[brian nordstrom (As avatar)]

Shame about your experiences with the Panoptic ,, its the first negitive thing I have ever heard .

I have the 15 ,19 , 22 , 24 and 27 and they are by far the first eyepieces I grab when starting an observing session , normally the 27mm when using my C9.25 and the 19mm when using the iStar refractor .
These seem to be a good gauge of sky conditions , then for higher power luna/planetary viewing its the Radians every time .

Brian.

Originally Posted by SkyWatch

Thanks for the review Brian. I haven't had the pleasure of using the 21mm Plossl, but I went through the exercise a few years back when I wanted a good, medium power eyepiece that was as sharp as possible. I initially purchased the 19mm Panoptic based on reviews I had seen that it was the best eyepiece ever made, etc. Unfortunately in my case it was not quite(!!!) up to that exalted standard (in fact a GSO 20mm performed better!), and close inspection even revealed a small air-bubble in the glass. QC was not the best! It was quite fuzzy from about 60% of the way from the centre (in a range of scopes from f5 to f10), and the field distorted significantly. Sounds like you got a better one...
I ended up returning it and got the 18mm Radian instead- and I concur it is a lovely eyepiece.
Unfortunately it often sits in my eyepiece box now because I got a 13mm Nagler6 a couple of years later (the $A was so much better then!): it has a pretty much identical fov but at a higher power and is also beautifully sharp to the edge. The eye relief is not quite as good, but otherwise it is a great little eyepiece.
All the best,
Dean