Plossl advice needed.

[gobes]

Hi all,

I colleague of mine recommended getting a 32mm Plossl ep a while ago... which I never got around to.

Question is... will I notice much difference between the more expensive Meade Plossl ep's, and a cheaper version, Skywatcher etc that can be up to half the price of a Meade?

If the difference is really that noticeable - then I'll go for the better option.

Thanks,

[gobes]

Have seen this on fleeBay though:

NEW! MEADE 32mm Series 4000 SUPER PLOSSL Eyepiece Lens on eBay (end time 13-May-10 03:32:30 BST)

Anybody buy ep's from eBay... or is that a little risky?

[Pete Presland]

hi

i have bought from coolman who is selling this eyepiece and i have not had any problems.

the meade series 4000 will certainly be better than the ones you have,but you can pick up some very good 2nd hand eyepieces on here and astro buy and sell.

pete

[Merlin66]

Look for a TV 32mm Plossl... that will last a lifetime!

[BazMark]

Have seen this on fleeBay though:

NEW! MEADE 32mm Series 4000 SUPER PLOSSL Eyepiece Lens on eBay (end time 13-May-10 03:32:30 BST)

Anybody buy ep's from eBay... or is that a little risky?

I bought a Meade 40mm series 4000 EP from the same ebay seller a couple of months back. The EP was fine but it did come from the USA not the UK like the advert says and it took a week to arrive.

[pbyrne]

I'll put a vote in for a Televue 32mm as well, the series 4000 are a fine eyepiece, but the Televue is better, they appear regularly on the second hand market and I would wait for one to come along.

[gobes]

Thanks for the advice guys. I think I'm leaning towards getting one from this guy on eBay. Not too fussed if it takes a week to come... so long as it's decent quality.

[Doug]

Hi

Just take a look on Ebay uk there are lots of 32mm on there and a Meade 4000 32mm

is a nice piece but it is all about money and you did not state you scope

It will depend on the scope you have ,If it is a fast scope say f4.7 or 5.0 you will need a good eyepiece the slower the scope the more you can get a way with like a f10 at the moment meade 4000 are cheap on ebay have a look if you can go for Tele Vue eyepieces good hunting

Doug Essex

[Rob]

Dont loose site that this will be a finder EP for you. Dont go spending loads of cash .. stick with the ebay idea, thats just fine

[gobes]

Hmmm. Ok, perhaps I may shoot for a Televue as they are getting all this praise.

I have a Skymax 127 btw.

[Moonshane]

I agree with the general consensus regarding good quality eyepieces. it's well worth it in the long run. people seem to end up favouring one brand and for me it's Televue too. I just love my Radians which I got used and buying used top notch lenses off this forum is a sound way to build a nice collection over time no matter what scope you have. also, buying used, and TV are a great example here, you can usually sell for not much less or the same as you pay if in a few months you don't get on with the eyepiece for some reason. many people crave wider and wider fields but for me 60-70 degrees is perfect - never looked through a 100 degree Ethos though so may change my mind BUT as I say, there's always a ready market for used good quality.

The good thing about the TV plossls is that I understand the quality is every bit as good with them as all the other range but in a much cheaper price given the lesser field of view. I think you can get them for maybe £50 in as new condition off here cf about £75 new.

if you buy good eyepieces then you will keep them even though you might change your scope. I paid as much for my four eyepieces and a powermate (see below) as I paid for my 12" dob (used) and I've never looked back.

good luck whatever you choose and don't rush into it - the stars are not going anywhere and it's cloudy anyway :0))

[Rob]

I have to say the ED Explorer range are also very good. At £36 a steal!

[Moonshane]

agreed Rob, I had a few of these and they are great value. nice eye relief too and a nice wide eye lens/twist up eye cups - much better than plossls in that respect.

I sold mine to fund the Radians though and have not regretted it.

[LukeSkywatcher]

I have a Celestron 32mm EP. Cheap as chips but it really is the dogs dangley bits.

[russ]

I'll give another vote to just the Celestron 32mm Plossl. But only because i never do much observing at low power and a 32mm would only be a 'finder eyepiece' for me. Plus your scope which has an f12.1 focal ratio, will work equally well with a 32mm Celestron as it will with a 32mm TV.

On the flipside, a 32mm TV is quality eyepiece that could stay with you for years and will work in just a well in a fast newt, if you decided to change scopes in the future.

[FLO]

It is almost impossible to buy a bad low-magnification Plossl.

Be a little careful when buying Meade Series 4000 Plossls on Ebay, a while back there were several fakes being offered. Although, from what I hear even the fakes were quite good!

HTH,

Steve

[Psychobilly]

It is almost impossible to buy a bad low-magnification Plossl.

Be a little careful when buying Meade Series 4000 Plossls on Ebay, a while back there were several fakes being offered. Although, from what I hear even the fakes were quite good!

HTH,

Steve

I think i bought quite a few of them (almost the full set) and they were ok on the ETX105...

Peter...

[Brinders]

I too have bought from Coolman in the past (my Neximage and a 32mm Meade series 4000 plossl came from him). The Meade series 4000 32mm works well in all my scopes (TAL 150P Newt, Megrez 72 refractor and CPC925GPS SCT) and I am more than happy with my purchase.

Brinders

[Psychobilly]

I have bought stuff from Coolman and have always been happy with things I have had from him...

The EP's but the form a supposed UK seller and were shipped direct from China and the paypal debit went to a HK registered account......

Peter...

[John]

One other benefit of trying to find a Tele Vue plossl is that they hold their value. So you get time with a really good example of it's type and, if and when you sell to move on, you almost always recover the majority of your invesment - providing capital to fund your next step of course.

I could never afford or justify my current eyepiece collection starting from scratch but I've managed to build it up, over time, through this incremental approach, buying used in many cases. Even the very costly Ethos became reachable when I worked out that I could sell 13mm and 16mm Naglers to fund it - so the "step" became managable and, to me at least , justifiable.

It's only the way I've done things though, YMMV of course !.

[Pete Presland]

also a good barlow will effectivly double the size of your collection

[pbyrne]

I recently bought an ETX 105 second hand and it came with a Meade Series 4000 26mm Plossl eyepiece. I had Series 4000 Super Plossls before and they were superior than this one, so go for the Super Plossl, it has yellow writing on the barrel, such as this:

Photo for Meade - 32mm Super Plossl Eyepiece - 1.25" - [ME-07176-02]

[acey]

Yet another vote for the TeleVue 32mm plossl. I bought it nearly ten years ago for my 8" f6 dob and am still happily using it on a 12" f4.9. Has also seen good service on my 80mm f5 refractor.

[MarkF]

Thanks for the heads up on this, just received my 32mm meade super plossl with yellow writing in its meade container, came in a week.

Couldn't resist it at that price, should be future proofed for quite a while.

[pbyrne]

Let us know how you get on with it Mark, I think you have a winner there.

Until the premium eyepiece monster comes along.