Middle of the range eyepiece for a 200mm dob?

[clydie]

At the end of last year I got a Sky-Watcher Classic 200p, and it's a brilliant telescope. Much better than my last one. However, I haven't been able to use it properly yet (travelling, and now it's too bright at nighttime where I live), and I never got around to finding out (even when I had my old one) what is the best eyepiece-wise? I have two that came with the telescope but they are just labelled "SUPER 25" and "SUPER 10" which, along with how they look and feel, means they are not the best option, even if they work well enough.

When it gets dark again I'll mostly be using it for planetary observation, though I would like to try looking at deep-sky objects too. I specified middle of the range in the title because I'm not really willing to spend more than £60 on anything.

Thank you!

^ The moon through the SUPER 25 eyepiece, and my phone camera. (not exactly representative of the actual quality haha)

[cbrunfranc]

For this price, i would suggest Ploessl EP - second hand - 
Perfect for planetary observations, less for deep sky (due to their tight fov)

 

[seven_legs]

I have heard a lot of good things about the Stellalyra eyepiece range. For £60 you would have a lot to choose from.

Check out FLO.

[Don Pensack]

2 hours ago, clydie said:

At the end of last year I got a Sky-Watcher Classic 200p, and it's a brilliant telescope. Much better than my last one. However, I haven't been able to use it properly yet (travelling, and now it's too bright at nighttime where I live), and I never got around to finding out (even when I had my old one) what is the best eyepiece-wise? I have two that came with the telescope but they are just labelled "SUPER 25" and "SUPER 10" which, along with how they look and feel, means they are not the best option, even if they work well enough.

When it gets dark again I'll mostly be using it for planetary observation, though I would like to try looking at deep-sky objects too. I specified middle of the range in the title because I'm not really willing to spend more than £60 on anything.

Thank you!

^ The moon through the SUPER 25 eyepiece, and my phone camera. (not exactly representative of the actual quality haha)

Judging from the prices of eyepieces in general, £60 is a low-end price, but you are fortunate there are many eyepieces at low prices today.

Given your scope, and what might be useful, I would look at at eyepiece in the 6-7mm range.

It would be usable for double stars, small planetary nebulae, small globular clusters, planets, Moon, and small open clusters.  In the 170-200x range.

High power, but not so high that seeing will be a constant issue.

[Mr Spock]

At that price the standard recommendation is the BST Starguider. You won't find much better for £55 https://www.firstlightoptics.com/bst-starguider-eyepieces.html

[bosun21]

I second the BST Starguiders as well. For the money you will be hard pushed to get better.

[Ratlet]

So good we'll say it thrice.  BST starguiders for sub £60.  Love them in my 10" dob and my 5" newt.  The 12mm and 8mm get a good workout for dso in mine.

[John]

4th call for the BST Starguiders here, given your budgetary target.

 

Edited June 19 by John

[dave34]

You cant go wrong with BST Starguiders, i highly recommend these EP's.

[Don Pensack]

I've said many times that if eyepieces as good as the Starguiders came with telescopes there would be a lot less upgrading of eyepieces in telescopes.

[Tiny Clanger]

There's a reduced price BST 12mm at FLO https://www.firstlightoptics.com/bst-starguider-eyepieces/bst-starguider-60-12mm-ed-eyepiece.html , or keep an eye out for a used one, typically BSTs go for £35 ish second hand.

 

 

[bingevader]

How good is your night sky?

I have a 200p.

On a good night, the 6mm is super.

On a bad night, sometimes not even an 8mm will do it.

I've been very lucky in that my 10mm and 25mm that came with the 'scope weren't bad at all.

I've used an 8mm BST and it was lovely.

The 5mm BST would be too much for planets most of the time (although it's great on the moon).

[Louis D]

On 19/06/2024 at 13:16, Don Pensack said:

Judging from the prices of eyepieces in general, £60 is a low-end price, but you are fortunate there are many eyepieces at low prices today.

I would agree that your budget puts you among what I refer to as "step-up" eyepieces, as in a step-up from what came with the typical introductory telescope.  They are still quite affordable, though.

25 years ago, there weren't many good step-up choices available.  Probably the Vixen LV series would have been the best choice, but at $90+ each in 1990s dollars, they still weren't very inexpensive.  That's how I ended up with a 9mm LV as my first major eyepiece purchase.  The various well corrected wide-field eyepieces of the day were very expensive when inflation corrected.

[JonW73]

another +1 for BST Starguiders 👍  I fancied a medium power to fill a 15mm gap in between my Celestron XCEL LX's and my lower power Panoptics - and I have to say the BST quickly became a bit of a default 'go-to', despite being the odd man out.

(Full disclosure, I do have a 6" f/10 SCT though, so can throw pretty much anything at it and still look half decent!)