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Good Eyepiece Sets?


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Hey There Fellow Astronomers, I'm Looking Into getting a good eyepiece sets, or Single Eps for my dobsonian. a set which will bring out the best on my 8" scope.

i have been getting some good help from Russ just wanted some advice from others (not that russ's isnt good lol ) just wanted to ask from some other astronomers.

hope you can help!!

Kelly

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I thought Seben plastic Kelner eyepiece set for £200 was a great buy.....:headbang:

But seriously, you should get some great advice from everyone. And some good ideas i wouldn't have thought off.

Russ

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Price range :headbang:

With a dob, I'd be looking at a small number of very widefield eyepieces - Skywatcher Nirvanas, TeleVue Naglers or Ethos. Yes, pricey, but very well worthwhile (I use only 2 eyepieces with my dob - the 13mm and 31mm with a 2x barlow for the 13 when I want to do planetary)...

Yes, £100+ may seem like a lot to pay, but they really do transform dob viewing...

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why not look in the second hand items? You know full well the people on here will have taken good care of their kit and you can get it at half the price! From what i read you can not go wrong with the televue and there are loads going cheap!

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IMO the thing with eyepiece sets is that you get something like five ep's that are of a certain quality and of those there are probably one or two that are 2.5mm or 4mm and how often would you use something like that in an 8 inch dob. You'll probably also get a barlow lense of dubious quality so overall only half the kit is really usable. Far better to buy the ep's you want individually and get the exact focul lengths you want. In an 8 inch dob a something like a 30mm, 13mm and good barlow lense to use with the 13mm would be all you would need. These would give you a low power finder ep, a medium power ep for DSO observing and a high power ep for planetry use. And I agree with arad85 ultra wides are great for dobs they mean more time between the nudges and the views are amazing.

What budget do you have?

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I agree with Kris77 - I have the Celestron set and I don't use the bottom 3 ep's cose the viewing lenses are just too small for comfort. Fortunately the barlow ain't too bad but by and large I wish I'd got 2 or 3 wide angle lenses instead in the 30mm, 20mm, 10mm range - woulda been much better value for money and nicer views.

In fact - I may even sell the set and get some WO Uwan ep's and a good barlow.

Hope that helps. :headbang:

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I dont know - I had the Celestron set and found it helped me in choosing better qualkity EPs when the time came. I seldom used the smaller 2 in the Celestron set but the Barlow was quite good.

If you KNOW for sure what you want - ie you know you want a wide angle and not much else I'd spend all the cash oin a decent wide angle. BUT - most beginners dont know what they really want and often assume they want a 2mm for maximum magnification. Becaue of that I think EP sets are a good starter as it may help a beginner know what they REALLY want.

I dont regret buying the Celestron kit - it gave me a decent range of eyepieces to start with and some filters to get the hang of and when the time came t move up to something much better I sold the kit for a decent price.

If I were buying again I'd incline to the Revelation set I think.

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I would personally recommend 3 individual eyepieces of focal lengths that would suit the dob. They would be at least moderate wide angle (60 AFOV) as this is a nice feature to have with a dob, cut down on the nudging. Personally i would have a 6mm TMB Planetary at the high power end giving 200x, perfect for planetary viewing. A 16mm Nirvana in the middle, awesome for DSO hunting...medium power with a lovely FOV. And finally a 32mm 2" SWAN/Panaview at the low power end to give huge almost 2deg True FOV vistas. Three eyepieces and everything covered. Just throw in a barlow to use with the Nirvana as another planetary option or higher power for small planetaries and doubles.

Thats £129 for the Nirvana, £48 for the TMB and £48 for the SWAN clone. Plus £30 for a barlow. Almost £260....that's a heck of a lot. And i don't think the budget is that high, hence the recommendation for sets.

So i recommended the GSO set instead. GSO Super Plossls have perhaps the best reputation amongst the cheaper offerings and the selection in the set is a good, well judged and useful range. Comprises of:

9mm (133x), 15mm (80x), 20mm (60x) and 32mm (37.5x) Plossls - those are all good sizes

2x barlow - Giving further magnification options of 266x, 160x, 120x and 75x. I've had the GSO barlow and it was okay, as good as my Tal 2x (i sold the Tal as a result)

ND Filter - the perfect filter for the moon

And it's £40 cheaper than either the Celestron or Revelation offerings because it doesn't include any rubbish (short focal length eyepieces) you don't need.

Russ

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Not sure how you feel but Adler produce "clones" of the WO SWANS. They come in focal lengths of 8, 12, 17, 20mm. Price is either ~£25 or £30 each.

I know the WO ones are parfocal so I guess these are also.:headbang::icon_scratch::p

WO SWANS come in 9, 15 and 20 if I recall.

Only hiccup is that the only supplier I am aware of is Pulsar Optics / Scopes and Skies and people have experienced problems with purchases from them.

Could get one at that price and assess it for future expansion.;):D:D

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