Hi Jason,
I am very surprised at your experience with them. I've got the 6mm & 9mm, and niether in any way are inferior to the GSO Plossls. Very much the opposite!
The 6mm isn't the best in f/4 newtonian, the 9mm is better suited, sure, but that goes for many EP/scope systems. Yet it performs well in well in my slower newtonians and my SCTs. The original 6mm design was particularly flawed, and was removed from the TMB line for some time until these problems were overcome. The current 6mm is no way the same EP from that original. The redesign of the 6mm lead to the creation of the "Type II" line. All this is info is readily avialable from the TMB site and from many reviews, including Cloudy Nights.
Have a read of my review of the 9mm that I posted in this very thread:
9mm TMB Planetary II review
The eyerelief alone provided by these EPs alone sets them above 'cheap' eyepieces, including Plossls.
On a sad note though, the price of these is due to an abuse of foreign patents by the manufacturer. The founder of TMB, Thomas Black, passed away a few years ago, and the company charged with the manufacture of many of the TMB line of eyepieces has decided to cut out the TMB company, a small family run enterprise, and sell these EPs without honouring their contract to TMB since Black's passing. The TMB Paragon design has been cloned in the same way, with cheap copies being sold as rebadged EPs, undercutting the price of the original.
!!)
