Investing in eyepiece - comments please

[malc-c]

My Explorer 200P EQ5 Pro goto scope is due for delivery on Monday, and according to the blurb comes with 4 eyepieces. I've also purchased a set of Revolation Astro eyepieces (set of 5) for use with the scope. However I was wondering if there would be any benefit in investing in a decent eyepiece such as one of the Celestron X-Cel range (average price seems to be around £80 for something like a 4 / 8 / 12 mm)

[John]

It sounds like you already have 9 eyepieces lined up (unless I misunderstand ?). I'm not sure you will have any "gaps" in your set to fill !.

[yoda]

It sounds like you already have 9 eyepieces lined up (unless I misunderstand ?). I'm not sure you will have any "gaps" in your set to fill !.

I agree nine EP's plus a barrlow possably I think you have plenty mate.

[malc-c]

Hi John,

The set I have contains 9mm, 12mm, 15mm, 20mm and a 32mm "projector" lens.

Working the magnifications back, the scope comes with 25mm, 12.5mm, 10mm and a 5mm so I guess I have most magnifications covered

However I was really after opinions as to whether I would notice the difference between say one of the Skywatcher eyepieces that seem to retail for less than 20 quid, and one of the X-Cel eyepieces costing 4x as much ?

[John]

My advice would be to try what you have for a few sessions before investing more. Premium eyepieces do deliver additional performance but there are many alternatives to the X-Cel's which should be given serious consideration as well.

[Capricorn]

Stick with the seletion you have.

Then see which ones it is that you use.most often, then if the quality of the image is questionable get a better one of those that you use most.

In the "mid" range you may use either the 10mm, 12mm or 15mm a lot. Once you know the ones you find most useful to you then perhaps get a more expensive one.

One bit of information, if you get one at say 12mm and think that at some time you could go for a match in the 5mm-6mm range for magnification make sure when you get the 12mm that the range you try goes down to the smaller focal lengths. I have fond that TV plossls only got to 8mm and WO SWANS to 9mm, I cannot get a 5mm in either of those ranges.

[malc-c]

guys thanks for the sound and logical advice