13mm Ethos with a 2X Powermate or 7mm Nagler?

[wizard007]

I've recently got a 13mm Ethos and would like a high power EP to compliment it.

I'm considering getting the Televue Powermate 2X 2" to effectively give me a 6.5mm Ethos.

Does anyone reccomend this or would I be better spending my £200 on a 7mm Nagler for similar money?

I'm after the best quality image for my money and my concern is that barlowing the Ethos will reduce quality although the blurb on the Powermate says it won't affect quality.

Also would be nice not to have to switch between 2" and 1.25" which I'd have to keep doing with the Nager.

Anyone have experience with doing this or advice?

[Chris H]

Are you becoming a Televue junkie? :D:D

By adding a powermate to an eyepiece your adding more glass and despite the high quality of the lenses in Televue ep's no glass can allow 100% of light to pass through it. So by adding the powermate or even a barlow you can only reduce the amount of light reaching your eye. However you are more than likely going to use the Ethos + Powermate to view planets which are pretty bright so a bit of light loss is no big deal.

The Ethos 13mm (as I'm sure your aware) gives x92 with a x2 powermate x184, I think that is quite a jump and you might be better going for a Nagler 9mm type 6 (x133) which you would find very useful on most nights for studying DSO's. The 7T6 delivers x171 which is good for planets but perhaps a little high on most nights for anything else.

The decision, as they say, is yours.

[johninderby]

The 13mm Ethos does barlow very well, but with the Powermate it makes for a very tall, unweldly and heavy combination which I tried but ended up selling the Powermate and getting the 6mm Ethos. The 7mm Nagler is very good but unfortuantely it's simply outclassed by the 6mm Ethos or the barlowed 13mm. Idealy if you could wait a while and save up for the 6mm Ethos that would be the best solution.

So while the Powermate option would give you the best reuslts compared to the Nagler, would you be happy with the size and weight of the combination. I suppose you could buy the 7mm Nagler for now as it would be very easy to sell later on when you would be in a position to get the 6mm Ethos. 7mm Naglers go for about £150.00 second hand.

John

[John]

I've been down this route, albeit with a Meade TeleXtender rather than a Powermate:

http://stargazerslounge.com/equipment-reviews/97011-amazing.html

It was fun but too unwieldy for comfort IMHO so I'm happy with a 7mm T6 Nagler until I can run to a 6mm Ethos. I use T6 Naglers (3.5mm, 5mm, 7mm and 9mm) for all my high power viewing now and have compared them directly with some pretty stiff competition recently (eg: Baader Genuine Ortho, Pentax XW, Nagler 3-6mm zoom) but the T6's did remarkably well against all comers and have 12mm of eye relief and 82 AFoV to boot, so I'm very happy with them

[pvaz]

I can't see a difference between the 5mm baader ortho and my 10mm ethos + big barlow. It's quite a big and heavy combination, but nothing short from perfect detail on planets, any difference in contrast / light transmition to the orthos must be so slim I honestly can't see it. The wider FoV makes the views much more pleasing.

Maybe more sensirive eyes can notice a difference.

[wizard007]

Are you becoming a Televue junkie? :D

Yes I think I am becoming a Televue junkie. Only had it a couple of nights and can't see how I ever enjoyed astronomy before without it!

Thanks for all your advice and by all your comments so far I think the Nagler is my way forward initially until I have the cash for an Ethos.

I think as I have a DOB without weights the heavy EP and barlow combination might be a little awkward initially.

Off to search for a secondhand Nagler for a day or two before I get impatient and buy a new one!

[johninderby]

Here's a comparison of the size diffrences between the 13m & 6mm Ethos and a 5mm Nagler (7mm Nagler is about the same size).

John

[wizard007]

Wow those extra 18 degrees really make a difference in size!

I guess size does matter after all

I think I'll go for the Nagler and as soon as an extra £250 or so presents itself to me I'll sell the Nagler and get the Ethos.

I'd like to have everything on 2" to save messing about with EP connectors when I want to use the Nagler which is the only drawback.

[GazOC]

I thought about Barlowing my 13mm Ethos in my Dob last night and scrapped the idea half way through. It looked a little "unsteady" for want of a better word.

Maybe the 2" Big Barlow might be a little safer?

[wizard007]

I thought about Barlowing my 13mm Ethos in my Dob last night and scrapped the idea half way through. It looked a little "unsteady" for want of a better word.

Maybe the 2" Big Barlow might be a little safer?

Yes I think barlowing one of these could end up costing a lot of money if you drop it!

I think the Nagler is worth the money and safer to handle for my cold clammy fingers at midnight!

[pvaz]

I thought about Barlowing my 13mm Ethos in my Dob last night and scrapped the idea half way through. It looked a little "unsteady" for want of a better word.

Maybe the 2" Big Barlow might be a little safer?

My dob haves some nice tension pads. I just had to adjust then to avoid nose dives. It's now stiffer in alt then az but easy enough to track without removing the eye from the EP.

[GazOC]

To be honest Paulo it wasn't the weight on the altitude bearings (the scope didn't seem like it was going to tip) it was the distance the heavy eyepiece was going to be hanging off the side of the focuser that concerned me.