Review: Budget 15mm Shootout!

[iceman]

Hi guys.

I have finally finished the Budget 15mm Shootout! review, comparing 3 budget eyepieces at the 15mm focal length - the GSO Plossl, the GSO Superview and the infamous Series 500.

You can read my review from the new-look IceInSpace Reviews (http://www.iceinspace.com.au/?reviews) page, or directly by clicking on the link below:

Budget 15mm Shootout! (http://www.iceinspace.com.au/index.php?id=42,236,0,0,1,0)

Feedback or comments appreciated.

Thanks to Slice of Heaven and Rodstar for the loan of their 15mm eyepieces.

If you'd like to submit a review for the site, please contact me via email or PM for details.

[slice of heaven]

Nice review Mike. :thumbsup:
I think the budget ep shootout is just as important as the high end ep comparisons.
It's nice to know the S500 15mm stood up well against the 15mm gs eps.

Any comment on the 6.5mm ?

[iceman]

Thanks Geoff, and I agree that the budget comparisons are very useful for those on a budget.. not everyone is going to rush out and buy pentax's, naglers etc.


Not yet, sorry. Been busy doing the 15mm and the nagler. Soon though, hopefully.

[wavelandscott]

Congratulations Mike and Thanks for a "thoughtful" review...

[Starkler]

I think thats more an indightment of the GS plossl than a commendation of the s500 :shrug:
FWIW a step up to a quality plossl or ortho will yield very noticeable results to even an inexperienced observer. The difference is like driving at night with a clean windscreen as opposed to a dirty one.
Its when comparing high end eyepieces that the differences are more subtle.

[iceman]

Quite true, and I wish I had a TV 15mm plossl or similar to compare against - ie: what difference is there between a $30 plossl and a $150 plossl.
But I didn't have one available.

I think the review can still be worthwhile though, because despite whatever recommendations we might say about a $30 eyepiece vs a $150 eyepiece, some people on a limited budget just won't buy expensive eyepieces and so reviews of eyepieces in the $30-$70 range are still going to be useful for some people.

[ausastronomer]

Nice review Mike,

I agree 100% with your comments Geoff, but the review does serve a purpose in informing people that the Series 500's are "not much" worse than the other crappy eyepieces so it may not be worth upgrading, unless you upgrade to something a little better than the cheap chinese/taiwanese offerings.

I have never done a side by side, but at different times have used the following:-

GSO Plossls
GSO Superviews
Synta Super Plossls (Orion Sirius Plossls),
UO orthos (standard volvano tops),
UO HD orthos
Celestron Ultimas
Televue Plossls
Brandon Orthoscopics,
Clave Plossls
Zeiss orthoscopics
Pentax SMC orthoscopic
Nikon orthoscopic
Takahashi LE

This is in respect of plossl, masuyama (5 element plossl) or othoscopic designs.

The differences between the bottom end and the top end are monumental and your analogy of a dirty windscreen and a clean windscreen was pretty close.

I think a more beneficial comparison and I know Mike was trying to arrange something here, would be to compare one of the budget eyepieces with a middle range product and a top end product.

For example the Synta Super Plossls although made in China are clearly superior to the GSO Plossls and are not that much more expensive between $20 and $30 per eyepiece and definately worth upgrading to IMO over the GSO Plossls, if you cannot afford to pay over $100 per eyepiece. The next step up would be to something like a TV Plossl, Celestron Ultima or UO HD ortho. I have owned all of these eyepieces at different times and the differences are very apparent at all levels.

I good comparison may be a 9mm GSO Plossl, compared to the 10mm Synta Super Plossl and the 9mm UO HD ortho. Another Option would be the 6mm GSO Plossl, the 6.3mm Synta Super Plossl and the 6mm UO HD ortho.

I would be happy to donate either my 6mm or 9mm UO HD ortho's for the comparison and also help Mike with the testing. As Mike and I are also testing other eyepieces at the minute another 3 would not be too much of a problem.

Does anyone in Sydney/Newcastle/Central Coast have a 6/9mm GSO Super Plossl and a 6.3mm/10mm Synta Super Plossl available that they are happy to loan us for the comparison, not necessarily from the 1 source ?

CS-John B

[iceman]

I've got a 9mm GSO plossl. But it would be good if someone had a 6mm, because i've still got Geoff's (slice of heaven's) 6.5mm series 500.

So the next budget shootout can be between:

6mm GSO plossl
6.5mm series 500
6.3mm synta super plossl
6mm UO HD Ortho

Maybe Bintel can loan me a 6mm GSO plossl, but I don't know where we can source a synta super plossl from.

A problem with comparing 6mm eyepieces, is that the seeing needs to be above average to get anything useful from the session. And it's not quite planet season yet with Mars rising too late still, but maybe this 6mm shootout can be planned for later in october.

[janoskiss]

As most of us tend to talk others out of getting Plossls with focal lengths less than 9mm, the GSO and Synta ones might be hard to come by. I'd be very interested to read your thoughts on the 6mm HD ortho.

I have a 6mm Ploessl that came with my Dork Smith 114mm Newtonian. It is sub-s500 quality. You can have that if you like.

[iceman]

Thanks Steve, but unless it's a readily available eyepiece like a GSO that's supposedly of fair to good quality, I don't think there's much point in adding it to the shootout.

The 9/10mm range would probably be a better comparison, as it can be used on more objects and also when the seeing doesn't have to be above average. I've got a 9mm GSO plossl already. However it just means we can't add the 6.5mm series 500 to the shootout.

[Starkler]

I think you hit the nail on the head there John :)

A few of us were making a big noise about Andrews bundling the s500's instead of gso plossls with the GSO dobs. I was one of them, assuming that what I had heard from others about them being a half decent plossl was correct, without ever having used one myself :ashamed:
I should have twigged to this when I got my 20mm gso superview with its abberations and "dirty windscreen" views.

Andrews Comms sells the Synta super plossls, maybe they can help out with a review sample?

Another analogy I like to use is that using crappy eyepieces with a fine scope like a gso dob is like buying a quality hifi system and listening to it through crappy speakers from a cheap 3 in 1 system ;)
A very loose analogy but the point is that much like with hifi, a quality "device to human interface" makes a big difference to the end result.

P.S. Mike if you cant get hold of a 10mm s500 locally , i can help you with mine.

[ausastronomer]

Mike,

Last qtr moon next month at Kulnurra would be a good time to do the test. If we can get the eyepieces we could do the 6mm and 9mm on the same night. The seeing out there should hold up easily at 200X later in the night. Targets will also be favourable as we can do some DSO's earlier in the night and Mars and the Moon later in the night.
We just need to source the eyepieces :)

CS-John B

[square_peg114GT]

Nice review, Mike! Only thing I'd like to see added is trying them in different FL scopes. It'd be nice to hear how they worked at F6, F8, F10. I've noted that my GSO 30mm SV is OK at F6 (75% of field is useful) but at F4.9 it's pretty awful (50% useful). I've heard they're clear to the edge at F10.

[janoskiss]

Barlowed performance will give you an indication of what they might be like in faster (f10) scopes.

[johnno]

Hi All,

Mike,
Thanks for an extremely interesting review,
I will now remove my series 500s from the tops of my spirit decanters,and use them in my telescopes.
Regards.John

[ving]

i like my analogy better: like having a top shelf hifi sytem and listening to britney spears :P

nice write-up mike. I have a 6.5mm s500 and I have had a 15mm s500 and i know they aren't as bad as the "baggers" were saying. :)
that said I have replaced both, the 15mm with a GSO SV and the 6.5 with an ultima.

by the way for those interested, at f6 the edge performance of all three is vastly improved. with my 15mm SV eye place ment is fairly important but once i have that only 2-3% is affected :)

[johnno]

I have to agree with Ving,
I also have a s500 6.5mm,and it truly is a shocker,
eye relief,What eye relief, you would have to scrape your eyeball against the lens,to see anything at all.
Regards.John

[ausastronomer]

[QUOTE=ving]i like my analogy better: like having a top shelf hifi sytem and listening to britney spears :P

David,

You are obvioulsy Blind :)

I have a top shelf Hi Fi system and when I turn the TV on as well, Britney Spears sounds much better than she does just through the speakers :)

CS-John B

[ballaratdragons]

Ditto!

My series 500 6.5mm is absolutely useless!! I know they are not meant to be too terrific at f5 but it gives horrible views. I don't bother using it any more. My 9mm barlowed to 4.5mm is better.

[janoskiss]

So David, is your GSO 15mm much better than the Ser-500 15mm? I'm thinking QC may be an issue as well, which will not show up in individual reviews.

[slice of heaven]

I agree Geoff and was thinking that after I read the review but didn't want to post that comment. :)
I wasn't endorsing the S500 15mm, just stating the results as I've never used a gs ep. The 15mm S500 is good for the kids and tourists, but the shorter (6.5 and 4mm) f/lengths dont stand up too well for this as even the kids have made some comments and we use other better quality options for higher mags.
A comparison for the Budget eps should include the 25 and 30's as well as the shorter length 6 and 9mm eps. Someone starting from scratch would have a more informed choice in selecting their first eps

[ving]

hi steve, my gos sv is probably a bit better than the s500 at f6... I am thinking you are right tho...
err.. i miss typed my previous post tho... changed from "are bad" to "aren't bad"
they were really quite usable for a newby like me.

I am really liking my gso sv at the moment tho. it gives me quite good views. and a wide fov.

[ving]

i plan on comparing my s500 6.5mm to my new 7.5mm ultima when it arrives... but realy my 6.5 is capable of decant views of planets. i used it on jupiter and got enought detail to see festooning (is that the right term?)

[ballaratdragons]

I suppose we should be grateful that our GS scopes came with EP's at all. (crummy or not). The suppliers could've said "do you want EP's with that?" and sold them as extras.

Up-market brands (Meade, Celestron etc) supply only one EP with their scopes usually.

[janoskiss]

Thanks David, that ISn't a big difference! Makes more sense now. :D

[davidpretorius]

great report mike, well done!

my series 500 6.5mm is as been used once or twice.

[gaa_ian]

Good on you Mike :thumbsup:
We need more of the same & for anyone looking for reviews of Budget widefields, there is a comprehensive review in the Nov/Dec 2004 Aust. Sky & Space, of eyepieces available in Australia.

[mickoking]

G,day Mike great review. I have a 250mm GSO Dob and a 20mm superview eyepiece and the performance is great, yeah I know the edge sharpness isn't great, but for me that is not a major issue because most of my attention is on the centre of the field and I tend not to notice the edge abberations. It is also interesting comparing the 20 sv with my 13mm 'hand grenade' Nagler and 27mm Panoptic. While the two televues are pinsharp all the way to the edge the light transmission thru the sv is slightly better. also the sv has no noticable 'Kidney beaning'. The sv at under $100 can hold its head up high amongst the giants, great value for money. I have a couple of series 500's too. I admit they dont work too well on fast optics f5> but on my Synta refractor they are fine.:D

[mickoking]

I don't use my series 500 Plossl's at all nowadays. They just sit in the draw waiting for??????? I am sure the dark matter of the universe comprises of supplied with 'scope eyepieces and hats with corpotate logo's.

:rofl: :rofl: :rofl:

[janoskiss]

I gave my 500s away. It's the only thing you can do with them once you've outgrown them. They are still useful if you are on a tight budget and have nothing close in focal length.

[johnno]

Hi All,

I have to agree the series 500 plossls,leave a LOT to be desired,as do most of the cheaper eyepieces,
BUT,as Steve said,they are at least affordable,for someone on a budget,AND,most importantly,a slower scope.

They are "not so bad",in my F 7.5 ED80,
But truly Shockers,in my F4.4 114mm Tasco,(which I never use now)

Regards.
John

[janoskiss]

I meant that they are okay if you get them for next to nothing. I wouldn't encourage anyone to go out and buy a new one. There should be plenty of unwanted 2nd hand ones around. (actually there are a couple on ebay atm, selling for over $30 ea with postage :scared2: )

[ving]

what you are saying, and correct me if you are wrong Steve is that if they came with the scope then fine :P

my 6.5 s500 is still ok, fine on planets with enough contrast to satisfy me.

[janoskiss]

Yes vingo. Or get one off someone who's not using it any more, for <$10.