BST Explorer Eyepiece

[andrew63]

I just posted a link to these eyepieces so i thought i would pass on some of my thoughts.

I still had a few eyepieces from a while back 9mm orth 25mm kel of Fullerscopes vintage! As i have started observing again with a used Meade ETX90 came with a 26mm which luckily is a Japan version and is VERY FINE. I wanted a mid range as the 9mm is pushing it with this unless seeing is very stable.

I decided, from the good reports on this site to try a 15mm BST Explorer from Sky's the limit. Basically it's a 60 deg 6 element eyepiece with ED glass for £36!

I tried it out on on a sunny day for a look at some trees, it's always a good idea to look in daylights as defects are more apparent. I was glad to see things were sharp well corrected and the relief was very good.

That night on to a first quarter moon, which fitted the whole field and confirmed the day view impression, not quite as bright as the plossl but remember there are 6 elements here. On to jupiter and the view was sharp all way as it drifted out of field...

I thought I would test it on a few planetary neb. M57 and M27 - to my surprise with view of both was very pleasing, a smudge yes, but as clear as with the 26mm which is top class, so the light transmission must be pretty good as i only have 90mm of glass at the other end! I would say from my view these eyepieces would match ones costing a great deal more - look at the price of other six element types eg celestron x-cel. The others in the series are from the reviews of similar quality. Hope this is of use.

Regard, andrew

[peteftm]

Thanks for that andrew, iv'e just received delivery of the 18mm , (Superfast delivery).Hope it performs well in my F5 dob

[CGolder]

Hello,

I have the entire batch, i have some meade scopes and being par focal makes the mirror focus slop way less painful, you will be happy with these eyepieces and the service from alan.

If you mail him direct and not through ebay you will probably be able to get a discount for multiple orders.

I think the 18 and 12 are the best in the bunch, the 8mm i compared to the TMB clone 8mm and they were pretty much identical imo.

[WayBig]

I'm taking Alan up on his offer of comparing a TMB planetary vs an explorer, I'll get them both next week, 8 or 9mm focal length . I've a couple of explorers already - never tried a TMB planetary so I'm interested to see how they compare.

[andrew63]

Pete, be good to know how you get on with eyepice

regards, andrew

[andrew63]

Thanks for the feedback, the 12mm is what i'm considering next

[Space Beagle]

I have the 18mm BST Explorer and am very happy with it so far!

For the money it is well built and it appears to preform well optically. I bought it to replace a Nirvana 16mm in my eyepiece collection and apart from the reduced FoV I'm finding it hard to notice any difference!!

Doc

[WayBig]

I have the 18mm BST Explorer and am very happy with it so far!

For the money it is well built and it appears to preform well optically. I bought it to replace a Nirvana 16mm in my eyepiece collection and apart from the reduced FoV I'm finding it hard to notice any difference!!

Doc

Doc - What was wrong with the nirvana? - I'm thinking of the opposite approach - replacing my 15mm explorer with an nirvana if one comes up at a good price.

[Space Beagle]

Nothing wrong with the Nirvana's, I just wanted to get a better spread of eyepiece FL's to suit the scopes I have at the moment. The 16mm Nirvana was a bit close to the Ethos 13mm to be able to justify it's place in the ep box! I also took the oportunity to try and re-coup some money while still having good ep's! I do have a habit of spending a wee bit much on new kit!!

I do recommend the Nirvana's (I used to have the 4mm and the 7mm too!) to anyone thinking of giving them a go, i'd even say they give the equivelant Naglers a bit of competition!

Doc

[John]

...I do recommend the Nirvana's (I used to have the 4mm and the 7mm too!) to anyone thinking of giving them a go, i'd even say they give the equivelant Naglers a bit of competition!

Doc

I used to have a 16mm UWAN which is (despite what has been said occasionally elsewhere) identical to the Nirvana 16mm IMHO. I sold it and "upgraded" to a T5 Nagler 16mm which cost me quite a lot of extra £'s. Looking back it was not a great move as the difference between the Nagler and the UWAN was almost undetectable. The UWAN actually had a bit more eye relief than the Nagler did (12mm v's 10mm) so was a little more comfortable to use.

Last year I was loaned a 28mm Nirvana to try alongside my Nagler 31mm. Again the Nirvana's performance was very close indeed to the Naglers.

So the UWAN's / Nirvana's certainly do provide some real competition for the Naglers

[Space Beagle]

There you go!

John knows what he's talking about!!

Doc

[WayBig]

OK, thanks for the extra info. Seems like the UWANs/Nirvanas are fine EPs, i'll wait for one to turn up used.

Rgds

Chris