Televue Plossl vs Celestron Xcel Eyepieces

[Jarvo]

Help!

Need to plug the gap in my eyepiece collection by purchasing a 12 mm eyepiece. My budget (£60 ish) means I am looking at either a Televue Plossl or a Celestron Excel . The Celestron has more elements (6) but the Televue has the renowned quality (I've already got a 32mm TV Plossl) but only four elements.

Can I ask peoples opinion before I take the plunge?

Any comments would be appreciated....

p.s. if Steve from FLO is reading this when are you starting to stock TV kit?

Thanks in advance Peeps! :hello2:

Jarvo

[dweller25]

Hi,

The TV Plossls as you know are very sharp and contrasty but the closest they do to what you want is 11mm.

Depending on what you are wanting it for you can get a new 12.5mm Ortho for £50 - again very sharp but a narrow field of view.

I have a combination of TV Plossls and Orthoscopics and I think for the price they cannot be beaten BUT as I'm a planetary observer the narrow field of view is not a problem.

HTH

[John]

As an alternative perhaps the Paradigm 12mm would be worth considering ? - they seem to be getting rave reviews here:

http://stargazerslounge.com/equipment-discussion/93327-18mm-12mm-paradigm-dual-ed-eyepiece-first-light.html

Well within your budget as well.

[Towa]

If doing planetary, then why not consider a GSO Plossl.

I have a couple and they are my most used planetary eyepiece,

side by side with TV Plossl I cannot see any difference in detail seen.

The two I have are also right up there with my Baader orthoscopics.

I've found them to be a very good eyepiece, at a seriously low price.

I got mine for £22 each from Astrofest a couple of years ago.

I seem to remember reading an online test that Chris Lord did

of these eyepieces against TV, and rated them very well.

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

The number of elements is NOT a measure of image quality, it just tells you how many lenses were used. True, more lenses may be used to achieve better correction, especially over a wider field of view, or e.g. obtain a longer eye relief (the classic 12 mm Plossl has about 10 mm eye relief typically). As the number of elements goes up, the number of groups tends to increase, adding glass/air interfaces, in turn adding to the possibility of internal reflections. With modern coatings this need not be a problem.

However, a well-designed 4-element eyepiece, using advanced optical glass can in principle outperform a less well designed 6-element EP.

[Jarvo]

Thanks for your thoughts Guys. Mmmm lots to think about now

Jarvo

[part timer]

I would advise against the celestron Xcel due to the excessive eye relief.

I tried one but just could not cope with the constant blackouts whenever your eye is not exactly in the right place.

[part timer]

I would advise against the celestron Xcel due to the excessive eye relief.

I tried one but just could not cope with the constant blackouts whenever your eye is not exactly in the right place.