Review: GSO 2" SuperView 42mm

[iceman]

Read Mark Hodson's great review of the GSO 2" SuperView 42mm.

IceInSpace Reviews (http://www.iceinspace.com/?reviews)

Thanks to Mark for doing a top-notch review.

Discuss the review and your thoughts here.

[Saturn%5]

Hello Mark,
Well i must say that the review you wrote was fantastic a job well done.

If you feel the need to do another review please drop around and grab my 20mm GSO Superview as my mirror will not be back for a couple weeks:mad:

[mch62]

Will do Graham .

[iceman]

Sounds like a good idea! The more reviews the better! :)

I also encourage everyone else to do a review of gear they have purchased recently.. it can be anything, like the batteries aragorn got, the wedge paul got, etc.

[mch62]

.I have Graeme (saturn%25)
20mm Superview and awaiting clear skies for an evaluation . Also have taken possession of a 30mm 80deg 2" Andrews eyepiece which I will also do a review on when the weather is clear .
Also hope to have the 80mm f7.5 ed refractor within a fortnight to do an update on all three eyepieces , as well hopefully Graeme
(Saturn%25 )will have his f5 mirror back and I can see how they all perform in a faster F5 .
But day time viewing on these eyepieces looks very good , especially the 30mm .
:cool:

Will also do a review on the new model Celestron 80mm f7.5 ED refractor I have ordered .

Is it going to be competition to the popular Orion?
:confuse3:

Initial reports from the US seam to favour it that way .

Stay tuned for the updates and reviews to follow .

My reviews are in lay-mans terms with out all the mumbo jumjo , I just tell it how I see it .

Mark Hodson:work:

[iceman]

Sounds great Mark, can't wait to read them! I read the review of the Orion SVP in the latest S&S, looks like a very good scope, but the one thing they didn't say is how much it's selling for..

Do you know how much they are?

How does the celestron differ? Does it have the same mount with tracking and goto etc?

Thanks for doing the reviews, we need some more content there and I don't buy enough new gear to do many reviews myself! :) but i did take possession of my ToUcam yesterday so maybe I can review that when I get a laptop to use it with :)


PS: Glad your forum account issue is now sorted again :D

[mch62]

The Orion comes as either a tube only or a tube and mount.
The OTA is $820 OZ at the moment but it comes with no finder diagonal or eyepiece.
The Celestron OTA as far as what I have been able to make out has the same optics or the equalivent of the Orion (all sorced from SYNTA) and in the States at least is about $50-$80 US cheaper than the Orion. ($429-$479 US) It comes with a finder an Erect image 1/1/4" 45 deg diagonal and a 25mm eyepiece .
Its a bit lighter as the tube diameter is smaller and only has a rack and pinion focuser as compared to the Orions crayford focuser. The later it appears to be replaced by many as the crayford appears to have issues . The Celestron rack and pinion has the usual SYNTA monkey snot grease on it , which when removed fixes it up .
Both don't have an adjustable cell and reports of the Orion have it as a hit and miss as to weather you get a
good colliminated unit or you have to do some shimming .
Interesting little story I have herd is that Synta are bringing the same scope out under the Skywatcher name as we speak , at an even cheaper price but had to wait the months after Orion as that was the deal struck with Orion ?
I went with the Celestron as I traded my not so old 6"refractor in for it . Both bought from the same dealer.

Now you say you traded in a 6" for an 80mm:eek: , must be nuts?
Well I have built my 12.5" newtonian and wanted a finder , guide scope , wide field imaging lens , grab and go scope , and wanted a colour reduced image this time , so the Celestron seamed perfect for the task.
Mark

[mch62]

P.S. I have not bought a mount for it as I have kept my EQ6 for use when in the grab and go scope mode.
A bit of over kill , but there will be a digital camera the ED and a 70mm f13 guide scope on it so it should look in proportion and be rock solid :cool2:
Most of the time it will be piggy backed on the Newt.

[iceman]

Sounds great can't wait to see it all hooked up!

[iceman]

Mark has supplied an update to his GSO 2" Superview 42mm review - I've just got around to updating the review on the website, so please check the review again for more updated information about the quoted and true AFOV of this eyepiece.

Thanks Mark!

[iceman]

Mark has supplied another update to his GSO 2" Superview 42mm review - this time he has included information about the performance of the eyepiece in Graeme's f/5 12" dob.

Thanks again Mark!

I'll try to post your review of the 30mm today sometime, but work is getting busy on me at the moment - i'll try and find some time!

[DougAdams]

Very interesting. I have a 32mm Meade super plossl that frankly I'm not that impressed with. I'd like to replace it with possibly both the 30/42mm GS eyepieces.

Any comments on how they'd perform in my F6 Dob or F9 refractor? Based on some quick sums, they'd give me 2-3 degrees TFOV.

I look at the Panoptics and Naglers on the Bintel site and gnash my teeth. Can't quite bring myself to order those :)

These reviews are appreciated.

[mch62]

Hi Doug , I have had and have different Model Meades and Televues and what you have to remeber these are only $100.
Don't expect to much from them.
They for me are a great value eyepiece certainly not the same performance as a Televue but they sure make a Televue look over priced.
I think they are a better value than buying say an expensive Plossel.
The long running debate over the AFOV is going to continue to stir up passion in people but even if they are only 55degrees , they are still a bargain.
Am still waiting for a reply from GSO over just where they calculate the field stop. That will be intersting to say the least.

Mark
p.s. they should be great in an f9 refractor.
You should concider the 30mm Andrews as well.

[ausastronomer]

Mark,

I know this thread is now quite old but I thought I should add what I could to it based on my own experience with the 2" 30mm GSO Superview. I actually got the 1st of these into the country from Lee Andrews in late January 04, which is before they went on sale in the US.

Very nice review BTW.

The eyepiece was originally marketed as having a 68 deg AFOV and the 1st thing I did was to test this using the "drift timing method" as opposed to measuring the inside diameter of the barrel skirt which acts in place of the non existent field stop ring. Using the drift timing method I calculated the AFOV to be 65 deg. The manufacturer has subsequently amended their claims on AFOV to the same 65 deg, so I think this is something everyone can agree upon despite the fact there are still numerous dealers worldwide claiming AFOV's up to 70 deg.

In terms of optical performance I came to a very similar conclusion to you.

At F5 it works very well with the outer 10% to 15% of the FOV softening a TAD but still useable. At F6 and slower it does a very good job across 95% of the FOV and as you mention this poor 5% is quite likely due to the lack of a defined field stop.

Light transmission, sharpness and contrast are suprisingly good, not to the standard of Pentax or Televue but very good given the price level. I think it offers 80% of the performance of the 27mm Panoptic at 20% of the price, I would think close to easily the best value currently available in budget 2" widefield eyepieces. As you stated still good value if its price doubled. During one comparative test the eyepiece easily outperformed a somewhat more expensive UO 2" 25mm MK70 (modified Konig) in my own 10" F5 dob and the C8 we had on hand at the time, in all important areas including sharpness, contrast, light transmission and EOF, which was all the more impressive considering the 5mm difference in focal length.

I have subsequently tested the smaller 1.25" 15mm and 20mm GSO Superviews and can't rate them as highly as their 2" cousins. Whilst they still do a fair job considering their price level, relatively speaking they do not perform nearly as well as the 2" versions, particularly at F5.

CS-John Bambury

[doug mc]

Regarding the superviews. I have purched 2 of these eyepices and have found them most suited for F8 or longer scopes. Good images on planets and deep sky with a barlow on shorter newts. The only negative is a tendency to sharply focus dust particles on the feild lens as thier feild stops are very close to the feild lens. The ones purched were the 15mm and 20mm. doug mc.

[iceman]

I'd agree with that. The 15mm and 20mm are much worse than the 30mm, in my experience. however the 5mm version was even worse again.

[doug mc]

I also own the 42 mm 2inch superview. In my 8 inch F6 it holds very good images across the field. Too fix the aborations with the 20 @15mm versions i use the exelent 2 inch GSO ED barlow. The best and cheapest way too solve astigmatism in below F/8 newtonians. If you start off observing with the barlow and the 42mm now a 21mm 65+ field o.v.. That is still a good low power.