Eyepiece Upgrade

[dsacurtis]

Hi All,

I'm finally rediscovering my love of Astronomy after a rather long break. Over the past few months I've pulled out (and dusted off) a 4" Meade reflector I purchased over a decade ago. I like the unit and it seems to work pretty well.

However, I'm curious to see whether I could improve my viewings with some eyepiece upgrades. The unit came with a few - 25mm, 9mm but compared to some of the units I'm reading about these days look pretty basic indeed. Some of my reading suggests that quality eyepieces could make all the difference. I would certainly like to get in a bit closer to some of my sky targets.

Perhaps someone could share a view on this?

Best,

Dave

P.S. Nice to find a website which doesn't assume everyone lives North of the Equator!

[The Mekon]

I would not spend a great deal on high grade eyepieces to use with this scope.

Just make sure it is properly collimated, then buy some plossls, a 15 -17mm would be a good one to start with, they at least will give you comfortable viewing without too much distortion.

I recommend you check the eyepiece section of the classifieds now!

[Allan_L]

Hi Dave,
Welcome to Ice in Space :welcome:

Best advice to give before you spend mega bucks is to come to an observing session and try them in your scope.

You are in luck!

You only live a stones throw from the best observing site in the Southern Hemisphere - The famous "Pony Club", at Mangrove Mountain.
We are anice group who meet there and we like sharing views through our scopes and our eyepiece collection to try in different scopes.

There is a sticky at the top of the Star Parties forum on how to get there.

And weather permitting, we will be there next Saturday evening.
And its free.

Bring your scope (not a requisite, but since you want to try eyepieces, that is how). We have some very nice eyepieces ranging from the cheapies to the outragously expensive.

Hope to see you there :thumbsup:

[dsacurtis]

Alan,

Many :thanx:. That sounds great. It would certainly be fantastic to try some eyepieces before parting with my money. And better to meet some people rather more skilled at all this than me :lol:.

I hadn't realised anyone was quite that close. Look forward to meeting you in the future.

Best,

Dave

[Gem]

Good advice: "The eyepiece is half the telescope".

Spend whatever you can on a couple of good quality eyepieces. Don't worry about people knocking your scope - a good eyepiece is a fraction of the cost of a new scope and will make a big difference. The best bit is, if/when you up grade your scope down the track - the eyepieces transfer across. Most of my eyepieces are on their third scope!

I would recommend two good quality plossl eyepieces.

For myself, I am happy with my 32mm Televue plossl (which retails around $140 I think).

Don't go worrying about "Nagler" or "Panoptic" or other such expensive items with wider fov and many elements.

I had a cheap tasco refractor as a kid and bought a couple of good eyepieces and it made a cheap telescope not too bad. :)

[Poita]

Kind of like lenses for the DSLR, invest in good glass, and no matter what body you buy in the future, the lenses will still do you well.

[big_dav_2001]

I've found the Baader Hyperion series of eyepieces great, they're relatively inexpensive at about $110-$120 each and offer great views and a pretty decent 68- degree field of view. I've used them on my Meade reflector several times with great results.

As several have said here, be sure your collimation is up to scratch, if it's out, it will affect the quality of your viewing regardless of what eyepiece you use. A good lazer collimator and a set of Bobs Knobs would be a great investment

Davin
:cheers:

[cookie8]

Bought a TBM planetary type II 9mm for $49 plus postage from Sylvian and very happy with it. Excellent value for money. Feedbacks are all good. A reported comparision was it is neck and neck with the Televue Radian. Just check out the Classified Eyepieces section and I think it is still for sale.
I would upgrade your 4" to at least a 8" Dob if I were you.
Cheers