Explore Scientific ES1400 14mm 100' Eyepiece

[Astro_Baby]

Well I finally got round to be being able to use the monster sized Explore Scientific eyepiece over the past week or so and heres my own view of it. I have split the review into two sections. One for each telescope it was used in.

TAL 100RS 4" Achromatic Refractor/ Revelation 2" Diagonal

Last night the ES1400 had its first run under good sky conditions paird with the TAL 100RS and a Reveleation 2" Dielectric diagnonal.

A waxing gibbous moon restricted targets somewhat but the eyepiece was used on the double cluster and rendered amazing views. Now I have seen this traget with a 13mm Ethos so I had a reasonable comparison to work from. How well did the ES1400 do ? Well its different. Its not better than an Ethos but its not worse either. Personally I found it a more immersive view than with the Ethos but its very much a different eyepiece. Stars were tack sharp to the edges and you need to swivel your eyeballs about inside the eyepiece to really get the full view. YOu also I find need to use the eyepiece for a protracted period to let your eyes adjust to its FOV which is immense.

Next target for the night was M13 because again I have used an Ethos on that target with a similar type of scope so would have a reasonable target to compare with. Unfortunately M13 was low in the sky and suffering haze. Doh !!!!

I decided that as the moon was up I'd run the 1400 over to the moon. Surely this would be an average experience. It was anything but. The Moon filled the eyepiece almost but not quite to the edge. A whole moon in the eyepiece at 14mm AND so sharply defined it felt like you were in a spaceship orbiting above it.

Contrast and sharpness edge to edge were absolutely superb. I cursed a little for not having any 2" filters for planets or the mooon or even a neutral density to bring up a bit more detail but in truth it was scarcely needed. Another observer had a look and was equally amazed at the astounding quality of the view. The fact you could get the whole orb of the moon into the view AND pick out amazing levels of detail just floored me, my partner and the other observer.

On balance do I regret buying the ES1400 - would I have been happier with an Ethos ? My partner considered the view of the moon with the ES1400 to have justified its scary cost. I was equally happy. Its hard to know if I would be happier with an Ethos but I can scarcely use poor quality with the ES1400 to justify it because the ES1400 is clearly a VERY serious player in the upmarket EP world.

Skywatcher SW200 8" F5 Reflector

"Yes Mel we know it worked ok in an F9 even a coke bottle would perform well in that - now tell us how it performed in a fast scope - tell us please it was horrible with edge distortion, coma, poor color correction, pincushioning - PLEASE tell us if nothing else the box it came in is stupid or that nitrogen purging and waterproofing an eyepiece is dumb"

Well I'd love not to be controversial. Not to be lynched by the Televue Fan Club and to let Ethos owners sleep safe in their beds untroubled by the upstart Explore Scientific but....

Well I saw no noticeable aberrarions in the view. I looked at the double cluster with the F5 newt and found it to be good. I observed Mars cross the Beehive and found it to be astounding. The ES1400 appeared to show not a single defect and boy did I look. Theres no visible elongation or distortion of images at the edge even when looking at the moon. At times Mars, as it crossed close to the beehive was at the edge of the view and it stayed round, solid, free of distortion, no apparent shift6 in color or shape. Stars were rendered as well as any eyepiece could.

So should Televuye owners wail, gnash their teeth, rend their clothing (maybe even burn their bras ? ) I dont think so. The ES1400 appears to offer a different experience. An Ethos owner who took a look preferred his Ethos. I dont have a strong feeling one way or the other. I like the ES1400 - I also like the Ethos from the few times I have used one. The ES1400 seems more comfy to me and the view is equally as good - at least to my eyes.

Would I be happy to keep it - yes for sure and I'd consider the cash spent on it as safe money. Its a beautiful looking eyepiece, a beautiful eyepiece to use and personally given the rotten weather we Brits get I think a waterproof eyepiece is probably not as silly as it probably sounds to someone living in Nevada.

The view was crisp, clear and very sharp despite sky conditions on the night it was used with the SW200 not being the best.

If it has a downside it the sheer bulk of the thing and its weight. A natural coseuqnce I imagine of the vast amount of glass inside it.

THE SUM OF IT ALL

Well I was happy. The view of the moon with it was astounding stuff and I cant wait for some better summer sky targets to try it out on.

I'd have to agree with other people who have reviewed it - its different is all. Its not an Ethos clone, its not an Ethos killer its just simply a very quality eyepiece that brings something else to the mix. If I had the cash on the strength of the last few nights viewing with it I'd happily splash out on the 9mm and 20mm versions.

The eyepiece will be with me at Salisbury SP so if anyone wants a close up look they are, as ever, welcome to pop along and try it.

[John]

Great review of what is clearly a stunningly good eyepiece AB

It's really amazing that Explore Scientific have bought this sort of quality product to market at a price which is significantly lower than the Ethos. It would be great if some UK dealers could carry it but, as far as I know, none do, as yet.

The waterproofing would have been useful at SGL5 - on the Friday night my scope was running with dew by 1:00 am !.

Some people have issues with ultra-wide field eyepieces - did you find any ? - could you see the whole field of view at once or did you need to pan your eye around to see the field edges ?.

Good to see the eyepiece tested in two scopes of such differing specifications as well.

Thanks for taking the trouble to post this

[Astro_Baby]

You need to pan your eye around a bit. The extreme outer edges need a bit of shifting your eye in the eyepiece.

For instance when we did the moon with it your natural line of sight into the eyepiece was at the moons dead centre. To see the outer edge you needed to look around a bit. It was rather like have a view thgrough a small porthole - as you press your face up to it you get to see more. It doesnt seem to tire the eyes - I was goggling at the moon for a good 15 minutes and the powerful view at 14mm while retaining the whole moon allowed you to get a sort of 'stadium view' and see the relationship between features that are some distance apart.

Its very hard to define and I think you'd have to have a look yourself to get the real picture. Its a very different view to anything else I have used - the Ethos is similar but not really the same.

What really stood out was a sort of contrast boost to the image - this was most noticeable on the moon where even without a moon filter the contrast was extremely good despite the brightness.

As I say I couldnt see any abberrations in the views at all - my eyes arent the greatest though.

It is a shame that UK dealers arent taking this one on (if an ES folk are reading this I'll do it for a few freebies ). I got mine from Optcorp in the US I think and they were pretty fast off the mark getting it dispatched.

I already did a short piece about it from ages ago but its worth mentioning that the build quality is superb. Fit and finish is perfection itself. Its very elegant, unfussy in its looks. It doesnt have a groove cut into the barrel but has a soft taper which means it doesnt stick in compression fit focusers. The machining of the barrel and polishing is very fine stuff.

The carton it comes in is massive and its a very big eyepiece even when compared to other monster EPs. The eyecup is soft rubber and it has a soft rubber grip around its centre. The blackwork is absolutely flawless. It looks almost alien in some ways as it has such clean looks.

My only real grip is its weight - its just about at the limit really on my gear but a Dob owner might have issues without balancing weights.

[TheThing]

Hi Mel, great review, thanks for posting. How much does the EP retail for and where did you get it from please?

[Andrew*]

It is stocked in the UK: 100° Series - Explore Scientific - Eyepieces & Barlows

Thanks for that review, Mel - it just cost me £400 . No, seriously - it sounds like a great alternative to the Ethos.

Now all we need is an SGL member with the 20mm! At the same price, it gives the 21mm Ethos serious competition.

Andrew

[pvaz]

Very good review. When I bought my 10mm Ethos I also had a chance at a 14mm ES for a bit less, but then as the price difference wasn't much and there wasn't much info on the ES I toke the "safe" route and got the Ethos.

From your review this seams to be a serious contender and a great option for anyone wanting extreme widefields.

Right now I feel I have all the EPs I need. However if I move to a large dob later on (14" with 1700mm FL), I feel I'll need an EP around 20mm to give me the view I get with EPs around 13mm with my current setup. The price of the ES 20mm is very tempting when compared to the Ethos 21mm.

[Astro_Baby]

Mine was bought from Starizona (US dealer as there were no UK dealers at the time).

Cost was $399 dollars (when the £ was a bit stronger at 1.8(ish) so about £221.

Shipping was £22 plus £9 import duty (dont ask me how they worked that out) so total cost was around £252. For that money it was a no brainer I think. Half the price of an Ethos and easily as good.

[pvaz]

Great deal there!

If I get the big dob by the end of the year the ES 20mm will follow.

BTW you should try it with a good quality barlow. If it's as good as the Ethos you'll have a planetary EP that rivals with the orthos on quality and a huge FoV.

[John]

It is stocked in the UK: 100° Series - Explore Scientific - Eyepieces & Barlows

Thanks for that review, Mel - it just cost me £400 . No, seriously - it sounds like a great alternative to the Ethos.

Now all we need is an SGL member with the 20mm! At the same price, it gives the 21mm Ethos serious competition.

Andrew

Thats a lot more than they sell for in the USA ! (as usual ). Unfortunately £400 makes the ES14 less attractive over here as Telescope House's fairly frequent 10% off weekends brings the Ethos 13mm to around the same price and, with the greatest respect to the ES14, I think most folks would buy the Tele Vue.

[pvaz]

That's probably true John. If the price is about the same, you know the name Tele Vue guaranties quality and you tend to do the safe purchase.

[GazOC]

And will probably hold its resale value better, that was certainly part of my thinking when I went with a S/H Ethos instead of a new ES.

The one I'm really interested in is the 20mm model, thats a lot cheaper than its Televue counterpart.

[johninderby]

I decided to go with the Ethos eyepieces until now, but the 20mm ES is the one in the ES range that I would seriously consider. That's too big a price difference to ignore.

John

[Astro_Baby]

I agree and if I were product marketing for ES I'd want at least a 25% price differential because as things stand they are a secondary brand. If they want to eat Televues lunch then they will have to compete harder and that means cuting the price or offering something else.

Theres always a few 'heroes' who will buy different but you cant make a market on exceptions.

At the price I paid I considered it a good deal. At closer to the Televue price I'd probably go the Ethos route as well.

[albedo0.39]

Nice review Mel - thanks for all the detail and hard work. FWIW, I found the Ethos a little too wide for comfort (runs for cover) and preferred the 92degree Nagler or even better value UWAN's from WO or Skywatcher. Try as I might, in my 16" F4.5, If found prescious little difference in edge sharpness - if at all

Still, if I was interested in 100degree, then your review tempts me to look hard at the ES

Thanks

[G0JVK]

i was thinking of investing in the superb Televue Ethos range myself when i came across this review it's excelllent Astro baby thank you for posting it, i was just browsing at Telescope house when i came across them at a great deal with the Christmas 10% discount now. now i am seriously considering them as an alternative.

Telescope House Explore Scientific Eyepieces

9mm £307.80. 14mm £340.19. 20mm £395.99.

[Astro_Baby]

Well I am not sure the price difference is enough to justify it to be honest. Last time I looked there was only a small price difference and bearing in mind the tv ethos might have a better resale value I'd probably plump for the ethos.

But since I wrote that review I have done more observing with the es1400 and to be honest I am unconvinced about the whole 100' thing. To be honest knowing what I know now I wouldn't bother. 100' fov eyepieces have a lot of wow factor initially but I seriously wonder if they a worth the cash. I find i am never really looking at the very edge of the field and am only really using the centre part of the eyepiece as a consequence I really wonder if 100' eyepieces are really all that they are cracked up to be.

Thres a bigger review on my site where I cover those issues. It's a personal thing as eyepiece choice always is but for me I think in future I'd stick to eps of about 80' fov.

[sixela]

Well its [sic] different.

Is it?

Explore Scientific 14mm Ethos 13mm English

From having peered through two with a black cap at the scope end, the Ethos has slightly better coatings (but the ES100 has the best coatings the Chinese have on offer), the baffling is different (see the white things in the Ethos) and they've probably both tweaked the basic recipe for different glass types, but it's all very subtle.

[Astro_Baby]

Your on form with pedantry today

It's different in the sense that when you look through it presents a different experience. Personally I find the ES slightly more comfy to use than the Ethos but that's probably just because the rubber cup is better placed on my eye and the eye relief is slightly more favourable. The view inside the EP is also subtly different, it's very hard to explain that it's something you kind of have to experience.

When I did my review no one I knew of had so far taken one to bits to have a look inside, that's understandable because very few people are going to be charitable enough to take a £400 eyepiece to bits just to show their friends.

But even so, pedantically speaking, they are different, different glass types, coatings and even, judging from the X-Rays different baffling.

Personally I'd not be surprised if given some time the Chinese don't wipe TV out they way they have wiped out everyone else. It's kind of inevitable I suspect. After all everything else has gone that way sooner or later.

[Astro_Baby]

Thtas certainly an interesting review though Sixela and it kind of suggests that despite visual use by various reviewers and indeed some reviews suggesting the ES can't play against the Ethos in fact it can on the basis of it's design and glass. Lots of people have in fact sat on the fence with reviews of it. I tried to be as honest and uncoloured and that's why I got an Ethos owner to give their views.

I am uncoloured enough in my review at least to question the whole value of 100' fov eyepieces.

Would I buy again. ? Knowing what I know now the answer is no. I wouldn't buy either the Ethos or the ES. Ok I might if money was no problem at all, but if that was the case i would also buy a 60" telescope on top of a mountain

I did toy at one time with getting the 9 and the 20 off ES just so I had a matched set of something but on use and based on time I think the only way that would happen would be if someone gave them to me FOC.

The big downside I see to the ES is it may well be as good as the Ethos but ES will have a tough time cracking the UK market without a significant price differential. Last time I looked I think the difference was only about £35 and for me that wouldn't do it........I wouldn't buy a secondary brand that was that close to the market leader in price cos I would have to consider sale value, depreciation etc.

[Astro_Baby]

Just Checked and Telescope house have the ES 14mm at £78 cheaper than an Ethos in 13mm .... I don't know whether that makes it sensible.

It's nice to see though that of all EPs the Explore Scientific probably is STILL having more written about it than anything else

It's certainly a conversation piece if nothing else

[Moonshane]

I tend to agree about the 100 degree field. It's great and really impressive and immersive but as much as I love my 13mm Ethos, I took the decision a while back not to buy another focal length. For the same price as a new 10mm Ethos, I bought a whole set of superb quality planetary eyepieces.

If I had to sell an eyepiece to help fund eg my planned 18" dob I think this would be the first to go. I could sell it with no regrets and buy a used 13mm T6 Nagler with maybe £150-175 to spare.

I am starting to plan an equatorial platform for my dobs and this will effectively negate the need for wider fields anyway and quite honestly, the 12.5mm Baader GO I have is 'better' (i.e. sharper and with more contrast) on Jupiter at least than my 13mm Ethos.

Stunning eyepieces but not essential at all.

[Astro_Baby]

the 12.5mm Baader GO I have is 'better' (i.e. sharper and with more contrast) on Jupiter at least than my 13mm Ethos

Heresy and the minions of the Televue Marketing Dept will descend upon you and curse your tracking platform with a thousand pieces of sticky, uneven Teflon

[Moonshane]

ha ha

I know I know - I am hoping the result is that they try and prove it to me with loads of freebies?

[John]

I saw those x-rays pictures when they were posted on the Cloudynights forum some time ago. I've a 13mm Ethos but I've not had the pleasure of trying an ES 14mm as yet. From what I've read the performance differences are likely to be very small indeed - small enough to be delivered through the use of slightly different coatings, an element or two of a different glass type, slightly more effective baffling etc, etc, ie: small differences in the execution of what is basically the same optical design.

The initial run of Burgess / TMB planetary eyepieces were afflicted by off-axis internal glare issues which were caused solely by one lens retaining ring being manufactured to a slightly different profile than specified. The fix was to replace that one component with something that looked very similar but had a micro-ribbed inner surface and the eyepiece performed really well.

I'm not sure that the x-rays prove much to be honest

[Astro_Baby]

John if we are ever in the same field observing you will be very welcome to give the ES a go as is anyone when I am out doing the astro thing.

It's tough to really compare these beasties because in technical terms they are similar and the views are so close as to make it very tough to choose which is best. I don't know how you'd ever get a decisive answer and perhaps you can't, perhaps there isn't one.