University Optics WS 70 & 80 Degree 2" Oculars £60 inc postage - worth it?

[Lunto]

Hi,

I have recently aquired a 12" MLB dob and would like to purchase a wide FOV eyepiece. I have come across a few makes, Televue, Pentax etc with price tags reflecting their status.

However, UO offer an 30mm 80 degree FOV eyepiece for under £60 including delivery from the USA (USD $69.95 + $25 = £60ish).

Has anyone any opinion on these wide FOV eyepieces, would you avoid like the plauge, or are they worth the money?

Thanks for reading,

Lunto.

Eyepieces - 2" Oculars from University Optics

These beautiful new oculars give you a wide field experience at less than $100! They yield the same visual experience that you get in oculars costing $300 to $400. All models use high index glass and are fully multi-coated. 5 to 7 element lens systems. Fit and finish are now approaching Japanese standards. Unbelievable performance at down to earth prices.

[kniclander]

a lot depends om the focal ratio of your scope. i bought a cheapie 2" ultrawide 30mm e/p and it was hopeless in my f4.8 dob. i don't really consider myself overfussy but i kept thinking i was discovering galaxies and they were just squishy stars away from the centre of the fov...

but in an f8 newt it was fine

[John]

These are clones of the ones that Moonfish and others have been doing for a while. They work nicely at F/7 and above but at shorter focal ratios the edges of the field will look a bit "messy".

At that price I'd say they are OK value but nothing special. If you get hit for import duty and handling charges then they will become quite expensive.

These are the Skywatcher versions of them:

Skywatcher - Skywatcher Ultra Wide Angle (UWA) 2" Eyepieces

John

[Lunto]

John,

That's an interesting link and with the brand being SkyWatcher it gives confidence and the price difference is virtually nothing. So, can I pin you down as a former owner of a 12" MLB , would you go for the £70 SkyWatcher, or save the money and perhaps go for something at perhaps double the price? Your review on the big 3 was excellent btw.

Richard.

[John]

John,

That's an interesting link and with the brand being SkyWatcher it gives confidence and the price difference is virtually nothing. So, can I pin you down as a former owner of a 12" MLB , would you go for the £70 SkyWatcher, or save the money and perhaps go for something at perhaps double the price? Your review on the big 3 was excellent btw.

Richard.

Ah ha ! - Hi Richard - I forgot that was your user name !

Personally for that price range I would go for Skywatcher Panaview 32mm - OK it's 70 degrees rather than 80 but it's the right focal length for an F/5 scope and a nice quality eyepiece. I used to have the original Japanese version of the 30mm 80 degree FoV eyepiece - known as a Widescan III - that was nice at F/6.5 but the distorted stars became distracting (to me) when I used it in an F/5 scope.

Hope that helps and that you are enjoying the LB12 !.

John

[pvaz]

I have a similar cheap ones from agena. The edges start to show slight coma on my 8" f/5.9, not too much but just about the max I can take before it gets distracting. I loose about 10% of the FOV cause of this. Not having tried this ones, I suspect on a 12" fast scope they would be a waste of money.

When I sow your post earlier I was going to recommend the Agenas but then I noticed you said 12" so I kept quiet cause I'm sure they would perform badly on it.

[Doc]

Moonfish eyepieces are not good in fast focal lengths, I've tried the 30mm in my 16" LB and the coma is bad so if this is a moonfish clone I wouldn't bother with it.