Eyepiece upgrade for Heritage 130p

[Dimitrisanagn]

Hi everyone!

I have the well known heritage 130p F5 and I find the two stock eyepieces (25mm and 10mm) really bad, especially since I wear glasses and I also have a 7-year old having her first looks through the scope.

I received an older Televue 2.5x barlow (not the powermate) as a gift and also jumped on an opportunity to get the Svbony 7.2-21.6 zoom, but viewing any wider than 10mm gives a small fov (50o and less).

So, I'm looking for a low power ca 25mm (getting at 10mm when barlowed) and perhaps 12mm or so (getting to 4.8mm when barlowed). So I would end up like this:

25mm -> 12mm -> 10mm -> 10-7.2 in zoom -> 4.8mm

 

I'd prefer a wide view and long eye-relief like 60o minimum to avoid nudging a lot, especially since it takes some time to get my daughter to view through the eyepiece.

 

Are the planned magnifications ok? What would you recommend at a budget of no more than 60 GBP per eyepiece?

 

Thank you all in advance!

 

[Franklin]

BST Starguiders have 60deg field, good eye-relief, which would help for your daughter and are on budget. 25mm, 12mm, 8mm and 5mm would make a good set. No need for a zoom or barlow with those.

Have a play on the FOV calculator above in resources- astronomy tools.

 

Edited November 23, 2023 by Franklin

[AndyM001]

I purchased the 6mm, 9mm, and 15mm SVbony 68 Degree Eyepieces a few month ago and I think they are quite good for the price, so much so I've just ordered the 20mm. They come in at around £20 each direct from China.

[Dimitrisanagn]

Thank you!

I suppose the 25 and 12 would make a good start since I have the barlow.

 

 

[Dimitrisanagn]

1 hour ago, AndyM001 said:

I purchased the 6mm, 9mm, and 15mm SVbony 68 Degree Eyepieces a few month ago and I think they are quite good for the price, so much so I've just ordered the 20mm. They come in at around £20 each direct from China.

I read conflicting opinions about these ones, specifically being bad at the edges. Do you think it is bothersome even to the unexperienced eye? 

Otherwise these are tempting indeed.

[John]

It's difficult to beat the Starguider ED eyepieces. Some of the focal lengths work better at the F/5 focal ratio of your scope in that they will show sharper star images across more of the field of view. The mid-focal length ones are probably the best - 8mm, 12mm and 15mm.

 

[Ricochet]

2 hours ago, Dimitrisanagn said:

I'd prefer a wide view and long eye-relief like 60o minimum to avoid nudging a lot, especially since it takes some time to get my daughter to view through the eyepiece.

 

Are the planned magnifications ok? What would you recommend at a budget of no more than 60 GBP per eyepiece?

Your requirement for glasses friendly eye relief and budget make this a very difficult choice. The previously mentioned 12mm BST Starguider will work well in your F5 scope. has a 60° field and comes in under budget at £55, but you might find that the effective eye relief pushes your glasses into your face and makes observing uncomfortable. I did when I tried glasses with the 25mm (having already sold my 12mm by the time I started wearing glasses). An alternative at £59 is the 12.5mm Stellalyra LER which has a slightly smaller 55° field and a longer eye relief (as long as the lens isn't recessed).

When it comes to a 25mm I think it becomes impossible to find a suitable eyepiece within your budget. Most of the cheaper "modern" designs use varying strengths of negative lenses below a common upper set of lenses to create the varying focal lengths. The longer the focal length the lower the power of the negative lens and the higher the telescope focal ratio needs to be for the eyepiece to give a good image. In the case of the 25mm BST Starguider there is no negative lens group at all which means that it's great at F12 but awful at F5. Given this common problem my advice would be to completely blow your budget and buy the 24mm Stellalyra UFF as your lowest power eyepiece.

 

27 minutes ago, Dimitrisanagn said:

I read conflicting opinions about these ones, specifically being bad at the edges. Do you think it is bothersome even to the unexperienced eye? 

Otherwise these are tempting indeed.

These are the same as the old goldlines, of which the 15mm is the worst eyepiece I've ever used. Only the central 20° or so was usable at F6. The shorter focal lengths may (should?) perform better because, as with the Starguiders, they use negative lenses in the nose to create the shorter focal lengths.

[Franklin]

5 minutes ago, Ricochet said:

Given this common problem my advice would be to completely blow your budget and buy the 24mm Stellalyra UFF as your lowest power eyepiece.

Or go for a good old 32mm Plossl, cheap as chips but good as a really low power, finder-eyepiece? Only 52deg field but a whopping 6.5mm exit pupil in your scope which would really help when looking for those faint fuzzies! Especially for your daughter with her younger eyes.

[AndyM001]

46 minutes ago, Dimitrisanagn said:

I read conflicting opinions about these ones, specifically being bad at the edges. Do you think it is bothersome even to the unexperienced eye? 

Otherwise these are tempting indeed.

I find them okay, but I'm over 60 and although my eyesight is still relatively good, it isn't what it used to be. My biggest problem was trying to get used to the 'black edges' on the higher power eyepieces as you move you eye around, but after some perseverance I managed to get my eye in the right position. For the price I'm really happy with them, they produce some nice crisp images. I'm guessing that people with different eyesight conditions, and different equipment, see things differently. For some they work, others not, for me, they are really good especially at the price point.

[John]

2 minutes ago, AndyM001 said:

I find them okay, but I'm over 60 and although my eyesight is still relatively good, it isn't what it used to be. My biggest problem was trying to get used to the 'black edges' on the higher power eyepieces as you move you eye around, but after some perseverance I managed to get my eye in the right position. For the price I'm really happy with them, they produce some nice crisp images. I'm guessing that people with different eyesight conditions, and different equipment, see things differently. For some they work, others not, for me, they are really good especially at the price point.

What scope are you using them in ?

The scope type can make a lot of difference in how an eyepiece performs.

[AndyM001]

12 minutes ago, John said:

What scope are you using them in ?

The scope type can make a lot of difference in how an eyepiece performs.

Up until recently, I used them in a 100mm Mak, but currently in a Refractor.

[Naughty Neal]

Aliexpress BF deals, xcel lx 25mm.

Celestron X-CEL LX 2,3 мм 5 мм 7 мм 9 мм 12 мм 18 мм 25 мм бинокль 60 grados telescopio gran угловой небулоза бинокль planetario - AliExpress

From this seller £51.32 ,  it is £5 cheaper then the total price I paid a few weeks ago.  

[John]

24 minutes ago, AndyM001 said:

Up until recently, I used them in a 100mm Mak, but currently in a Refractor.

Mak's are usually around F/11-F/12. That focal ratio does not challenge an eyepiece at all really. The original poster here has an F/5 scope. Much more testing.

[Dimitrisanagn]

52 minutes ago, Naughty Neal said:

Aliexpress BF deals, xcel lx 25mm.

Celestron X-CEL LX 2,3 мм 5 мм 7 мм 9 мм 12 мм 18 мм 25 мм бинокль 60 grados telescopio gran угловой небулоза бинокль planetario - AliExpress

From this seller £51.32 ,  it is £5 cheaper then the total price I paid a few weeks ago. 

Interesting. Thank you!

Given that they state the same 16mm eye relief as the Starguider, would you find their design comfortable for glasses? 

[Naughty Neal]

I over looked the fact that your scope is F5 and also 16mm may be a bit tight for glasses wearers, I  don't wear glasses so can't say if they will be an issue.

That said some who wear glasses are able to view without wearing them.

For 60 degrees and a 50 odd quid budget one is limited to what is available .

F5 will challenge a lot of  EP's.

 

The UFF 24mm will likely be a bit better at the F5 but one will need to shell out a lot more pennies because of the faster scope focal rate.

 

 

Edited November 23, 2023 by Naughty Neal

[Dimitrisanagn]

30 minutes ago, Naughty Neal said:

I over looked the fact that your scope is F5 and also 16mm may be a bit tight for glasses wearers, I  don't wear glasses so can't say if they will be an issue.

That said some who wear glasses are able to view without wearing them.

For 60 degrees and a 50 odd quid budget one is limited to what is available .

 

The UFF 24mm will likely be a bit better at the F5 but one will need to shell out a lot more pennies because of the faster scope focal rate.

 

 

Thank you. TBH I thought that there would be more options available, but I guess the fash scope is challenging.

 

[Naughty Neal]

Another cheap option with good eye relief may be the skywatcher /OVL EF 27mm, fov is about 53 degrees.

Edited November 23, 2023 by Naughty Neal

[Naughty Neal]

In the 60 degree fov , there are few lower cost ep's .  Most as already said will be challenged in fast scopes but not so in slower scopes of F10 or greater.

EP's that flounder a bit at F5 are often ok once one hits F7 or more , one may have to put up with some issues with EP's at F5 . It doesn't mean they are  a bad EP but simply unsuitable for fast scopes.

Edited November 23, 2023 by Naughty Neal

[Naughty Neal]

Although one is after 60 fov  one may also have to consider the 50 fov ep's,  lt can still be said   for the humble meade 4000 plossl in  32mm form.

The 32mm 52 fov meade will show more sky then the 25mm celestron xcel lx or the bst 25mm.

Edited November 23, 2023 by Naughty Neal

[Naughty Neal]

The more modern ep's though may have better improved coatings.

My wide view ep is the meade 4000 32mm a china made item and tbh I can't say the seeing  a part from afov is different to my japan meade 4000 26mm, from my view point they are both still sharp and nice ep's in 1.25" form.

I have a an xcel lx 25mm but just  haven't had the chance to compare , the afov won't be as good as the meade 32mm but the seeing might be. Though I expect it may be hard to see much or any diffeence.

Edited November 23, 2023 by Naughty Neal

[Franklin]

Regards the BST's and wearing glasses, I think you can squeeze a bit more eye-relief out of them by de-cloaking ie. removing the twist-up eye-guard?

[cajen2]

Another 50° option is a Vixen NPL. I bought the 30mm for my very first scope (coincidentally a Heritage 150p) and while I've replaced the other 'starter' EPs I bought, I still use the Vixen. It gives a nice clear image across the FOV so I use it as a 1.25" 'finder' EP when I can't be bothered to use a 2".

It's cheap, too! 😉

Edited November 24, 2023 by cajen2

[Ricochet]

8 hours ago, Franklin said:

Regards the BST's and wearing glasses, I think you can squeeze a bit more eye-relief out of them by de-cloaking ie. removing the twist-up eye-guard?

You can remove the rubber top to gain maybe a couple of mm, but the eye lens retaining ring is slightly recessed so there is a proud lip around the top of the eyepiece which could potentially scratch the glasses. 

[Zermelo]

10 hours ago, Naughty Neal said:

That said some who wear glasses are able to view without wearing them

This is an important point. You may already be aware of this, but if you wear glasses only to correct for distance, then the scope's focusing mechanism will normally take care of that. Though it may be a pain if you're sharing sessions and need to refocus all the time; not difficult to test out, though. However, if you wear glasses because of strong astigmatism, then you will need to use them for observing too (leaving aside some very pricey accessories). Even then, you may find that you can get away without them when using higher magnifications (shorter eyepiece lengths).

The Starguiders mentioned above were my own first upgrades, and work very well in my F/5 reflector, though I don't wear glasses.

If you are happy to order from abroad, then XCEL-LXs mentioned above by @Naughty Neal are good performers with a proven design, and normally retail for twice that price. I'm not sure about their eye relief, though.

For your longer eyepiece choice, I agree with @cajen2 that the Vixen NPLs deliver great views. I have the 30mm and use it all the time, even though I have an excellent (and more expensive) UFF. They also do a 25mm.

Edited November 24, 2023 by Zermelo

[bosun21]

While I liked the Vixen NPL 30mm  I couldn't stomach the plastic assembly of the eyecup. I had to use an elastic band to stop the ER from changing. I bought two for binoviewing and both suffered from loose variable eyecups. Sold them both.