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I came back to doing some visual only recently and have spent a fair bit of time researching eyepieces and collecting quite a good set.
In the past I would consider mainly only Televue. But I found out since I last was doing visual they have quite a lot of competition. I agree with the first poster though that getting TV eyepieces is a safe bet. But they are considerably ore expensive than some of their fierce competitors.
Out of the quite a few eyepieces I have gotten recently these to me are the outstanding ones:
1. Baader Morpheus. My favourite eyepiece is the 17.5mm. I got the 6.5, 9, 12.5 and 2 x 17,5 (for a binoviewer).
2. APM XWA 9 and 20mm 100 degree eyepieces, 12.5 Hi FW and 30mm UFF. These are my 2nd favourite. I am using a 103/6 refractor. The 9mm XWA is sharp to the edges, the 20mm is good for most of it but not right to the edge. That cleans up with a barlow. Very immersive and a fraction of the TV price. I did have a 13mm Ethos when it first came out. Lovely eyepiece but don't remember it wowing me anymore than the APM does.
Bintel 2 inch Barlow - seems very high quality. This is a Long Pern Taiwan product and has ED glass. It slightly outperforms the APM 2 inch Barlow.
I also have a 1.25 inch Baader Q Barlow but have yet to test it.
3. Televue, 3.5T6, 9T1, 16T5 Naglers, 32mm Plossl, 15mm Plossl. All very nice. The 16mm is just a little bit less appealing than the Morpheus 17.5 because it has better eye relief and is not very sensitive to eye placement so you get a comfortable view. Delite 18.3mm still fairly new to me.
4. Pentax XW 7 and 10mm. 70 degree, superb, a touch sensitive to eye placement. I haven't looked through the 10mm as its new.
5. Masuyama 10mm 85 degree - I really like this eyepiece. A bit more contrast and detail in the centre and some aberrations show up in the last 30% which don't bother me. I plan on getting one or two more.
6. I have quite a few ortho type eyepieces. University Optics Edmunds RKE, Fujiyama.
The top 5 for me are:
Morpheus 17.5
APM 12.5 Hi FW
APM XWA 20mm
APM 9mm XWA
APM30 UFF.
I find out I prefer wider view eyepieces a lot more than narrow Ortho types. The RKE 28mm though is a standout good value eyepiece. Edmunds Optics. About $163.
A sampling of some of the above would be good rather than all Televue.
A memorable eyepiece from the past was the Nagler 22 T4. It often comes up on peoples all time favourite eyepiece list.
Greg.
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