[OzStarGazer]

By the way, Billi, this is what an established eBay seller (Skies Unlimited in the UK) told me last year about eyepieces for our scope in the early days (I had had my SW for about 6 weeks back then):

Series 500 are a very good general purpose Plossl and are perfectly fine for many astronomers in the early years of learning about the subject. The ones that we sell as 50 degree Plossls are the next ones up the scale as they let you see more of the surroundings of a target which helps make them easier to find as well as putting them into context of the surroundings. They give the same magnification per mm of focal length as the Series 500 but say you were looking at a crater on the moon then you would see more around it - hence the context benefit.

If you are feeling brave you might consider the next rung up the ladder of eyepieces and look at the TMB Planetary 2s or the BST Starguider EDs as they will give you more benefits in terms of contrast, brightness, sharpness and field of view. Our 8mm is the most popular eyepiece that we sell and you can Barlow it to 4mm when conditions allow - but once you have tried it in a Barlow you will be very tempted to buy the 5mm one!

Alan is a very honest person (as you can see he didn't even try to sell the most expensive eps and sounded encouraging throughout) and I bought quite a few items from him (including the Starguider).