"Looks" like so many eyepiece options...
One thing that you may think is the case with eyepieces is there is a wonderful array of choices. That's what we are led to believe. Reality is a very different situation.
Most telescope manufacturers appear to also make and sell their own eyepieces. No one makes their own eyepieces. Celestron, Meade, Skywatcher, Saxon, TV, Baader, etc. All their eyepieces are made by a handful of predominantly Chinese manufacturers.
And the true variety of eyepieces is actually very limited. Most telescope companies will commission a manufacturer to make a run of eyepieces for them using this or that optical design, with the only differences being external cosmetic ones, and occasionally variations in coatings. Because so many people are ignorant of how all of this works, they will say this eyepiece is a "copy" or worse still a "clone" of that eyepiece. They are the same bloody eyepiece...
Take the Baader Hyperion line. These are the exact same as the Saxon SWA, the Celestron DUO, the Orion Stratus, and a few others. Their differences are all only skin deep as optically they are all the same. Same goes for the majority of other eyepieces, plossls, kellners, wide angle, etc. It is extremely expensive to design unique EP optical designs. It is much cheaper to use an existing optical design and just change its colours. That's business.
Now there are some exceptions. Some manufacturers will make a line exclusively for some scope companies. TV's are made in China, but their designs are exclusive to them. Vixen with its high end designs the same. This also goes a long way to explaining the premium one pay for such eyepieces. There's not many firms that will do this.
Don't feel cheated though. It's actually a good opportunity though if you know your way around to pick up some real bargains!
Take the Vixen LVW line (again, the Baader Hyperion line is NOT a copy or clone of these). These were rebadged as the Orion Lanthanum Super Wides. This Orion line ran for just a couple of years and then discontinued. Same great optics, but much cheaper! Even second hand the Vixens command a better price. But if optical performance is more important to you, you now know where the bargain lies.
So now all of a sudden, the world of eyepieces had just shrunk!
Rather incestuous, but that's business. Every industry does the same, not just scopes.
Brand prejudice...
This is another gem provider!
There are some firms that have a cult following, yet others may as well be lepers. Celestron is one of latter. They occasionally offer some outstanding EP lines, but because they carry the wrong name and colour, next to no one gives these eyepieces a chance. The discontinued Axiom LX line is one such example. Designed for a convex focal plane, these are really great performers, and some individual focal lengths also do really very well in Newts too. The Luminos line is NOT the same optical designs, despite the same focal lengths, and they do not perform the same way. Read a lot, and you will be able to find some real gems and bargains.
Alex.
If I read all that I would never buy it and therefore I would spend lots of money right at the very beginning trying to find ideal eyepiece instead of just observing. Same here - you can start digesting all reviews, trying to understand all issues big boys are dealing with instead of just observing.
Hey, it's 21st century now! So it will take quite a bit of time to find what you need here in Australia. Or might not find here at all.
