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After making my mind up about getting the SW Explorer 200p (which im over the moon with) after all the options and reviews i read of its contenders ,i thought all the stress would go......;)

Unfortunatly i didnt quite grasp the level of complexity of the word EYEPIECES!

I thought i had 3 lined up (1 is a defo SW Panaview 32mm) but the so called planetery ones seem to be a minefield!

The baader ortho 9mm...for everyone who loves it ,two others hate the eyerelief....and so on for every brand and type(and fault) i fancy!

Im seriously thinking about stopping reading about EPs i fancy and having an internet free life untill i get them ,and "tough" to what poeple think of them.

I is off to bed..me ed urts :)

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My advice would be to get the scope (which is a good choice) and get to know it for a while using the supplied eyepieces before buying other accessories. The world of eyepieces can be more confusing that scopes although, if you take time to read the threads on SGL, you will see certain names repeated over and over (eg: the Panaview) because they have proved themselves to be good choices.

Having a bit of experience using the scope will help you choose eyepieces that suit YOU best which is the most important thing ;)

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i was in the same situation as you a while back, confusing time isnt it.

my scope is an F5 so, i am led to believe that better quality EPs are the order of the day.

After all the trolling through web pages i decided on Televue Radians.

i believe your scope is F5?

have a look at the Televue website, there are some decent write ups on there. word of warning though, some of their EPs are a little on the expensive side

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another vote for Radians from me. nice wide(ish) field, very flat even in my f5.3 dob and very little if any in the way of starry seagulls. not the dearest either, although not cheap at about £100 used.

they just feel full of quality and the adjustable eye relief is excellent from my point of view. great eye relief too which can be an issue with shorter plossls and the like.

as you say though, many different opinions. the advice to get used to the scope and eyepieces you have first is good too. see if you can try a few expensive ones in your own scope before you buy. buy your eyepieces well and you'll have them for many years.

cheers

Shane

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Best advice I had when looking for a scope was 'if your spending more than an hour a day reading review your doing it wrong. Buy something and you will at least refine what it is you REALLY want'

ie if you a buy an Ortho and find it horrible then at least you know not to go that route next time. Sell it and get something else.

If its any use at all - if I were buying today based on what I have so far, gut feel and the benefit of hinsight I'd get either the Sky-Watcher Nirvanas OR the Williams Planetary stuff BUT I'd also have a long natter with Steve at FLO and pick his brains before I made a final choice.

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Hi Tyke

There will be so many different opinions on eyepieces. Unfortunately most of us only have experience of a small number and therefore any advice needs to be put into that context.

You've made a good start with choice of scope. I'd now use it for a while and get to understand what you like to look at and what the scope's capabilities are. Then you'll have an understanding of what size of EP you'd prefer. Unfortunately I'm not aware of a dealer who supplies EP's to test before buying so there is a risk. What's your budget? Have you considered 2nd hand? At least then, if you buy and decide it's not for you, you won't lose much if anything

Steve

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What's your budget?

This is half the problem pal,50 to 80 max really,im trying to find good EPs with no faults but in this price bracket everyone im interested in seems to have one postive against two negatives....allways my problem i suppose ...wanting the best for peanuts ,doesent work like this im afraid!

It would just be nice to look through a couple as you say if "dealers did some test before you buy deal" before coughing up.....this is a non runner though

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I have been there thinking that I'd spend money on some cheapies and that they'd see me through for a while. in truth it depends on how fussy you are but with a fast f5 scope, you really need good quality to get the best out of it. BUT you will get a lot of enjoyment out of cheaper eyepieces too so don't worry about it. I reckon that someone used to their gear and with a little experience and knowledge can get a lot out of lesser quality optics - ever heard of an old astronomer called Galileo :) - I read somewhere that he used a 37mm scope and look what he saw!

as you say, with the cheaper ones you perm any two from three in the three elements we all want (wide field / sharp to the edge / contrasty views or similar). I took the view that unless I at least bought and tried a used high quality eyepiece (I went for Televue Radians in the end) I'd always be wondering what would it be like. I bought a couple and have not regretted it for a second. I also find the 2.5x Powermate is exceptionally higher quality than any barlow I have tried but again you are looking at abut £110-120 used.

If I were you, based on your budget of £50-80, I would save a little longer and buy some real quality. better with just one great eyepiece than several average ones in my book. did you get a barlow with the scope? if so, this if course gives you other options with any lenses you buy.

if you want to go for a couple of cheaper ones, the Discovery / Paradigm eyepieces off Ebay (or on SGL occasionally used) are very good for the money (I have had several but sold them to buy TV) and sell for less than £40 new/delivered.

although I have not used them, I have also heard great things about the Burgess TMB Planetary eyepieces which go for about £50 used if and when they come up. eg Burgess/TMB 4mm Planetary Eyepiece - Review

I think John suggested you bide your time and get used to the lenses you have. this is very good advice as it gives you time to think and also save up. the good thing about this forum is that there always seems to be someone looking for new gear to try and there's definitely an element of churning goes on with people buying trying and keeping or buying trying and selling on to allow for more buying and trying! used deals are great as you won't lose much if you sell on again.

make sure that you try something you buy for a while and if you cannot get on with it, then sell on. don't clog up your gear with stuff you don't use.

all of the above is based on a pretty short length of experience with the scope but I am quite fussy when it comes to optics and hence my wish to buy 'the best'. what 'the best' is though is a major bone of contention of course which brings us back (full circle) to your headache :)

one thing's for sure, like many hobbies, this one always has a new spend on the horizon just when you tell your wife (or husband or partner whatever), 'yes, darling. this is the last one'. oh, no. I've done it again. waffling on for hours - sorry.

where are you based? there may be a member of SGL near to you that can agree to you taking your scope round (or vice versa with eyepieces) and let you try one or two of theirs?

cheers and don't forget to enjoy what you have ;)

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Thanks for all the advice eveyone,some very useful info here to muse over.

This has got to be the most " user friendly dont look down your noses to newbies forum goin"

Thanks once again

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Being a newbie with the same dilema as your good self...I'd say.....just get out and observe!

There are so many shiney things to buy...and then you buy them and some one tells you there's a better shiney thing.It's a minefield for sure but at the end of the day companies want to sell there stuff and we being sheep want to buy it!

Just like cars.....you have a car it's great...does what it says on the tin, but the 250 grand lambourghini is going to get you to work 250 grand better...or is it.

Same as any hobby really.....supply and demand.

I've had a drink..I may look at this post tomorrow and cringe...but there you go ;)

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I'm with the ones that said "Try the scope with the provided EPs 1st!".

Nothing beats hands on experience.

For later on, this is what I found after experimenting:

For DSOs you'll want a very low mag widefield EP, around 40x showing about 2 degrees of sky and a medium mag EP for smaller DSOs, 70 to 80x is ok.

For planetary around 120x for most nights and 200x to 300x for good seeing conditions (rare).

So 4 EPs is all you really need, or 2 good ones and a good barlow. I got 2 top quality EPs and barlow. I also have some cheaper decent EPs to fill the gaps (which I rarely use).

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i'm on the same boat lol, and my budget is low low low. i was thinking getting the celestron ep set for 150£ filters included. for an f5.

Personally, I wouldn't. As Paulo has said, I'd go for just a few decent EPs. These don't necessarily have to be expensive. My Vixen plossl was £35. You only need 3 EPs. Just stay away from super-cheap-super-wide EPs in a fast scope

If you haven't already then read Warthog's guide, it's very good!

Andrew

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slippery squid makes a few good points (despite the booze talking:D). it's easy to get lured by all the stuff out there hence the caution of most advice.

as does Paulo and I actually adopted this route myself aiming for 14mm and 18mm Radians which I have, a 24mm Panoptic which I am saving for and a 2.5x Powermate which I also have (all used of course). I bought a 2" 33MM SWAN for £50 used thinking I'd try it and eventually get a larger Panoptic but don't think Ill bother now as this lens is great esp. in my f8.3 refractor. with these three/four eyepieces I can get the magnifications on the attached pdf. this should see me through but somehow a 12mm Radian has sneaked on there too as this will fill the supposed gap I feel I have - see what I mean about it never ending! Not sure I'll get the 12mm though. if anyone would find the excel sheet useful, pm me your email address.

I was just about to advise John KP against a set but see Andrew beat me to it. you could get eg 3 x Televue plossls (perhaps a 32mm, a 20mm and a 15mm) used for that sort of money and with the Barlow he'd have a good range? be careful though as it's always easy for us to spend YOUR hard earned ;)

the guide Andrew mentions is excellent by the way.

lenses.pdf

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