesn’t click with me, though I wish it did. So, I don’t have particular regrets about selling these though may go round that loop again at some point.

Without wishing to rub any salt in wounds, I do have a full set of BGOs, plus a 2 to 4 and 3 to 6 Nag zoom which I will definitely hang into.

I probably do regret selling the 2.5mm,  3.3mm and 4mm TOEs though….. 🤪😱🤣

[Sunshine]

I made a stupid move a few years back, bought a mint used 14mm panoptic and didn’t really care for it in my dob back then so I sold it. That’s not the stupid part, the stupid part was I totally forgot what i paid for it and didn’t bother checking its value new and ended up selling for half of what other used ones were listed for. It’s no wonder I had several interested buyers within minutes. 

Edited April 21, 2023 by Sunshine

[Roy Challen]

The only eyepieces I regret selling were my Zeiss CZJs 6/10/16mm orthos and the 25mm Huygens. 😢 

[Littleguy80]

7 hours ago, Stu said:

How does buying and selling two Docter 12.5mms sound for regrets then @Littleguy80? 🤪🤪🤣🤣. I would buy another one if given the chance as they are superb.

That can’t be good for your health 🤣🤣

This is probably it’s own thread but I have noticed that 100 degree eyepieces aren’t universally loved. I went down from 3 of them to one. I kept my 20mm APM HDC but sold the 13 and 9mm. No regrets 😂 

[Littleguy80]

4 hours ago, Sunshine said:

I made a stupid move a few years back, bought a mint used 14mm panoptic and didn’t really care for it in my dob back then so I sold it. That’s not the stupid part, the stupid part was I totally forgot what i paid for it and didn’t bother checking its value new and ended up selling for half of what other used ones were listed for. It’s no wonder I had several interested buyers within minutes. 

Oh man, that’s not good. Still you have someone a very good day when they got themselves a bargain. 

[Littleguy80]

3 hours ago, Roy Challen said:

The only eyepieces I regret selling were my Zeiss CZJs 6/10/16mm orthos and the 25mm Huygens. 😢 

I’ve never been lucky enough to use a Zeiss Ortho but 100% understand that regret  

[Littleguy80]

8 hours ago, John said:

To counter the above there are a few that I've owned in the past, then re-bought, only to find that they did not suit me now as much as they had when I first owned them. 

You’ve got my curiosity with this one, John. What are the eyepieces that didn’t live up to your memories of them?

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

I regret selling the TMB Paragon 40mm. I wasn't using it much after buying the Nagler 31 mm T5, but it did give a slightly wider true field, and it was a far easier EP for inexperienced people to use, so it was great for outreach. I since got a Vixen LVW 42 mm to replace it, but that is a very good EP, it is definitely not as easy to use as the Paragon, and shows a lot more distortion.

[Saganite]

I too enjoy buying, trying, and selling eyepieces, often just to see If I am missing anything.  I have tried the LVW's and the Pentax XW's and sold them on without regret, many TV models also ,including the Ethos 13mm, which  didn't work for me.  My love for binoviewing took over, almost a decade ago, and meant I needed a little more thought since buying two of everything made things more expensive, and though I have tried and sold many ,many different pairs, I still have no regrets except for two eyepieces.

I had a pair of 18mm BGOs , utterly superb in Andromeda, but sold circa 2016 to fund the upgrade from WO to Denkmeier.  It was the right thing to do at the time, but I didn't realize how coveted BGO's would become and hence  their scarcity.  I do now have  one thanks to my friend Dave ( F15 Rules ), and the relentless pursuit of a second is on.

I also had a pair of Vixen HR 3.4s.  I found binoviewing with these ,hard work, but instead of keeping one, I sold them both, probably my dumbest decision.  Oddly, I had not even considered double star observing/splitting until I joined SGL in 2013 and started reading various threads on the subject. It is now , of course, a major part of my enjoyment with my telescopes and so I would certainly grab one of these should they reappear.

There is one eyepiece that I could have sold but didn't because I was determined to find a second one day, the Celestron Ultima 24mm.  These are quite rare over here, and were very sought after at one time in the USA.

Quite by accident, yesterday, I spotted one for sale on EBAY and it will be arriving later today. I have had one of these since 2019, so it has taken a while, but if the rest of the Ultima range is anything to go by, this pair will not be the third eyepiece type in my short list of regrets.

Edited April 21, 2023 by Saganite

[Piero]

Nowadays, I kind of regret selling my 20mm Lunt HDC, although I remember this was sold because my main dob at that time was a 12" f6 and I used to swap from the 30mm APM UFF to Docter 12.5mm (.. Stu's regret.. 🫣) all the time, skipping the 20mm. Now that my main dob is a 16" f4 + PC2, a 20mm XWA would be a nice tool. Having said that, I do have a N22T4 which pairs with the Docter 12.5mm better than the 20mm XWA in terms of ergonomics and AFOV.

I regret selling my first N13T6 and N7T6, which were eventually bought again, so error fixed.

 

I have kind of regrets about things I bought too. It was part of a learning curve, although quite expensive!

It took me a while to realise that I like observing planets, double stars and the Moon more occasionally than consistently.... I would probably be as happy with a second hand 4" F9 SW as with a 4" f7.4 Tak, considering that I use this refractor for white light solar observing 95% of the time.

I regret buying a few delos twice, doh! 

I kind of regret that I did not have the courage and confidence in building a telescope in the past. If so, I would not have bought my Lukehurst 12" f6. On the other (and positive) side of things, if I had not bought that telescope, I would not have explored telescope making at all..

Life is what it is... you live, you make choices and some of these are sub-optimal or just wrong. You learn from that. That's what experience is about in the end. 

[Saganite]

Thanks for the reminder Piero ...How could I possibly forget that I sold my pair of Nagler 13 T6 eyepieces to fund something. I always intended to to replace them though ,which I have done.  Not so bad when you know that they have not been discontinued....

[Mr Spock]

I don't have any regrets from selling, just regrets for not completing my LVW set when I had the chance. At the time they were on sale I had a C9.25, so what I had, down to 8mm, was fine. Why would I ever need a 5mm or 3.5mm? Duh!
I managed to pick up a 5mm about 18 months ago but the 3.5 is still elusive 

[Alan White]

Regrets at buying and selling oh so many fine pieces of glass over the years.
If I am honest my real regret is selling to fund other directions, something I have had to do due to funds for this fine hobby.

Everything I have had, has been a learning point, clearly both good and bad, the one thing that I have found is that my eyesight has gotten worse,
I now have to use long eyerelief at longer focal lengths if I wish to see stars not funny shapes.
The eyesight issue has then stopped me from trying so many fine eyepieces and dictates the direction of travel.

The one and only eyepiece that I truly regret selling was my Vixen HR 3.4.
On my favoured target, The Moon it was stonkingly good.

My true regret is not with eyepieces, its with telescopes, I should have purchased one far sooner than I did.
 

[John]

1 hour ago, Littleguy80 said:

You’ve got my curiosity with this one, John. What are the eyepieces that didn’t live up to your memories of them?

I'll keep quiet about those I think because some are the very ones that others are raving about in this thread and I have learned just how personal eyepiece preferences are 🙄

 

 

[Mr Spock]

2 minutes ago, John said:

I have learned just how personal eyepiece preferences are

Indeed. But isn't it great that there is so much choice we can each have what we enjoy most (funds permitting of course).

[Littleguy80]

28 minutes ago, John said:

I'll keep quiet about those I think because some are the very ones that others are raving about in this thread and I have learned just how personal eyepiece preferences are 🙄

 

 

Very true plus sometimes eyepieces just suit some scopes much better than others. 

[John]

2 minutes ago, Littleguy80 said:

... sometimes eyepieces just suit some scopes much better than others. 

And some observing targets too. Hence my excuse for having lots of short focal length eyepieces: "that is my Jupiter eyepiece, that one my Mars eyepiece, my lunar eyepiece is here next to my binary star eyepiece and that one my small planetary nebulae eyepiece, etc, etc" 😁

 

[Coco]

Selling my APM 107 triplet when I packed up imaging, I've started a savings fund for a Takahashi FC-100 which cost less to replace but I'm expecting the views to be as good or better.

[bomberbaz]

A timely thread this as my table is currently full of gear (mainly eyepiece) I am considering selling. I shall spend a little more time sitting and thinking about this before I list any of the items. That said, I have been mulling this over for about 4 months as it is!

[Littleguy80]

31 minutes ago, bomberbaz said:

A timely thread this as my table is currently full of gear (mainly eyepiece) I am considering selling. I shall spend a little more time sitting and thinking about this before I list any of the items. That said, I have been mulling this over for about 4 months as it is!

@jetstream recently decided to hold onto his VX10 after giving it a final go before selling. Maybe a couple of sessions with those eyepieces will help you decide if they’re keepers or not. 

[Saganite]

51 minutes ago, bomberbaz said:

A timely thread this as my table is currently full of gear (mainly eyepiece) I am considering selling. I shall spend a little more time sitting and thinking about this before I list any of the items. That said, I have been mulling this over for about 4 months as it is!

Anything on my list that you're selling by any chance ??......

Edited April 21, 2023 by Saganite