Andrews 80° UltraWide Eyepieces

[Craig.a.c]

I am thinking of buying a few eyepieces for myself for christmas. The eyepieces I am looking at are from Andrews Communications.
They are: 2" 80° 20mm eyepiece (includes removable 1.5x Barlow lens) and the 2" 80° 15mm eyepiece.
I am still a newbie to all of this and was hoping that someone could tell how wide 80° really is.

[erick]

Well, the 30mm I bought from Bintel (the same clones) is pretty wiiiiiiiiiiiddddddeeeee! I'm sorry I cannot really compare to others - but tonight, weather permitting, I'll compare it to a Panoptic which is 68 deg AFOV

I've happily used the 30mm ultrawide for more than a year in an f6 then an f5. Yes, off-axis is not very exciting but it's a cheap 80 deg! I did try it in a Paracorr - no great improvement.

[erick]

By the way, just unscrew the 1.5 barlow from the bottom of the 20mm and it becomes the 30mm.

[NQLD_Newby]

Hi Craig,
With your 12" scope that eye piece will give you a FOV of a little over 1 deg in the sky which is about 2 full moons. hope that helps.

[Craig.a.c]

Yeah. I was surprised with the field of view I got with the 2" 32mm GSO eyepiece. I was even able to spot NGC 7582 (trio of galaxies) in Grus with it at 46X magnification.

[Craig.a.c]

:eyepop:2 full moons. Even a field of view the size of 1 full moon is awesome. I think I will get those eyepices and an O-III filter to go with it.

Thanks for the replies guys.

[Miaplacidus]

Don't buy the 15mm. Unless it has changed in the last year, it is without doubt the worst eyepiece I've ever owned. (I ended up putting it up for auction on this website as a joke fundraiser for IIS. Raised $15, which was $15 over priced.)

The 30mm is a different kettle of fish. Better build quality, nice finder EP for the dob, and quite reasonable on axis. Not the Nagler, of course, but a very servicable eyepiece nonetheless, and worth the price of admission (used to be about $150).

But forget about the 15. It was a dog.

Cheers,

Brian.

[Starkler]

If this is the same one as i remember looking through it was a reasonable performer for the price. The outer field aberrations at 80 degrees were similar to the outer field of the gso 32mm which has a narrower fov at 65 deg?

Makes for a fair budget widefield for those that don't want to spend the extra for premium glass.

[AstralTraveller]

I suspect these are the same as the '1rpd' brand version I have. It is a very good eyepiece in the f/8 refractor where it gives nice sharp stars to the edge of the 2 degree fov. In the f/5 newt however the performance is clearly inferior. Star images are poor from about 60% of the field outwards. I remember it as being very poor in an f/4.5. It is still clearly better than the GSO 32mm.

[Argonavis]

I recently purchased the 20mm Andrews for use in a Meade f/10.

I am surprised at how good the on-axis image quality actually is. It doesn't leave much to be desired. Well worth the money if you have a long focal ratio scope.

The only negative *may* be poor quality control which can leave you with a bad copy. I am sure Andrews would replace if this is the case.

[Starkler]

That pretty much how I saw it also.

[GrahamL]

talking to somone from bintel a while back about these cheap ultrawides
they were straight up honest enough to steer me clear of them for
my fast scope .

In a longer f/l as mentioned above I read quite a few positive
comments on them around the net.

cheers graham

[allan gould]

In a slow SCT ie f10 they are very good value for money. The 15mm is excellent with a scope of this f ratio.

[mick pinner]

;)everything works in a f/10

[Craig.a.c]

So many conflicting opinions. Some say they are good others say they are bad.

[Starkler]

They are good for the money. In comparison to the performance in a fast scope you can buy if you're prepared to spend 4x as much, they are bad.

Theres no such thing as a cheap nagler/pentax xw. You get what you pay for and yes, you can see the difference.

[astropolak]

Hi
I have a F10 SCT ...and a 30mm KK Widescan III, good but far from perfect, the Andrews 30mmm 80 deg would be even worse (more so for the 15mm), in your scope - just awful.
Please do yourself a favour and look at the Eyepiece sale from Tak66 - 28mm Pentax, buy a good 2x barlow and you have solution heaps better than the cheap Chinese clones.

Joe

[erick]

Remember we are talking about a $69 eyepiece here (30mm). Cost you more in petrol and parking to go and pick it up????

So if you don't have $s hundreds to spend and you want to experience 80 deg, it's no loss. Bet you someone with the standard GSO bundled eyepieces will pay $40-50 for it in the IceTrade, when you upgrade.

[Craig.a.c]

As much as I would like to spoil myself and get some good quality eyepieces, I can't really afford it at the moment and would like to see what a larger FOV would be like. No harm in buying them and if I don't like them I can allways sell them later on.

[Gargoyle_Steve]

I understand that you're looking at the 15 and 20mm ep's, I've go the 30mm 80° Andrews unit and use it in an f5 12" dob frequently, thought I'd offer my own insite. I will replace it only when I can afford something that gives me exactly the same huge field of view at a price I can reasonably afford - which hasn't happened so far and may not for a very long time.

I agree with what was said previously, "for the money" it gives you a nice huge 1.5° window onto the sky in that scope (was damn near 2° in my 10" dob). If you can tolerate the seagulls in the outer field of view, like I can, get it now and don't hesitate. They used to be $149, I got mine 2 years ago on special at $99 and I was very happy at that price.

If you don't like the seagulls so much, or really do prefer the higher mag that a 15mm wil offer, then get a 2" GSO 2x Barlow (also very inexpensive) and that effectively makes the 30mm a wide field 15mm ep WITH NO SEAGULLS AT ALL.

:thumbsup:

[erick]

OK, I've just caught up with this article on Cloudy Nights. Uncle Rod gives a useful and accessible discussion of eyepiece choice leading to his conclusion that having an Ethos, if one can spend that kind of money, is a good idea.

I ain't got that kind of money, yet! But it's a useful article for all those "What eyepiece should I buy now" threads we get here.

However, I have to tell you that we were looking at NGC 253 last Saturday night in very good sky conditions. It was all a rush of scopes, imaging, looking after a visitor, so though it was first light in my 35mm Panoptic, I wasn't getting time to properly test, appreciate, compare to other eyepieces - another night when I'm alone. However, I knew our visitor had a 13mm Ethos in his bag and invited him to pop it into the focusser of the 12". First look - Wow!, look at that. Galaxy from edge to edge of field - Beautiful! Then I focussed sharply - Double Wow! The detail in NGC 253! It sort of looked like I was looking at the Milky Way naked eye - horizon to horizon!

Yes, I had glanced through a 13mm Ethos before and could not capture the entire FOV in one view, having to move my head around in a circle to see the edge of field. Same last Saturday night, but as Rod suggests in his article, the 100 deg AFOV is just one of the characteristics of the eyepiece and it might not be the one that is #1 for you.

[Gerald Sargent]

I suggest you speak to Don Whiteman at BINTEL, I recently
tried a few eye pieces and as I am an imager and not a visual
observer I really needed a wide field , ie 50mm eyepiec e for
centering images and a 15mm for detailed inspection and found
that the Bintel eye[pieces were excellent, but Don's advice on
the opening of the human eye dependant on age was most
informative, regards Gerald.

[Max Vondel]

Great for the price, Hey at $69- who cares. BUT BUT BUT the overwhelming consensis is to use with long F ratio's only. :D

[janoskiss]

You can use it in fast scopes if you stick it in a long 2" barlow (GSO or similar won't do!). I use it in this (http://www.kasai-trading.jp/2-2xbarlow.htm) barlow (also sold as Orion Deluxe). The combo gives me a very nice 12-13mm ultrawide that is sharp to the edge (yes to the edge of field!) in the f/4.7 10" Dob.

Caveat is that you get excessively long eye relief - but not too hard to get used to. When bothersome (i.e. for non-astro folk) I stick a 2" Televue Panoptic barlow interface between the barlow and the eyepiece (don't know if you can still get these though). It's a lot of glass but it works well.

[Chippy]

I have one and really like it. Easily my best bang for buck eyepiece. Unless you want to spend a fair bit more you probably won't find better. Not bad in fast scopes either IMO. Edge of field is still reasonable to my eyes. I got the 20mm - same as the 30mm plus a removable barlow lense.

[GazzMeister]

I've got one of the 30mm eyepieces and for the outlay it's awesome. I think someone a while ago pointed out that it's the same as an eyepiece from moonfish. On the Moonfish website there is a copy of a group test of wide angle eyepieces under 500 pounds. http://moonfishgroup.com/catalog/images/SKY_06_98-98.pdf
http://moonfishgroup.com/catalog/images/SKY_06_96-96.pdf
Interesting reading, it's what finally made me get one. If the 20mm and the 15mm are the same as the 30mm then go for it.

Gareth

[NQLD_Newby]

So Craig, did you get this eyepiece and what are your thoughts on it? I would like to know because the 32mm GSO that came with my scope makes me feel sick everytime i try to use it. I was saving for a panoptic 28mm or similar, but the falling dollar kind of put and end to that wish for a while.

[qld]

i think they are junk even a paracor or an mpcc(i have both)cannot correct the defects on this ep......better to pay a little bit more and get an ep that will perform to the edge and provide good contrast.....allmost anything will surpass this ep including the bottom end of a coke bottle;)

[Craig.a.c]

Haven't got them yet, soon hopefuly.
What do you mean by the 32mm eyepiece making you sick when using it? I will admit that I have never used an expansive eyepiece or seen one in the flesh (only magazines etc), but I thought that the 32mm gave me nice views.

[Paddy]

Hi Rex,

If your 32mm ep is the 3 element cheapie, I know exactly what you mean! Like looking into a warped goldfish bowl. I bought a 24mm pan for my 12" GSO and never use the 32mm and I haven't felt the need for a wider field ep than the 24 pan. I recently bought a 28mm UWAN with 82 degree FOV for an anticipated scope upgrade and although it's a great ep, I still use the 24mm Pan a lot more. I reckon keep saving for a really good ep - you'll have it for life and never regret it.

[Quark]

Just a bit of info to add regarding the TFOV, True Field Of View for any eyepiece in various different telescopes. Many on IIS would already be aware of this formula but here it is anyway.

Eyepiece TFOV = (AFOV / magnification) x 60

The answer is in arcminutes

The magnification is what the particular eyepiece will provide in your scope.

Hope this is of interest

Regards
Trevor

[allan gould]

Ive got both the 15mm and 30mm (Moonfish type) versions of this eyepiece. In an 8" F10 scope they are sharp to 90% of the field of view - the 15mm is especially good. Great eyepieces and better value for money. Everyone thats looked through them said they wanted one. Now putting them in a fast F4-5 scope is nuts, they arn't designed for that and thats what all the literature says. Its pointless bagging them because you do the wrong thing. Its like putting socks on a cat - just stupid.
My two cents