Celestron eyepiece set Vs Televue Panoptic

[Scotts Vlog]

Here is a video i made talking about the celestron eyepiece kits and also televue Panoptics from a beginners point of view.

Thanks for watching.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v9X9LslrgEk

[Steffen]

I think even Al Nagler would cringe at this.

Cheers
Steffen.

[stephenb]

Reasonably produced and presented. However for a complete beginner it didn't really explain why a 24 mm Panoptic is better than the Celestron kit. If I was starting out, or already owned a similar set of inexpensive eyepieces, I'd be thinking I've blown my money.

Also, as a first time poster to IIS, how about introducing yourself first.

Regards,
Stephen

[Gem]

That is not really going to help beginners...
Yes, it is very important to have a decent eyepiece. Yes, a 24mm TV pano is a great eyepiece. I am saving up for one myself... But, what about "bang for buck"? Not all beginners are going to be able to afford a 24mm pano. Some of us run on a tight budget! In addition, you can't compare a 6mm plossl to a 24mm pano - which is what is done in the clip. What doesn't make sense is the guy says the low power Celestron eyepieces are the better ones. I would have thought the multi element eyepieces (pano, nagler, etc...) would excel more at the lower end and the plossl eyepieces (with less elements) would excel more at the higher end of power. I only got a high power nagler because I had a non-tracking dob - so I wanted a wider FOV so the object didn't zip out of view too fast at high power. I could go on...
I have 3 Celestron eyepieces myself and 2 Televue eyepieces. I love them all, but for different reasons.
Horses for courses I say. :)

[Damienandwendy]

My first impression was outright spam and trying to increase the hit count on Youtube. My second impression was the same.

When I, as a beginner, have two scopes that are worth in the vicinity of $200 - $300 each, the last thing on my mind is purchasing a $300 EP.

cheers

Damien

[casstony]

There's always room for constructive criticism, but good on you for having a go Scott.

We have such variety of eyepiece quality and price these days that it's difficult to give a simple black and white recommendation. The problem I see with the Celestron eyepiece set is it's high price for what you get - cheap plossls still work ok if they're all one can afford.

Bold presentations aren't necessarily received so well on Aussie forums either - success is allowed down here, but you have to be humble about it. :)

[barx1963]

Those that have read my posts know I am a great... And I mean GREAT... Fan of the 24mm Pan. But they are not cheap and beginners should think carefully about their choices anless they have a substantial budget.
I don't like the eyepiece kits, as for most beginners a 25mm plossl will enable them to see almost everything in the way of DSO's, and maybe a 10mm for the planets, moon and splitting a few doubles. Then save your money for when you know more.
From experience I did about 75 of the Messiers using an 8" dob and a 25mm plossl under LP skies.
Also I agree, an intro from Scott as a new poster would be nice.

Malcolm

[Scotts Vlog]

I would expect nothing less than a cringe from old Al. That was funny. Thanks for the feedback.

[Scotts Vlog]

I remember when spam was just a can of meat. I bet that $200 scope would have been awesome with that Panoptic driving it. I do admit that some of the cheaper scopes would've had problems balancing a heavy eyepiece. Thanks For the Feedback.

[Damienandwendy]

I have no doubt that a $300 EP would improve the view through either of my two cheap scopes. After having spent nearly $900 on the scopes and the associated hardware, a single $300 EP is definitely out of reach on my budget. I almost had to sell one of the family jewels to convince the wife that $900 wasn't too much.:sadeyes:

I guess there must be a lot of beginners out there with lots of cash to splash around.

Edit : as your video is comparing a single EP vs a set, the point is fairly moot for me as I can't afford either, but I would be still inclined to go for a couple of cheap EP's to give me an idea of what my scopes can do rather than narrow my options down to a single purchase which may be a waste of money if I lose interest in six months time. On the flip side, buying an expensive EP is an investment which can be used on future scopes.

cheers

Damien

[stopusinmyid]

Well this has answered a question Steven wanted to know earlier (saves me posting it) :thumbsup:. He was wondering if the Celestron EP set was worth buying and I gather from this thread that it wouldn't be a good investment. Better to buy a better quality EP one at a time, due to finances. Also while I'm here if we were to buy colour filters would that enable us to see the colours in the Nebulas?

[casstony]

Tammy, color filters are usually used to enhance planetary features - most nebulae don't show color visually.

Narrowband nebula filters (eg. Lumicon UHC or DGM Optics NPB) filter out much of the light pollution, increasing contrast and making nebulae easier to see.

[Gem]

Tammy, buy one at a time according to your budget. Eyepieces can be used on any scope, so if you upgrade your scope you take your eyepieces with you. Two or three carefully choosen eyepieces is better than a set... but buy to your budget. It doesn't have to be the absolute best $300+ eyepiece just because someone else has a bigger budget and swears by it.
The best advice on eyepieces is: "the eyepiece is half your telescope". You don't want to spend well on a scope and then let it down with a bad eyepiece... but you also don't want to spend hundreds on a great eyepiece with a poor quality scope. :)

[casstony]

That's good advice.

In terms of specific recommendations:

- for a fat wallet, 2 or 3 Televue Naglers, Panoptics, Delos, Ethos or Pentax XW (except for 14mm and 20mm). Eye relief varies from 12 to 20mm; apparent field of view varies from ~70 to 100 degrees, and some don't perform as well at f/5 so figure out what suits you before purchase.

- for a skinny wallet you can still get very good performance from cheaper eyepieces but finding the good ones is more of a minefield. The 13mm Hyperion/Stratus is the best of that line, Celestron Ultima LX 17 and 22mm are very good (also repackaged as Skywatcher 70 deg and Astro-Tech AF70, cheaper than Celestron too) and going cheaper again the GSO 30mm and 42 mm are decent. The Astro-Tech Titan II ED 30, 35 and 40mm are decent. Buying these eyepieces used is a good way to get good performance for a small outlay.

For narrow fields of view Televue Plossls are the default high quality eyepiece.

Hyperion 8 to 24mm zoom is useful.

There's also a bunch of others that I'm not familiar with.

[stopusinmyid]

:thumbsup: cheers for that and yeh it's going to be a slow process but we will get there. We are having fun with what we have at the moment.
I was looking at some Televue Ethos last night and my goodness they are nearly as much as what we paid for the telescope. It doesn't help that there is no astronomy group in the Riverland, the closet being in Adelaide, 240k's away. So we don't have the chance to try any out before we buy.

[Harpspitfire]

im not sure what this thread is actually about- needless to say, better EP's are better EP's, with that being said- most begginer scopes are sold with the 10/32 EP's- i got the celestron 1.25 EP kit for $99 years ago that filled in the gap, since then i acquired better EP.s here and there- but my EP kit wasnt bad at all, i would certainly recommend it for the value and price for any starter or intermediate user

[casstony]

The Celestron eyepiece kit costs between $300 - $450 in Australia.

[Amunous]

When i started with my dob. I didn't know much about it as i had been using an old big eye 128mm on an EQ.

I didn't even know about this site until after i purchased my dob. (i wish i had.) i bought the Celestron eyepiece kit, not knowing about the differences between the two different kinds. The views with my 12 inch dob were OK nothing spectacular, but i didn't know any different.

Then i discovered this website and found out about the "pony club boys".. so off i went to a meet.


Rick, had a 9m nagler, that he let me use in my scope, i was BLOWN away at the difference. I went out the next week and bought one. I never used the celestron eyepieces again.
It was the only one i used and i had spent roughly the same on it as i did on the kit. I don't use the filters and the eyepieces sit there now. Ive basically wasted my money on them.
The 9m nagler was the only eyepiece that i used until my other half got me the 13 ethos. Now that is my primary eyepiece but i still regularly use the nagler.
I would not recommend the celestron eyepieces to anyone other than someone who has a scope that wouldn't handle a powerful eyepiece.
If i had been to the pony club and used those eyepieces before my purchase it would have been clear.
If i knew what i know now then, i would have saved myself $300.
Then again some people would rather spend 300 on 5 or 6 average eyepieces than on something rinkydink.

This video thou does not help. there should be a comparison of the two eyepieces side by side showing things like FOV and clarity.
My best suggestion would be to go out and have a look through a few different eyepieces if your happy with the celestron get them if not don't.

[lostnumber]

So I'm about to take the plunge and invest in a SkyWatcher 8" Dobsonian. I was planning to buy the eyepiece set but now I'm not so sure.

The way I read this thread is that money is best spent buying a couple of high quality EPs rather than this set and filters... I'm unlikely to buy much more given the initial upfront expense and a few upcoming projects around the house... And I'm timeshort so I don't drive near the shop very often....

I expect most observing to be done under LP skies with a few trips out to darker skies.. Is it worth the investment? As a beginner I feel it would offer me more flexibility but it sounds like this is at the expense of or instead of some quality... the price i ws quoted was 250ish.

[dannat]

IMO the set is overpriced & isn't good enough quality, look in the classifieds here for cheap ep to see what focal lengths you like then shop around for some good quality ep's, trying others ep's is the best way to go
If you want to buy a lot of ep's to try get some bintel or GSO ep's from andrews

[lostnumber]

Ok thanks - however, is it still worth getting a 2x barlow, moon filter and/or filter for LP at this early stage?

[traveller]

If you are getting a kit, then Barlow is not really required, as the kit would have a selection of FL to work with. But if you buy premium EPs, chances are you will only have 2-3 and a Barlow is a cheap way to double their range.
As for filters, they work best in dark sites. A moon filter is very useful, go for the neutral density (ND) types.
Bo

[lostnumber]

I decided against the kit and went for a long eye relief 6mm eyepiece, LP filter and moon filter. Unfortunately there was rain overnight both Saturday and Sunday nights here in Brisbane so I wasn't able to test anything however I managed to align the finderscope so I should be already to go.