Eye Piece Brands for a New Boy

[KEJ]

Hi everyone

I have recently got into astronomy and purchased a second Meade 8” LX10 EMC SCT F=2000 which I am very pleased with this week, so I am very new and no spring chicken.

I know this is a similar question to “The Warthog – Eye pieces the very best” which was a brilliant bit of information and answered all the technical l aspects and what sizes to go for etc.

I currently just have one eye piece a Meade 4000 series 26mm and basically going off the info in the previous article it looks like I need approx 7.5mm low, 12.5mm mid and 20mm high.

My question is slightly different and whilst I do not wish people to particularly endorse specific brands, but can anyone list off their personal experience a list of brands in order they rate them please.

Initially I was thinking of buying a Meade 8mm – 24mm zoom or should I go for 3 separate eye pieces?

What are the cheapest websites for the best deals?

Should I stick with Meade?

Any particular brands that have not been for them?

Finally I intend to take the summer off surfing, so I am watching the pennies.

Thanks

Keith

[yeti monster]

For those of you with poor eyesight;

KEJ wrote:

Hi everyone

I have recently got into astronomy and purchased a second Meade 8” LX10 EMC SCT F=2000 which I am very pleased with this week, so I am very new and no spring chicken.

I know this is a similar question to “The Warthog – Eye pieces the very best” which was a brilliant bit of information and answered all the technical l aspects and what sizes to go for etc.

I currently just have one eye piece a Meade 4000 series 26mm and basically going off the info in the previous article it looks like I need approx 7.5mm low, 12.5mm mid and 20mm high.

My question is slightly different and whilst I do not wish people to particularly endorse specific brands, but can anyone list off their personal experience a list of brands in order they rate them please.

Initially I was thinking of buying a Meade 8mm – 24mm zoom or should I go for 3 separate eye pieces?

What are the cheapest websites for the best deals?

Should I stick with Meade?

Any particular brands that have not been for them?

Finally I intend to take the summer off surfing, so I am watching the pennies.

Thanks

Keith

[Orion_the_Hunter]

Thanks Yeti.

Keith, what sort of budget do you have?

[John]

While there are brands around that improve a bit over the Meade 4000's, given your scope (SCT's are not demanding on eyepieces) and your wish to minimise expenditure to help your surfing budget you might as well get some more Meade 4000's, especially if you are happy with the 26mm you already have.

I prefer single eyepieces to a zoom personally and the 3 focal lengths you have identifed would all be useful although, if money allows, you might want to pick up a 32mm for lower power use on the larger deep sky objects.

The Meade 4000's are often available for low used prices (eg: £25 each or less) on E.Bay and the UK Astro Buy & Sell website.

[KEJ]

Yeti - thank you for replying, well due to just getting the scope, I am trying to keep the money down, although is this false economy?

Let us say around the £100 mark, also say if I said right, I will allow £35 an eye piece and the next step up is say £50 an eye piece is it worth the bang per buck?

Ie: would I see a 5% difference or a 25% improvement.

But really I am after advice pricing and brands

[KEJ]

John – thanks also.

Yes I am pleased with the 26mm although is that due to having no experience of better and I assume Meade is a half decent make?

Last night and the night before looking at the nebula in Orion was spot on and I was very impressed.

I tried the Andromeda galaxy and that was somewhat disappointing, not sure if I need more magnification or less with more light.

What would be a good eye piece for that one, although it was only a few hours after sunset, so maybe I am better waiting until the wee hours.

I have also been looking at more of the 4000 series – but was thinking if I could get a zoom, they seem cheaper in the states, just trying to get a supplier to send one as they come in around £86 inc shipping from there.

I will have a look at the links you sent.

Thanks

[John]

If you buy from the USA you will probably have to pay VAT / Import duty etc which may push the price to very close to UK prices.

Fixed focal length eyepieces perform better than zooms in my opinion.

You won't see much of an improvement over the Meade 4000's until you pay quite a lot more than £50 per eyepiece - even then the difference may not be noticed much of the time.

[KEJ]

John

Thanks again

I think the inland have upped the limit to £105 now so no tax as they were coming in at around $118 + shipping.

And why do fixed focal lengths perform better?

Ok so it could be the 4000’s for me.

Cheers

[KEJ]

I am finding now all of the shops that said they could or would ship are now saying basically:

Unfortunately we are unable to ship Celestron, Meade, Coronado and Orion products outside of the United States or Canada due to a contractual obligation. We can ship them anywhere in the US, Canada and US territories, so if you have a US address that we can ship to then we would be happy to accommodate you. We can also ship to any APO or FPO (American Military) address in the world.

We can, however, ship used Celestron, Meade, Coronado and Orion products internationally.

[Mr Spock]

Try TMB Planetary eyepieces. Nice and sharp and good value. Much easier to use than Plössls due to better eye relief: 1.25" Eyepieces

[KEJ]

Mr S thank you for the link and I have asked them a question.

So I am reading more and just wondering what to go for:

Meade

TMB

Televue

Thanks so far

[KEJ]

Alan very promptly came back to me from skysthe limit with some very useful comments, so I have asked him some more possibly daft questions.

Thanks to everyone so far

[Doug]

Hi Keith

Congrats on your new scope , will give lovely views

As for eyepieces , when I got my scope I uses Meade 4000 15mm (26mm Got with scope) 32mm and I would same IMHO they are very good eyepieces for the money I also got a Meade 5000 9mm as time went on I found my self looking at better eyepieces I had looked at all the review on here and on Cloudy Nights and went for a

Meade 5000 18mm UWA 82 FOV, as time went on, I then IMHO went for the best ,Tele Vue Nagler 12mm and a 17mm T4 82 FOV and I love them and if I had the money TV ethos 100 FOV would be my choice as John (Jahmanson)would back this statement up as I'm shore he has TV Ethos and I also agree that eypieces are better than Zooms I also use a Meade LX90 8" SCT f/10 scope

Clear skies

Doug

Essex

[LukeSkywatcher]

Personally at the moment i am having a love affair with the Vixen NPL range of EP's.

The image in them is bright,tack sharp and very good contrast. Great quality EP's for a very good price:

http://firstlightoptics.com/proddetail.php?prod=Vixen_NPL

[KEJ]

Doug and Paul

Thank you

[Doug]

Just one other thing see you were thinking of getting a 7.5mm eyepieces

I asked the same question a time back and I would say that this would be to low power for this scope you may get to use it once a year, if your lucky

if you had a 15mm and a 2x barlow you would get 7.5 out of it and you could barolw other eyepieces , Just a thought

Doug

[LukeSkywatcher]

Just one other thing see you were thinking of getting a 7.5mm eyepieces

I asked the same question a time back and I would say that this would be to low power for this scope you may get to use it once a year, if your lucky

if you had a 15mm and a 2x barlow you would get 7.5 out of it and you could barolw other eyepieces , Just a thought

Doug

I agree. For me personally, any EP below 10mm really is only used on nights of exceptions "seeing" and then only used on the Moon and planets.

A 15mm EP and a 2x barlow makes more sense.

Also John above said, get your hands on a 32mm EP. This size EP would be a great investment. It really would become your work horse when trying to locate DSO's.

30-32mm will be fine.

[KEJ]

Paul/Doug thank you.

In the end I am going to have a look at the BST Explorer ED's an 18mm, 12mm and a 8mm, I spoke with Alan just before lunch today.

I did think on what you said and potentially the fact if or when I buy a Barlow, but really cannot wait(boys and toys), the 8mm was the one in question.

Apparently some new ED Barlows are due in the new few weeks/months so will give one of those a go.

So hopefully by next week when these arrive my quiver will consist of:

Meade 4000 26mm

Explorer 18mm

Explorer 12mm

Explorer 8mm

Then if or when I get the Barlow 13mm,9mm,6mm and ok I suspect the 4mm wouldn't fly.

Thanks to everyone and to Alan at Skysthelimit seemed very nice.