Looking for the best deepsky 2" eyepiece?

[PARTY MARTY]

Hi folks!!!!

Can anyone help me out here!!! I have 2 decent eyepieces in my mind at the moment which are:

Televue 13mm Ethos 2" 100 degree eyepiece 679 euros

or

Explore Scientific 14mm 2" 100 degree eyepiece 439 euros

All want I to know if anyone has these eyepieces and give any advice or had any experinces looking through these eyepieces.

I am looking for best 2" deepsky eyepiece available in the market which will suit my Skywatcher Skyliner 12" F5 Auto dob telescope.

I know that the Explore Scientific eyepiece is cheaper but also as a Nitrogen-purged optics as well.

If anyone can HELP!!! please feel free to comment????

[Andrew*]

From what I have heard, there isn't much to choose between the two, but the Ethos is definitely the more sought-after eyepiece and a lot of people consider it worth teh extra.

[Moonshane]

I have a 13mm Ethos and have not used the Explore Scientific - I'm a TV addict!

although in no way cheap, the Ethos is a truly superb eyepiece. I got mine for a shade under £350 used.

I cannot find a single fault with it. the (often forgotten feature of these eyepieces) contrast and sharpness are awesome in my f5.3 12" and the weight is OK too - it's not too heavy. then there's the field. the double cluster filling the frame with a black sky is not something you'll forget.

I cannot recommend this eyepiece enough. no doubt, you'll need another lower magnification eyepiece but I often go directly from the 35mm Panoptic (also an excellent eyepiece) to the 13 Ethos. TV eyepieces also keep their value a little more than other brands and therefore if your circumstances change and you need to sell it will be easier with TV in my view.

good luck with your choices.

I saw the full range in the flesh last night. the 10mm and 8mm are beautiful little things and the 17mm and 21mm just ludicrously big and heavy (and expensive!!) but awesome nonetheless.

[John]

I'm another 13mm Ethos owner (I also have the 8mm) that has not tried the ES 14mm but, from what I've read I believe they a pretty close in performance, Here is an interesting review of the ES 14 which also mentions the Ethos 13:

Explore Scientific 100 degree Series 14mm Nitrogen-purged Waterproof Eyepiece - CN Report

In the UK they are quite closely matched in price so I guess you might as well buy the Ethos. The Ethos is the best eyepiece I've used in my 30 years in the hobby.

[Moonshane]

looking at the report it's a full half pound heavier than the Ethos. it's even a bit heavier at 1.8lbs than my heaviest eyepiece (35mm Panoptic at 1.6lbs) and this might be an issue for balancing a dob?

[PARTY MARTY]

Thanks jahmanson for the review on Explore eyepiece!!!

For performance and quaility of this eyepiece is excellent for the price, However a majority of all the members quoted to the Ethos is still king but paying over 650 euros for ethos is pretty sky high.

The Explore eyepiece is very close in performance to the Televue Ethos and I'm thinking that the explore 14 mm is probraly my best opinion here???

Plus my wife will kill me if I'd pay for such Ethos 650+euro eyepiece, even my wife's wedding ring didn't cost that much!!!!

[Moonshane]

Thanks jahmanson for the review on Explore eyepiece!!!

For performance and quaility of this eyepiece is excellent for the price, However a majority of all the members quoted to the Ethos is still king but paying over 650 euros for ethos is pretty sky high.

The Explore eyepiece is very close in performance to the Televue Ethos and I'm thinking that the explore 14 mm is probraly my best opinion here???

Plus my wife will kill me if I'd pay for such Ethos 650+euro eyepiece, even my wife's wedding ring didn't cost that much!!!!

put a ring of velcro on the eyepiece and let her wear that??

don't rule out Naglers. you get pretty much the sharpness and contrast but 'only' 82 degree field. I bet you could get a Nagler quite close to the 13E in all but the 100 degree field and a lot cheaper?

[Astro_Baby]

I have the ES 14mm and compared it with an Ethos 13mm at a recent star party. The Ethos owners and I compared them and ran both past a non-committed observer.

I am writing a report right now but this is from the posts I have made on the subject here

I ran a sort of test on the ES1400 against an Ethos at SSP. Astronut and Drummerp both had a look as well. Astronut kindly let me use his Ethos 13mm and we had a sort of shoot out. The results were hardly scientific but this was about the size of it....

Heres how they compared in a Celestron 9.25

M13 - Ethos showed core of the cluster perhaps marginally better but the ES1400 seemed to get the edge stars better defined. to me the ES1400 seemed a little darker and less bright to my eyes but Astronut felt he couldnt see much difference.

Double Cluster - Astronut felt he could detect the ES1400 verging on astigmatism at the edge of the field. I couldnt see it myself - I may have just not had good enough eyesight to spot it.

And heres how they performed in an F5 newt kindly loaned by DrummerP

M13 - hard to spot any substantial difference in the views. The ES1400 seemed perhaps very slighlt less well defined at the edge of the field. Astronut felt he couldnt see much difference

Double Cluster - View seemed identical - the ES1400 may have made stars at the edge of the filed a little 'softer' but there wouldnt have been much in it.

DrummerP felt the views in both EPs were amazingly good in the Dob.

Heres my take on it..

I paid a lot less for my ES 1400 - the exchange rate was favourable and Explore SCientif were doing a massive discount. On those terms the ES 1400 was unbeatable. Only about half the price of an Ethos and as you can see from the tests above nothing to choose between them. The ES 1400 though is VERY heavy and you need to think about that.

In the UK currently theres about £30 of difference as Telescope House are selling the ES1400 and the Ethos 13mm and they are (I believe) the sole importer. Give that pricing I;d buy the Ethos.

I dont actually think the view was that much better (if at all) but the Ethos is more likley to hold its value.

There is however a bigger consideration for me personally which goes beyond whether the TV or the ES is the better EP. That is the fact that actually (and this may sound like heresy) I am not overly struck by the view in either of them.

To me - having had time to reflect on the ES 1400 - what I dont like with it was verfied at SSP after another look in an Ethos. Its not that the ES doesnt perform its that the whole basis of 100' FOV is, for me anyway, uncomfortable.

I actually prefer a less giant field of veiw at around 70'. Now I fully accept that I might be the only person who feels this way but I find the whole 100' FOV to be a good 'party piece' but on the whole I find it uncofmartable for the same reasons I'd find it uncomfy sitting 6 inches away from a giant plasma television. It makes your eye work harder and I'd rather have a flatter object in front of me than something that is supposedly 'immersive' but in reality just tires my eyeballs out.

Price wise I think if the ES was more aggressive on price it would cut a dash in the market but at the current pricing that telescope house are asking it would be pointless to buy the ES1400. Maybe thats why Telescope House have priced it that way - I dont know.

Would I buy the ES 1400 again ? The answers no - but I wouldnt buy the Ethos either.

For the cost of either EP at current prices you could have two other eyepieces of sold quality in the 70-80' FOV world.

[PARTY MARTY]

Thanks Moonshane for advice???

I find I might look further into these Naglers as a cheaper alternative!!!

If I'd give velcro ring to my missus to wear, she'll give me a velcro noose for my neck!!!!!!

[Astro_Baby]

ps - although I said I wouldnt buy the ES 1400 again ( or any other 100' FOV for that matter) but neither will I sell it. It is a good 'party piece' to impress people with but crucially it was bought as a birthday present and if I sold it I might well cause my partner to suggest that there should be a moratorium on me buying any hardware in the future

[PARTY MARTY]

Astro baby That's interesting info you've got here, please could you tell more info on the cheaper alternative eyepieces of the 70 to 80 FOV. And could you also recommend any type and make you would prefer which would work fine for my telescope????

[Astro_Baby]

I cant really suggest a serious quality 80' FOV EP as I dont own any (well I do but they arent super quality ones). I think if I were buying today from scratch I'd be looking at Skywatcher Nirvanas, Televues in the 80' FOV range, I might even consider the Explore Scientific 82' range if I could get a look at them.

I'd certainly advise get a look at this stuff before you spend as what looks good to me, or someone else, might not look so good to you. A good example of that is the SKywatcher Panaviews (70' FOV). I like them but some people dont because of the astigantism/coma issues - I never notice it myself unless I look for it. I guess what I would like would be something like the Skywatcher Panaviews for comfort (easily the most comfortable eyepieces to use that I have) but I'd want a much better corrected version that works perfectly down to F5.

[PARTY MARTY]

Thanks Astro baby! Good sensible advice!!!

I actually do own the 2" Skywatcher 26mm 70 FOV Pana view eyepiece, this was my first 2" I've bought with my scope and for the price it was my best buy so far for good quality eyepiece. It gave me wonderful views of M31 galaxy and M13 Glob cluster. I bought this eyepiece from APM Telescopes (a german Astronomy shop) I'd paid 65 euros for it which was very good price for it. I must agree with you I've never had any problems with coma or astigantism I've ever expeirenced myself. I will try and have look into these scientific explore 82 range they sound interesting enough????

[brantuk]

The TV 13mm Ethos is superb - best ep in my set - you can get them s/h for around £350 - extremely very good vfm. Not familiar with the Explore Scientific so won't comment. Go for TV s/h is my advice - you'll never want to part with it

[PARTY MARTY]

Brantuk! If you know anyone who has second hand 13 Ethos 2" eyepiece for £350 would be a bargain at that price! However it seems that everyone wants to keep their own ethos!!! I seems to me that these eyepieces are that special, other people probarly have to donate their own body parts to try and get one

I've heard alot of members say about this Ethos !!!!!

HHHHMMMM!!! I still thinking???????

[ollypenrice]

I cannot imagine the Ethos being bettered. Equalled, maybe, but for me it was an incredible experience to use one a few years ago. I didn't know about the ES competitor but I'd ask myself which creative optical genius had brought us all these wonders. It's Al Nagler. Meade shamelessly copied the Naglers a while back and personally I would like to reward TV with my cash. They are a splendid firm to deal with and gave me a lot of their time over the phone once. All these things add up so, yes, I'm a fan but with good reason.

Olly