Your opinions PLEASE.

[LukeSkywatcher]

Having agreed the sale of my Celestron Skyscout (damn i let that go for next to nothing but it was serving me no good gathering dust) i will soon have a few extra euros in my pocket to play around with. I would like to dip my toes into the pool that is "good quality EP's" which are not cheap but they are not uuber expensive either.

I'll have a budget of about £100.

I really like widefield views so i'm thinking of something between 25mm-40mm.

I already have a SW 25mm and a Celestron 32mm. I'd really like to try a good quality lens in this range (probably 32mm is the max upper limit but i am open to suggestion).

I have been looking at the following (27mm)

Skywatcher - Skywatcher ExtraFlat 1.25" eyepieces

but think i can do a bit better. My scopes take 1.25" EP's.

P.S.~~~as much as i agree that the least amount of glass between your scope and your eye is the best policy i have been wondering about maybe investing in a zoom EP (8-25mm?). Purely to try and as a convenience. Can you use barlows along with zoom EP's? The Hyperion zoom EP seems a popular low cost EP. What is the cost? FLO dont give the price in their shop.

Thanks in advance. Look forward to your comments/suggestions.

[steve_bham]

I had the full set of extra flats, very very good EP. Have you considered the hyperions?

[LukeSkywatcher]

I had the full set of extra flats, very very good EP. Have you considered the hyperions?

I am only thinking (due to budget) of a single high quality EP right now. I suppose i could replace my Celestron EP kit with the Revelation EP kit but that is not what i am after. I want to invest in a top notch EP.

[F15Rules]

Hi Paul,

You don't say if your £100 budget is for one single EP or several?

I'm going to assume you mean you want to buy maybe 2 or 3?

The following are EPs I have personal experience of and heartily recommend as being great quality and good value for money.

1. Tal 25mm Super Plossl. Available from Warehouse Express for around £20 plus postage NEW! DON'T be put off by the ridiculous price..ask anyone who has bought Tal gear, and they will tell you it is optically superb. I have a pair of Tal 25s which I also use in binoviewers and they are top notch.

2. Meade Series 4000 Super Plossls. Made by GSO in Taiwan and very good quality for the money. I have a pair of 32mms which again I also use in my binos as well as one at a time. Very solid, well made and optically very satisfying views.

3. Televue Plossl. I have a 32mm which is similar weight to the Meade 4000, but is shorter and "fatter"..costs a bit more than the Meade new but have the optical edge IMHO...you can't go wrong with TV Plossls and they are very versatile.

All of the above come up for sale here and on UK Astro B&S regularly, and if you can be patient, for your £100 you should be able to buy 3 or even 4 of this type and quality as very good used examples..

hope this helps Paul

regards

Dave

[John]

I belive your scope is an F/5 so you really want something well corrected to get satisfying wide field views. I know the new price is a bit more that your budget but I reckon the Skywatcher Nirvana 16mm is a real taste of premium performance and decent value for £135. It will showa bit more sky than your 25mm does and the higher magnfication will darken the background sky - which realy helps with fainter DSO.

[Chris H]

A second hand 19mm Panoptic in the Heritage 130p it will give you x34 and a 1.9 degree field of view.

[steve_bham]

I am only thinking (due to budget) of a single high quality EP right now. I suppose i could replace my Celestron EP kit with the Revelation EP kit but that is not what i am after. I want to invest in a top notch EP.

Yeah, i was talking abvout the SW Extra flat you listed. They are very good quality, and also one Hyperion would be at the top end of your £100 budget.

If you can go over your £100 slightly then you could consider some of the TeleVue range.

Steve

[TheThing]

For £100 you could get yourself 3 or 4 very decent 2nd hand volcano top orthos which would go very well with your scope.

[LukeSkywatcher]

1. Tal 25mm Super Plossl. Available from Warehouse Express for around £20 plus postage NEW! DON'T be put off by the ridiculous price..ask anyone who has bought Tal gear, and they will tell you it is optically superb. I have a pair of Tal 25s which I also use in binoviewers and they are top notch.

I have a TAL 2X and love it. However i have used Warehouse Express in the past and their service was below extremely BAD. So i simply will never deal with them again.

I am really only looking for one killer EP (or two slightly lesser). So i think a single Hyperion (low mag) or 2 Meade 400 (one high mag and one low mag) are best for my budget. I'm kind of being swayed towards 2 Meade 400's (9.7mm and 32mm).

[brantuk]

The Hyperion zoom's around £170 new - it's a very good e/p for the money. But with only a hundred to spare I'd wait a while and watch the For Sale section. I picked up a couple of TV Radians (12mm/8mm) for a hundred each - best e/p's in my set. Or a couple of WO Swans at approx £40 each, or Hyperion e/p's for around £50 each.

Meanwhile see if you can borrow some e/p's to try, so you can determine what you want to get.

[LukeSkywatcher]

I'm not in a position to borrow as i am not a member of any club nor have i any fellow astronomer friends. I am also not one to wait around for things to come up for sale second hand.

[John]

I am really only looking for one killer EP (or two slightly lesser). So i think a single Hyperion (low mag) or 2 Meade 400 (one high mag and one low mag) are best for my budget. I'm kind of being swayed towards 2 Meade 400's (9.7mm and 32mm).

To be honest I don't think either the Hyperions or the Meade 4000's would be "killer" eyepieces in your F/5 scope. F/5 and faster scopes are demanding on eyepieces. The Hyperions are fine but suffer at the edges in fast scopes as many eyepieces do.

I also honestly don't think you would notice much difference in performance between the Meade 4000 32mm and your current Celestron 32mm plossl - the Meade 5000 plossls might be a better bet.

William Optics UWAN's and Skywatcher Nirvana's will give you true premium eyepiece performance and do come up for sale for under £100 - a 4mm UWAN has just come up for £75 on Astro Buy & Sell for instance.

Just my thoughts from ttrying these eyepieces in various scopes.

[TheThing]

I am also not one to wait around for things to come up for sale second hand.

Stick a wanted on here and Astro Buy Sell then. I did when I wanted orthos and had the two EPs I wanted in less than a week.

[LukeSkywatcher]

Thanks for all the advice so far. I am still open to suggestions. What i do know now is that i will be buying 2 EP's (one high mag and one low mag). It makes more sense in the long run and will give me a good idea of quality EP's across the range (high to low). I most likely WILL increase my budget to around £150 because i really do want something with a marked improvement on what i have (although the ones i have i think are fine).......

I'll also keep an eye on the "for sale" section. No harm in it. I DID like the look of the Celestron Omni 40mm.

Thanks once again.

*update*

I have decided that for the high mag EP i will go for the Meade Series 5000, 9mm (i always find 9mm good for planets). Because i really do like widefield views i am gonna hold off on the low mag EP for now and watch the for sale section and try and get a used one. I'm thinking a WO 40mm SWAN. I May try the "wanted" section also when the time comes for the low power EP.

Anyone have experience with the Meade 5000 Series (9mm or other) and/or the WO SWAN 40mm?

Will my 130P (f/l 650,F5) do them justice?

[Capricorn]

Suggest that you have a look at SCS Astro, they have a fairly good selection of the Orion EP's.

No idea directly how good they are but it probably worth having a look at what is else is available.

[Capricorn]

Suggest that you have a look at SCS Astro, they have a fairly good selection of the Orion EP's.

No idea directly how good they are but it probably worth having a look at what is else is available.

[Chris H]

I think there are a few issues here. Firstly the William Optics SWAN 40mm is a 2" ep the Heritage 130p has a 1.25" focuser. Secondly a 40mm ep will have an exit pupil of 9.5mm which is too big, for a low power ep try something around the 25mm mark. Also from what I have read the SWAN's are not well enough corrected and don't work too great at F5, though I stand to be corrected. For your high power ep I would recommend something which would give you x150 or there abouts so that would be a 4mm ep (as John recommended go for the Nirvana 4mm.)

Finally you need to be careful with the weight of eyepieces, I found with my Heritage that larger ep's were too heavy for the truss tube design and the weight pulled down the top of the tube which moved the secondary mirror and threw out the collimation.

[Moonshane]

I agree about the weight issue. you could get a 4mm UWAN or maybe a 8mm Radian - you can get these for about £100 used in mint condition. This would barlow to 4mm has a nice wide field at 60 degrees and great 20mm eye relief.

You then have enough left over to wait for maybe a used 20mm Televue plossl which which would sit well with your other eyepieces?

[LukeSkywatcher]

Firstly the William Optics SWAN 40mm is a 2" ep

Sorry. You are correct. That wont do.

I'd be happy with a 25mm Kris77..

With regard to a 4mm..............i had a Celestron 4mm EP and could not see ANYTHING through it.

[Chris H]

Not too sure why you had problems with the Celestron 4mm, the Heritage 130p is an excellent scope. I've used mine with a 5mm eyepiece giving me x130 and it was fine would say that x150 be near to its limit but well within its capabilities.

With my scope I found that 0.32 Kg (11.2 ounces) was maximum weight the truss could carry before flexing became a problem.

I usually just use mine with a 19mm Panoptic, it delivers excellent views x34 and nearly a 2 degree field of view.

[Chris H]

I would also add that I have a Skywatcher Nirvana 28mm that I use in my other scope which is F4.7 and the ep is excellent, so if the others in the range are of similar quality then I would certainly recommend them. Oh and the 4, 7 and 16mm only weigh 0.2kg.

[LukeSkywatcher]

Not too sure why you had problems with the Celestron 4mm, the Heritage 130p is an excellent scope. I've used mine with a 5mm eyepiece giving me x130 and it was fine would say that x150 be near to its limit but well within its capabilities.

With my scope I found that 0.32 Kg (11.2 ounces) was maximum weight the truss could carry before flexing became a problem.

I usually just use mine with a 19mm Panoptic, it delivers excellent views x34 and nearly a 2 degree field of view.

I didnt own the Heritage 130P when i tried the 4mm EP. I used it with my 90EQ. I also tried the Celestron 6mm with the 90EQ and could not see a thing.

NOW that i have the Heritage 130P i am very happy using the Celestron 6mm EP. I can even use it with my TAL 2x and get great views.

Thats a magnification of..........................just over 200X?.

Thats the MAX my EP's allow.

I dont think it could do much more then that.

The Heritage is a great scope. It allows me to see things in a new light compared to what i was seeing with my 90EQ.