Recommendations for best Eyepiece 'All-rounders'

[dulwich.hill]

Hi,

My son and I have just got into astronomy after buying a second-hand 6" Skywatcher refractor (F8) and we are now hooked!

However, after buying a new 15mm eyepiece and 2x Barlow from Bintel (their house brand), we soon realised that the eyepieces that came with the scope are pretty terrible.

We would like to buy 3 eyepieces that are excellent 'all-rounders' for planetary, bright nebulae and globular clusters (ie easy to find!). We would something like a 6mm, 12mm and 18mm. What would be best set to get if we put a reasonable budget for each? We can afford up to $200 per eyepiece.

I will buy them in the USA on my next visit, so our budget puts the Televue Radian almost within grasp, but a nagler type 6 just out of grasp (are either really worth it?).

So far the options I have distilled are:

* Televue Radian (6mm, 12mm, 18mm)
* Baader Hyperion (5mm, 13mm, 21mm)
* Baader Hyperion 8-24mm zoom
* William Optics SPL (6mm, 12.5mm, and a SWA 20mm)
* Meade series 500 UWA (6.7mm, 14mm, 18mm or 24mm)

I chose this list because these have good eye relief and most are parfocal.

It would be great to hear your views or experieces with any of these eyepieces (or suggest something different), but with SO MUCH information about eyepieces on the net, it really is difficult to determine what would be best for us and our refractor.

Many thanks

James

[dannat]

how about adding pentax XF 8 & 12mm

i had the WO spl - they are good for price but pentax is better, the SWAN 20mm is not as good as the SPL's and i would avoid it,
have not used a radian but they are rated highly.
I have hyperion and they are good ep's - and the zoom is popular (i prefer fixed ep's though). big eyepieces also
The meade UWA are also good to look thru, i dislike the design of the eyecup though - can make it hard to see all the fov -they are big & heavy

[astro744]

Tele Vue are premium quality eyepieces and are tested to f4 but will work equally as well at f8. Should you ever get a faster telescope (f5 is common), Tele Vue eyepieces will perform exceptionally whereas other eyepieces not designed for fast focal ratios will fail to deliver sharp images at the edge of field in particular.

Do you currently have a low power eyepiece say 25-40mm in 2" format? If so may I suggest the following:

Tele Vue 19mm Panoptic giving 63x and 1.0deg true field with 68deg apparent field. Eye relief is 13mm and exit pupil will be 2.4mm.

Add a Tele Vue 2.5x Powermate and you will get 157x and 0.4deg TFOV and 68deg AFOV, ER=13 and EP=0.95mm.

157x is excellent for Jupiter and Saturn and although your telescope can take more, you will be pleased with the images at 157x. You can always add more later but start with the above quality items to fall within budget.

If you do not have a low power option then either get the above and later add a 27 or 35mm Panoptic or if you want to keep the cost down and stick with 1.25" start with a Tele Vue 24mm Panoptic giving 50x and 1.3deg true field with 68deg apparent field. Eye relief is 15mm and exit pupil will be 3mm.

Add a Tele Vue 2.5x Powermate and you will get 125x and 0.52deg TFOV and 68deg AFOV, ER=15 and EP=1.2mm. This will allow (just) a full lunar disk at 125x.

125x is quite good for Jupiter and Saturn and although your telescope can take more, you will be pleased with the images at 125x. Once again you can always add more later but start with the above quality items to fall within budget.

If you get the 2.5x Powermate, ask for the newer version which is threaded for 1.25" filters. The previous version was not.

The Radians are excellent choices should you want the 20mm eye relief.

Whatever you choose, enjoy!

Look at http://www.televue.com/engine/TV3_Page.asp?id=79 for more info.

[dulwich.hill]

Thanks for all the suggestions - very helpful!

I am leaning towards the Radians or Hyperions only because they can cover the focal length range I am after. If only the Pentax XF had more focal lengths to choose from - these get excellent write-ups.

I prefer not to use a powermate or barlow just so there is less bits to insert (and miss and drop!) into the diagonal when it is dark. Although I hadn't considered the Panoptics before. I guess you can just leave the powermate in place and then switch panoptic eyepieces. Hmmm.

I did more reading today and unearthed even more possibilities. The Pentax XW range gets good right ups, but are expensive as do the Vixen NLVs.

Perhaps I should just buy one of each and sell the ones I don't like!?

Lastly, I am really looking for good quality eyepieces that can be used by novices. My son and his mates are keen to get together for a astronomy night, so I need the easiest most comfortable eyepieces to use (ie don't need a pupil guide, no kidney beaning, blackouts etc).

James

[Suzy]

James, have a look at my thread in "Beginners Talk", titled "Best 5mm ep under $200" (posted recently), there is a lot of very useful info on there for good quality eyepieces.

[Waxing_Gibbous]

Hi James,
I personally find Radians and Pentaxes very finicky to use. You need to keep your eye at just the right position or they suffer from horrible black-outs.
The 19mm & 24mm Panoptics are darn-near perfect and the 16 & 13mm Naglers not far behind.
Pentax 10 & 14mm give stunning views, but as noted can be finicky.
Vixen LVWs are also nice esp. the 22mm
I can also reccomend the Vixen LV or NLV series in shorter lengths (as I only have experience with those) and the TMB Planetaries. Also don't ignore QUALITY plossls like Televue (the 8mm is a standout).

If I was gong to get 3 EPs, they'd be the following:

7mm TMB super planetary or 8mm TV Plossl
13mm Nagler or 14mm Pentax XW
19 or 24mm Panoptic OR 20mm Nagler

These are just opnions of course but I went through LOADS of EPs before narrowing the brand selection down. It seems that regardless of FL, you rarely get a duff EP from Vixen, Televue, TMB or Pentax.

Any of these should be available used on Astromart (the US website).

Happy hunting!
PJH

[dulwich.hill]

Thanks Peter for sharing your experience.

I seemed to have come to a similar conclusion to Suzy about the Pentax XW series. They get very good reviews and in the USA they are $260 to $300 new, and $200+ used on astromart.com. However you think they may be a bit tricky to use? Aargh! I thought I had a winner!

Anyways, I appreciate your list of EPs. Are you not concerned about keeping the EPs parfocal? I thought this would be a good advantage in not having to refocus everytime you switch EP.

Another question, will the Pentax XWs fit directly in a 2" diagonal? Or do you have to use a 1.25" adaptor?

Cheers

James

[Suzy]

Peter, how are they finicky?

[marki]

Peter you are not supposed to shut your eyes when looking through the EP :P:D. I have not noticed this myself but all I do is adjust for maximum eye relief and away I go. Do you wear glasses? The TV eyepieces are very nice though I have noticed a hint of yellow in my 10 ethos, not sure why :shrug:.

Mark

[koputai]

Remember some eyepieces are hard work. They are difficult or uncomfortabe on the eye.
Pretty much any Orthoscopic, and shorther focal length (under 15mm or so) Plossl's are like this.
Also, I've found that any eyepiece over 70 degrees and under $300 is likely to be rubbish.

At f8 you could go for something like the KK Erfle's

http://www.kkohki.com/English/kkohkiparts.html

or University Widescan 70's. Great eyepieces at comparitively good prices. I think these are the best bang for the buck.

http://www.universityoptics.com/125inch.html#70

I have a pair of the 20mm Widescan's, and they give eyepieces four times their price a run for their money.

I second Peter's recommendation of the Nag13T6, and I find the Nag9T6 is an awesome eyepiece.
The Panoptic's are fantastic, easy to use, and very comfortable to look through.

Cheers,
Jason.

[mswhin63]

I noticed all the post suggest what I would consider great visual eyepieces. It is all about present and future requirement especially with a big budget.

My scope came with regular eyepieces but as I have an active interest in Astro Photography for the future I bought the Baader Planetarium eyepiece as they have a variety of purposes not just visual at 68deg but screw fiittings to attach camera equipment.

I have not used the screw fitting as yet but it was my decision in buying them and very happy.

If you are looking for just visual eyepieces then Baader has also been very good for me but the other mention in your list would also be exceptional too.

Take your time as I did.

[dulwich.hill]

Hi Malcolm,

How do you find the Baader Hyperions? I am attracted to these because of the ease you can connect a DSLR and they are well priced ($USD120). I thought basic astro-photography would be the next stage in this hobby (And having good quality, easy to use eyepieces that all the family can enjoy will help justify my future astro purchases!).

How easy are the Baaders on the eyes? Does the eyecup and long eyerelief work easily for those with or without glasses?

I don't wear glasses so strickly speaking I don't need the 20mm eye relief, however the 15mm FL bintel eyepiece I have has 12mm eye relief and I keep bumping my eye and eyelashes into the glass. The 10 mm Super Plossl Skywatcher long eye relief (20mm) that came with the scope is very easy to use, but the views are foggy compare to the bintel.

Do you use the 2" fitting or 1.25" fitting? How do you find the weight of these eyepieces? Are they all parfocal?

If I go down the Baader route, I am thinking of getting the 5mm for planets and good seeing, 13mm for most other objects, and the 21mm for the moon and finding nebulae.

Thanks for your thoughts.

James

[kustard]

+1 for Ba'ader.

James, I find the Ba'aders are a good reasonable priced EP with many redeeming features, the eye-relief, the screw fitting, the 1.25" adaptor. I wear glasses but only whilst driving or watching movies/tv so I usually view through the Ba'aders sans glasses and then let others play with the focus if they need to. I tend to have the eye-relief cup folded down. They may not be the absolute best but for around the $200 mark currently at Andrews Comms they are a good deal IMHO.

On the recent Mudgee Star Party trip I pretty much used the 3.5mm constantly (though admittedly I was trying to look for faint fuzzies) and then when switching to the 24mm for a look at some of the big globular/open clusters it was made easy by them all being 2".

(As you can see by my signature, I like the Ba'aders)

HTH,
Simon

[dannat]

keep in mind the orion startus is virtually the same as hyperion & are 179 at bintel. I have the 8mm hyperion & use with glasses easily - the cup folded down

[cohiba]

James
I have a set of Meade 5000 series UWA and find them great
Check out Bintels site you can purchase a discounted set of 3 6.7,18,30mm for about $800 the 30mm is awsome although it bloody massive

Bob

[norm]

Hi James,

For my money, I would highly recommend the 24mm Panoptic. It is a brilliant eyepiece that will not dissapoint.

Checkout OpticsPlanet USA for a good deal.

Good Luck, Norm

[dulwich.hill]

Great advice, thanks.

The pricing of the 3 pack of Meade 5000 UWA is good ($699 in the USA). But will the 6.7mm and 18mm fit a 2" diagonal - or will I have to use an adaptor?

Otherwise, my plan is to buy 3 Baader Hyperions with high to medium magnification (8mm, 13mm, 17mm). I like these eypieces because:

* They are very well priced in the USA - $120 (I've got a deal for $110 each)
* All are 2" so no need for an 1.25" adapter
* All can easiy be fitted to an SLR or video camera for some trial photography

At the next astronomy club night, I will beg someone to lend me a Panoptic or Nagler in the 20mm+ range for low power wide field viewing. I would like to try one in my scope first before I commit to one. I guess if the Televues are so good, then I might look to replacing the Hyperions over time with Naglers Type 4s, Type 6s or Panoptics.

Not sure if I should go the 8mm (150x) or 5mm (240x) Hyperion with my 1200mm focal length refractor (150mm aperture). I could also buy the 14mm fine tuning ring with the 8mm ep and get a 6mm out of it. I want the high power for planetary viewing.

Thanks!

James

[dannat]

james, keep in mind some scopes don't have enough focus range to accomodate a hyperion in its 2" form..and it gets used as a 1.25" ep

[JethroB76]

Thats true. Also I always found the hyperions in 2" mode were a little painful to put in and out of the focuser and prefered to use them in 1.25" mode anyway..in 2" mode I needed to wriggle em to get them to seat properly in the focuser whereas they just slid on in when in 1.25" mode

[ausastronomer]

Hi Susy,

I own 8 Televue Eyepieces and 6 Pentax eyepieces and have no bias to either. They each excel in different criteria.

I don't find the Pentax XW's finicky or difficult to use in any way. They have a screw up eyecup system which can be critically adjusted to suit each individuals preferred eye relief. Where people sometimes get an incorrect perception that they are difficult to use is if they use the eyepiece when it is adjusted to suit someone else, or if they do not know how to adjust it properly. This can happen because they have such long eye relief compared to some other eyepiece designs. This notably occurs when someone who doesn't wear eyeglasses, uses my eyepieces which are adjusted for me to use with glasses on. In fact, once you know how to adjust them and adjust them to suit yourself, they are about the most comfortable and easy to use eyepiece money can buy. However, if you don't adjust them properly they can be finicky and a pain in the A. However, this can happen with any eyepiece which has long eye relief. It is a notable issue with eyepieces like the 35mm and 41mm TV Panoptics, which unfortunately you cannot adjust the eye cup on.

Cheers,
John B

[astro744]

The 41mm Panoptic can be adjusted, see http://www.televue.com/pdf/literature/55mm%20Plössl%20and%2041mm%20Panopt ic.pdf

The following is listed in the Tele Vue manuals section but not in the product listing so I'm not sure if it is still available available for the 35mm Panoptic http://www.televue.com/pdf/literature/Eyeguard%20Extender.pdf

[mswhin63]

I have no experience in any tight fitting, but they are a snug fit, a distinct advantage which stops flop with thumbscrew fitting. I found mine to be very good and found another member with a similar scope also appreciating the hyperion as well.

I wouldn't say they are the best eyepiece but have many advantages for the use I intend for my scope.

[ausastronomer]

Didn't know you could adjust the 41mm Panoptic, I only used one once and it was clearly not adjusted to suit me, notwithstanding I wear glasses. The eye relief was horribly excessive and I have no doubt the eyepiece owner did not know it was adjustable because if he did, he clearly would not have had it adjusted how he did.

The eyeguard extender for the 35mm Panoptic whether available or not is academic because none of the people I know who own one, have the extender fitted. I can't see myself buying one to use with my friends eyepieces, when clearly my 31mm Nagler is a better eyepiece anyway. Consequently, I find the eye relief excessive and you really need to concentrate when using it to avoid blackouts. It is clearly IMO much harder to use than the Pentax XW's, which have a totally progressive eye relief adjustment that you don't have to buy as an afterthought and extra.

Cheers,
John B

[astro744]

Simply making you aware of solutions.

Personally I have never had blackout or eye placement issues with either 35mm or 41mm Panoptics in their native form (no extension) and I do not wear glasses.