High Powered Eyepiece Set

[Kef9]

Ive been thinking what the best options are for a set of high powered eyepieces for planetary observing. To me the few options that stick out are;

3.5mm, 5mm and 7mm pentax XW's

4mm, 6mm & 8mm radians

pentax 5mm XO orthoscopic

3.5mm, 5mm and 7mm naglers

3-6mm nagler zoom

I dont really think an ethos is suited to high power as the FOV is not really required. If I did get one I think it would probably be the 8mm.

Apart from that I just have this feeling that the pentax's will maybe give the best views and be the sharpest.

Any thoughts on what you would have if you had the choice would be appreciated.

[Ben Ritchie]

How much do you like eye relief? The XO is a superb planetary eyepiece, but for comfort i'd pick the XWs any day from your list if you can afford the price of admission. Based on the rest of your signature, you can Under great seeing you'll love the 3.5mm

With the 3-for-2 offer the Radians are good value for money and all three wouldn't be much more than one Pentax, although i'd include the 5mm in there (4-5-8 or 4-5-6, the latter being what I have, although with a slightly longer focal length 'scope).

[Kef9]

Cheers Ben.

Have you actually used the XWs? What are they like? Worth the money? I've only looked through televue eyepieces really and the odd ortho and plossl.

Also if you have looked through an XO how did you find the eye relief?

Do you think that list covers everything or are there some good planetary eyepieces I've missed?

I'm interested to know how easy they are to look through.

[Ben Ritchie]

At one point I had the 3.5, 5, 7 and 10mm XWs with my AP130. With the possible exception of the 8mm Ethos they're the best high-power eyepieces I've ever owned (but see my comments elsewhere about my dislike of short eye relief, so don't take this as an impartial opinion!). They went mostly for financial reasons, partly because the 7mm clashed with the 8E I used to have, and partly because the Radians I currently have are more compact and easier to carry around, the XWs are quite large. The 4, 5 and 6mm Radians give me a nice spread covering typical seeing around here.

I've not owned a Pentax XO, but i've used the 5mm. I can see the attraction for those in pursuit of the absolutes of on-axis performance, but it has too little eye relief for me to really enjoy it.

Do you think that list covers everything or are there some good planetary eyepieces I've missed?

High-end orthoscopics et al. - if you've not used them, you should at least find some and decide if you like them or not.

[John]

I've used a Pentax XW10 which is reputed to be one of the best XW's. It was a superb eyepiece and, with the exception of the Ethos' the only one I've tried (and I've tried a few !) that was a slight improvement on the 9mm Nagler T6 I owned at the time. I've stuck with the Naglers and Ethoi becuase I really like ultra-wide FoV's even at high power as I tend to use un-driven, alt-aze mounts most of the time.

[Kef9]

Hi guys

Thanks for the responses. I'm particuly interested in how the pentax compares with the ethos and radians since you guys have used them.

If you were not bothered about FoV or eye relief which would you say gave the sharpest image with the most detail?

[Kef9]

High-end orthoscopics et al. - if you've not used them, you should at least find some and decide if you like them or not.

Yep, I think I need to buy a cheap 5mm and see if I can live with the eye relief.

[Ben Ritchie]

Thanks for the responses. I'm particuly interested in how the pentax compares with the ethos and radians since you guys have used them.

If you were not bothered about FoV or eye relief which would you say gave the sharpest image with the most detail?

On-axis I think the Pentax is the best of the three, with the Ethos beating the Radian. I also prefer the tone of the Pentax. But they're all very strong performers, and I don't feel i'm missing out on a huge amount by using Radians - my wallet thanks me too, as used Radians are roughly half the price of a used XW (and under a third of a used Ethos).

edit: as a slight disclaimer, I have used the 5XW and 5mm Radian side-by-side in good conditions, i've not tried an Ethos with the equivalent focal-length XW although i've tried the 7XW and 8E. It's possible that the higher focal length of the XW affected my opinion, as neither eyepiece was seeing-limited.

Yep, I think I need to buy a cheap 5mm and see if I can live with the eye relief.

I'd look for one of the Baader 'genuine Orthoscopics' - good eyepiece, and easy to sell on if you hate it. Think a couple of good nights with one of those will tell you if you're an 'ortho' person or not.