Best budget eyepiece set.

[shenanigans000]

I will shortly be taking delivery of a Skywatcher 12" Dobby (and yes, I'm in a whole world of excitement over that:eyepop:!). The telescope is being supplied to me sans eyepieces, and the old Chinese clunkers I have stored away are pretty awful.

So I've been casting about on Ebay etc looking for a decent set of 3 or 4 EP's.

There are so many to choose from! I think I've narrowed it down to a set of Meade 4000's for around $275. But I've also seen some interesting offerings from Agena.

What does everyone think?

Any thoughts would be much appreciated.

[Wavytone]

Your scope is a fast Newtonian, which means significant coma and field curvature. For best results, choose eyepieces to match your scope, ie ones that have a curved field to match and negative come, Some do, many don't.

The right choice also depends on your preferences. If you don't care about wide fields and are more interested in image quality, in your scope a set of Edmund RKE's would be a good match. Ey are still available new online from Edmund, and secondhand sets do come up on Astromart.

If you want wider fields and are prepared to tolerate images that aren't so sharp at the edge of the field, your call. Any from the cheap Chinese clones to ES eyepieces, Televue, Pentax or Nikon.

[Profiler]

+1 to the RKE's are excellent bang for buck

[shenanigans000]

All excellent informations, thankyou.

I'm getting the impression that a wide field of view is a Good Thing to have.

Outright sharpness / aberration is less of an issue for my rheumy old eyes, but most discussions I've read seem to place a premium on a wide FOV.

Would you'se agree?

[bigjoe]

Hi Greg also try vti optics here. They have pentax and es eps for very reasonable prices cheers

[shenanigans000]

Thanks Joe. I had a look at their site and there are some tempting options. Prices seem OK too.

I also found a set of very reasonably priced Celestron eyepieces from B&H in New York. I have dealt with them before and they are excellent. The set they're selling is similar to the Meade 4000 kits getting around.

Has anyone had any experience with Celestron branded eypieces?

[Wavytone]

Unlikely to be a good match to a fast Newtonian.

The design of these is to match the image characteristics of an f/10 SCT, which has field curvature in the opposite sense to that of a Newt, and probably no compensation for coma, whereas the RKE's and a few others do specifically have negative coma to suit newtonians around f/4-5.

[MattT]

I wouldn't call the RKE's a budget set anymore, $106.25 each at present exchange rate from Edmund Optics in Singapore plus shipping. I'm a fan but haven't tried them at f5.
Vixen NLV's are really good too but also not budget....ES82's are in the budjet depending where you get them but the 82's left me with the feeling of something missing, which I'm glad to say the Pentax XW's don't and neither do the ES 100º series.
Greg what Agena's are you talking about?
Matt

[GrahamL]

The 12" will show you lots of good stuff :)

maybe wait a little while before shelling out more on some kits from the many on offer , the eyepieces that come with your new scope will do a similar job and give you some time to figure out whats important
to you visually, personally I find a 160/110/ 70 X spread is good enough to deal with many dso, 110x or 13/14 mm in a wide field gets a lot of use imo in a 12", and is where I'd spend some dollars first up.

cheers :)

[ColHut]

Hmm supplied sans eyepieces, how about a GSO 30mm super view and a couple of plossels, maybe 20mm and about. 12mm. then work out what you are wiling to pay for maybe wide field and eye relief if those things are important for you as time goes on.

[dannat]

which agena eyepieces were you looking at?

if you're on a budget the GSO plossl's are decent in a fast scope, although the offerings below 10mm are difficult to lok=ok thru with short eye relief & a tight eye lens

another option are BST explorer -same as astrotech paradigm -very comfortable (can be bought online or from telescopesandastronomy in SA)

[shenanigans000]

Hmmm... I'm getting a sense that most agree any of the offerings from GSO, Pentax etc should be OK, and keep in the range of 10-ish to 30-ish mm (150x to 50x). This is my feeling as well.

I think I'll start with these: http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Agena-1-25-Enhanced-Wide-Angle-EWA-Eyepiece-Set-6mm-9mm-15mm-20mm-/121115335613?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item1c33095bbd

If I'm happy with them I'll add more as I feel the need.

You'se have all been most helpful and I thank you'se. :hi:

I'll post a First Light report as soon as I can. If this flamin' rain ever stops! Grrrrrrr!

[dannat]

I had ages of those, they are also skywatcher super wide as well as several other names, they are decent eyepieces for the money

[glend]

The GSO Superview EPs are excellent value for money (only $39 I believe), I have two the 30mm (which is a 2" EP) and the 15mm. I also have a TMP Planetary II 9mm which is also a good EP and my most expensive one but still less than $80. My others are all GSO Plossls of various sizes that came with my scope.

[doug mc]

Would a GSO coma corrector be a good place to start for this f/4.5 scope guys?

[bigjoe]

Some of these eps have field curvature oppossite to that of your scope and thus
FLATTEN out the field for much better views.GSO, I believe have optimised there superviews and plossels just for this in their dobs. So I would go for those if your on a tight budget.Es 82s very good also.Cheers
Ps: I concur with Wavytone steer clear of the meade hd /celestron 6 element clones even though they will give an acceptable image.

[Derek Klepp]

http://www.astroshop.com.au/products/images/vixen-lvws.jpg
I have the 16" Skywatcher and lots of eyepieces but the 22 and the 17 and 13mm versions are the ones I use the most.It really is a superb eyepiece for the price.

[bigjoe]

Yes there great in a dob esp 17mm but crap in an sct I've found.:)Cheers

[SingleMalt]

I still have the shtandard eyepieces (10 & 25) that came with my 12" Skywatcher. No idea if you're interested at all but they're yours if you want em...

[shenanigans000]

I ended up ordering the Agena 66 degree set - 6, 9, 15, 20mm, all 1.25" barrels.

I believe these will get me going and give me a taste of reasonably wide field views.

Once I've gotten a feel for what suites me I'll look at the GSO 2" Superview models - perhaps 32mm or 40mm. Although these are "only" 60 degree FOV's - might end up looking for something wider.

I'll post once I get the Agena's and let you'se know how they go.

[mr bruess]

It will be interesting to see how these eyepieces go

[MattT]

I have the Agena SWA 10 15 and 20mm set for my refractor. I liked em so much I doubled them up for Bino use. At f8 they are pretty much perfect to 90% out and in the bino's which is what I got them for are clean all the way to the edge, when used with the 1.6X OCA. At US $125 for the three or $250 for the six, in my case, they are excellent value, at the time I got them the exchange rate was in the Aussie favor! GSO Superviews are also good as bino pairs but I had trouble with ghosting in the 15mm in the bino's which the AA 15 doesn't suffer from...:shrug: I think Andrews sell the same ones at $79 each, at last look. The only minus is tight eye relief in the 10mm, much like ER in a plossl.
Matt

[shenanigans000]

Well the EP's arrived and I used them last night.

The build quality seems very good.

Contrast is much better than my old unbranded Plossl's.

FOV, at 66 degrees is really good.

About the only thing I don't like about them is they do suffer (in my SW 12" Dob) of "kidney beaning" towards the edge of the field, but it's not too noticable, particularly on DSO's.

I do feel the need to add to the set a Powermate / Barlow for higher magnification on planets, and a lower power, perhaps 30mm or so, for some super wide and bright deep space views.

But overall I'm really happy with the Agena's and would recommend them to anyone looking for a budget eyepiece.

[bigjoe]

Hi Greg these eps are basically the same ad the Orion expanse at Bintel. VERY good atF6
and above.
The agena swa 10,15, 20mm are bosma konus made and sold at Andrews. ALL are excellent esp at F/5 and above.

I have the 20mm bosma and it holds up against nearly anything optically at slow focal lengths, including my 17.3 delos.

Enjoy ! :)