4mm Radian/4.8 Nagler

[ollypenrice]

I have had the Nagler for ages - many years - and like it muchly, but today a 4mm Radian arrived from Ben Ritchie. Condition absolutely as new, just as Ben had said.

It is aimed at planetary oberving in the big TEC refractor at a little under 250x which is often okay here. The Nagler is great but throws up some soft haloes and is tricky on eye relief, so really I prefer it in small refrators for clusters, the Trapezium and the like. The Radian was so much more comfortable on Jupiter and the moon (of which there is more than anyone needs tonight!) and will suit beginners and spectacle wearers much more than the Nagler. The view is simply crisp, contrasty, sharp and easy.

So, happy bunny, I like the Radian as well. (I've had a 10mm for quite a few years.) A very clean, very accurate eyepiece and with TeleVue you don't agonize over whether you should have gone up market. You can't, they are superb on all counts. That's five in the box but I am haunted by the ghostly absence of a 13 Ethos...

Olly

[Moonshane]

I agree totally Olly about the Radians, they are excellent and good value for money used too. I have had a 14mm and an 18mm in the past (sold both to buy my 13E (he he he) and loved them. I now have an 8mm and it's also superb. Although I am now searching for a 22mm Nagler T4, my future dilemma is whether to get a 10mm Radian or save a bit longer for a 10mm Ethos. As with all TV eyepieces, they are all pretty much as good as each other I think, in terms of the field you can see - you just pay more for the total field of each eyepiece as it increases. Congrats on your latest!

[Mark at Beaufort]

Hello Olly I also love my TeleVue EPs although I must admit I have never owned a Radian. When I use high magnification on any of my scopes I reach for the 5mm Nagler in fact the best view I have ever had of M13 was with the Nagler in my 10" Dob.

Occasionally the quality of the sky allows higher mag and on these occasions i put my 8mm Ethos on a 2X APO barlow and that gives me wide FOV and high mag.

As you say Olly its difficult to better TeleVue.

Mark

[John]

Despite my long term love affair wth Tele Vue eyepieces I've never tried a Radian oddly enough. I must put that right sometime soon. I can see that the 60 degree FoV coupled with the friendly eye relief would make them very relaxing to use

On the subject of Tele Vue - has any one watched any of the NEAF TV product launch movies that they post on Cloudynights ?. Here is an example: (the 3.7mm Ethos SX as it happens):

NEAF - 2010 Dave & Al Nagler Announcement - Article

The presentation is not quite as slick as the product !.

[Ben Ritchie]

Glad you like it, Olly - I imagine it's rather special in your TEC140!

I've become very fond of the high-powered Radians, perhaps not the ultimate in planetary performance (orthoscopics et al., I guess) but still extremely good and one of the most 'user friendly' eyepieces i've ever used.

John, certainly one to try - took me a while too, but i'm a firm convert. At current prices they're very good value.