I've got the 18mm SWA and it's not razor sharp to the very edge. I prefer the 19mm Edge-On Flat Field eyepiece put out under various brand names, which is sharper at the edges (the 19mm Orbinar one on Ebay is one of the cheaper ones at $68).
The 14mm SWA is still superb, though it is extremely heavy relative to later Meade ones. I currently really enjoy the Meade Series 5000 18mm UWA on my C8, which isn't as heavy as your 14mm.
I remember Meade replaced all their 5 element Meade Super Plossls with 4 element Super Plossls of the exact same focal lengths, making it hard to tell them apart. The former were very highly rated, mainly because they had a very big sweet spot compared to other plossls.
I find the 56mm Meade Plossl somewhat unsatisfying in my C8. I much prefer the view in my cheap 2" 40mm GSO wide angle eyepiece from Andrews. Similarly, I prefer the view in my $80 30mm UWA eyepiece that both Andrews and Bintel were selling a few years back (the image may not be perfect at the edges, but it costs heaps more to make it perfect). Obviously, you can pay a lot more to get better images than those from these two inexpensive eyepiecs.
The other thing missing from your collection is a 5mm eyepiece, which would be useable on some nights of the year in your telescope when the atmosphere permits. I have the old 4.7mm Meade UWA, and think it very good. But its very shallow eye relief drives some people batty, so I wouldn't recommend it. I'm more fond of my 5mm TMB with much longer eye relief.
Regards,
Renato
Last edited by Renato1; 22-03-2015 at 01:49 AM.
|