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Comparing Baader Hyperions to the Vixen LVWs

John

By John
in Member Equipment Reviews

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JamesM

JamesM

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Posted

Many thanks for this write up and your comments proved very interesting reading. As a beginner, I have discovered that choosing eyepieces appear to be as much a subjective decision as it is a technical one. I also liked the fact that you qualified which type of equipment would benefit most from each make of eyepiece. As a beginner, this type of information is really important in helping me to formulate an opinion as to what eyepieces would best suite my equipment.

Again many thanks for your kind efforts.

James

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NGC 1502

NGC 1502

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Hi John, I've just read your review with great interest, as I own the 22mm,13mm

& 8mm LVWs. I purchased them in 2005 when they were much cheaper.

My 3 LVWs make a good team with my 27mm Panoptic, almost the same weight,

apparent field and eye relief. The 22 is a bit close to the 27 for me, so with my

10" Dob, I tend to use 27, 13 & 8. They are all I need for deep sky with that

scope, ( I use others for planets/double stars )

I also use them with my 6" F4, they are very well corrected with that, so

TV are not the only EPs to work well at that focal ratio ! I've also a couple of

Radians, 18 & 10mm, they nice too, but at F4 I notice some field darkening at

the edges, and the 60 deg field seems much more different to 65 deg than the

numbers would suggest.

I love the nice eye relief, easy eye positioning & no blackout issues that the LVWs

give. But I suppose in the world of the 100 deg EP, they may seem "old hat" to some.

Nice review John, thanks, Ed.

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michael.h.f.wilkinson

michael.h.f.wilkinson

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Nice review. I had two of the old LVs, never had the cash in those days for the LVWs, though I was sorely tempted. Given the prices I see, the race at the higher end seems to be more between the Panoptics, Meade SWA, and Vixen LVW, than with the Hyperions, but these latter do seem a good choice for those of us with slow scopes (or tighter budgets).

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Revs

Revs

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Good read, John. Cheers for going to the effort :D

Great report John, i have 8/13/21 hyperions with both ftr,s and am well pleased with them, also find they barlow very well.

John

Agreed. I was really pleased with how well they worked with the Ultima. For the money they take some beating.

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michael.h.f.wilkinson

michael.h.f.wilkinson

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The Hyperions are also very interesting to have as "spare" EP set for astroparties, if you want to set up multiple scopes, or prevent various (female) guests from smearing mascara over the coating of your Naglers/Panoptics/Ethos stuff, or simply for a travel scope, when taking more expensive stuff may be risky.

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Macavity

Macavity

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I'm glad (obviously!) that the Hyperions came out well enough. I think it testament to their quality that they gained a foothold, set against the "Green Sea" on CN - At least for the more budget-minded astronomer. :)

I don't think they QUITE beat the LVW 22mm (wish I had one) - with either the 21mm or 24mm. But both these latter have their specific uses here! Aside: I do regret selling my (very first) Vixen LV's (sic) though... Nice eyepiece too. :D

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John

John

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...I don't think they QUITE beat the LVW 22mm (wish I had one) - with either the 21mm or 24mm. But both these latter have their specific uses here! Aside: I do regret selling my (very first) Vixen LV's (sic) though... Nice eyepiece too. :D

I'd agree although I didn't have the 21mm Hyperion to try. I had my own 22mm LVW a couple of years ago but at the time I yearned for a 24mm Panoptic, which I eventually bought. I have to say though that the 22mm LVW was probably as good as the 24 Pan and a little more comfortable to observe through having a larger eye lens and almost double the eye relief that the Tele Vue has.

If Vixen could find a way of shaving 20% or so off the retail price of the LVW's I think they would be a very popular eyepiece :)

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michael.h.f.wilkinson

michael.h.f.wilkinson

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I'd agree although I didn't have the 21mm Hyperion to try. I had my own 22mm LVW a couple of years ago but at the time I yearned for a 24mm Panoptic, which I eventually bought. I have to say though that the 22mm LVW was probably as good as the 24 Pan and a little more comfortable to observe through having a larger eye lens and almost double the eye relief that the Tele Vue has.

If Vixen could find a way of shaving 20% or so off the retail price of the LVW's I think they would be a very popular eyepiece :D

The eye relief is such an important point for me. I loved it in the LVs, and it is the reason I go for type 4 Naglers (just the one, for the moment), and of course the Radians. It strikes me as particularly odd that the 24mm Panoptic has such a short eye relief.

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optical thrombosis

optical thrombosis

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Good, 'real world' review - thank you. I have to say that for the price, the Baader Hyperion's are stunning. on my Sky-Watcher Evostar 100ED DS-PRO the 5mm is just spectacular for planetary work. Unscrew the lower optic group and you have a capable 22mm eyepiece - Genuinely '2 for the price of 1'.

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John

John

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John,

Just wondered if you'd used the Antares Speers Walers and where you would place them vis the Hyperions and the Vixens - just curious.

Hi AB,

The only Speers-Waler I've owned/used was a 24mm which is not the same as the others in the range - it's basically a low cost 70 degree 1.25" eyepiece with the the usual pros and cons that such eyepieces have. That said, it worked very well in the TAL 100R that I owned at the time.

The 82 degree SW's are very different I believe and, from what I've read, provide "nagleresque" views in scopes down to around F/6. The main issue with them is that some in the range require a lot of inward focuser travel compared with conventional plossls / orthos etc.

I tend to class 82+ degrees as "ultra-wide" wheras the Hyperions and LVW's are "wide angles" at 65-68 degrees apparent field of view.

Russ and Andrew* have used more SW's than I have so are much better placed to comment on them than me. My guess would be that they are closer William Optics UWAN's or Skywatcher Nirvana's than the Hyperions or LVW's.

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Kef9

Kef9

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John,

Just wondered if you'd used the Antares Speers Walers and where you would place them vis the Hyperions and the Vixens - just curious.

Have a search at some of my past posts on them.

I have the 5-8mm zoom and its excellent. In my f5 frac stars are sharp to the edge. It provides a 89 to 84 degree FoV dependent on the setting. I was out the other night looking at jupiter with both my speers zoom and my nagler zoom. At the same setting the speers for me gave a better image with more detail and less light scatter plus the extra FoV.

Negatives are dust on the lenses which you cant avoid due to the open design. The other is the physical size of the thing. When twinned with a powermate it turns into a baseball bat. I don't mind the madness of this though. My Panaview wil be up for sale soon (When I can be bothered) so that will leave me with just Televue eyepieces apart from this which is exceptional. There is no way I would ever part with it.

Just for your info Rother Valley Optics have the Series 2 Zoom which has a diferent zoom mechanism I believe which stops dust from entering. At £250 it is an absolute steal. I'm so tempted myself but then I would have 2! LOL

As the above poster says give Russ a PM because he also has experience of this eyepiece. I can't believe everyone doesnt have one.

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AndyH

AndyH

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I also have the MK1 5-8 Antares/Speers Zoom. Simply stunning eyepiece!!

The 10 and 7.5, which I had, were superb too. I only got rid, because of the zoom and the 10mm Nikon which I have and was on a eyepiece cutting exercise at the time. You can buy individual elements from the suppliers, if you ever have a problem with one of them.

Andy.

I think Aberdeen Andrew has the 8-12mm zoom.

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