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Vingo,
Close to the money but not quite. Whilst the galactic image itself dims as you increase the magnification, the contrast increases, providing additional subtle detail not obtainable at lower magnifications. There is a lot to be gained by cranking up the magnification on galaxies, particularly in larger scopes. The 12" scope Barb and Dave have is ideal and can certainly cope with a lot more magnification on galaxies, than they are throwing at them at the moment. There is always a "cut off point" where the returns diminish, but at present they are far from it.
Barb/David
If you like the 10mm Pentax XW there is no point considering anything other than the 7mm Pentax XW. These are 2 of the best eyepieces ever made at any price IMO. The 7mm Pentax XW is every bit as good as the 10mm and will provide 215X in your scope, which will be ideal not only for your galaxy work but all other medium/high power observing. At some time in the future you should also consider the 5mm Pentax XW, this will give you 300X for those nights of good seeing. It's worth noting that you can still run fairly high power on galaxies, when those powers would not normally be usable on planets and double stars due to poor seeing.
CS-John B
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