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Thanks guys for the feedback. I had a chance to do some further searching this morning when I got in to work and I am afraid that having Pentax or Panoptics does spoil you. I find the view through my old Plossl's a bit limiting, like looking through a keyhole. The small lens makes it harder to get a good view, I really like having a big bit of glass to look at! I would like to make it easy for my "customers" to get a good view without having to move around too much, and risk moving the scope etc. I want them to walk away with a degree of "awe"!
After looking further on the site, and 'upping' the budget a tad, I considered getting either the Stratus 8 or Hyperion 8. Both have had extremely good comments on this site, but one comment (Janoskiss?) mentioned how easy it was to get a good view with the Stratus, which is a pretty useful criteria for the intended use. I have found that some people often comment initially, when looking through the Pentax, "I don't see anything, just black". After some moving around, they find the right position. I must admit, I suffer the same problem myself at times, but I soon hit the spot. I have decided to go with the Stratus 8. It also has good eye relief (for the older people), a big lump of glass at the front, which seems to help with small kids (10 and under) and a wide (quality) field of view. I am sure the Hyperion would have been equally as suitable, as some have said "they come from the same factory", and about $20 cheaper but more people here have used the Stratus, so it has won the battle.
I will be very interested to see how the Stratus stacks up against the XW-7 and XW-10.
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