Quote:
Originally Posted by J.A.L
I want to buy my husband a 30th Birthday present. I saved for years for a previous combined gift so he could chose his telescope, he got a:
Meade LX200R 10 inch Advance Ritchey-Chretien with GPS & AutoStar II Hand Controller.
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I'd like to get a Barlow and 1 or 2 eyepieces ... a quality brand ... not need upgrading or never get replaced than go cheaper now... I'd spend anywhere up to $500 even give or take, but would like to keep it around $300 if possible.
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Wow! You're the dream wife every man on this forum would want to have!
I'd recommend you look elsewhere other than Meade. Just because the telescope is a Meade, and it is a damn good one too!, does not mean the EPs need to be. The Meade Apo barlow in particular is not a good one for the money and the UWA 5000s (certainly the 14mm) fall well short of much of the competition. In barlows I'd look at Televue barlow or 2.5x powermate and the Orion Deluxes (my personal faves with the best contrast). Deluxes are long barlows tho so you'd need to find out if they work well with the RC telescope.
In EPs, I'd get him Pentax XWs unless his heart is set on ultra wides (80+ degree field of view) in which case Naglers are an obvious choice.
Most importantly: For general purpose observing, and deep sky in particular, you'd need an EP near the 20mm FL given the scope has a focal ratio of f/10. My faves would be 20mm Pentax XW and 20mm Type 5 Nagler. Perhaps 22mm Type 4 if eye relief of the Type 5 is not enough.
For planets something in the 8-12mm range is good. Planetary EPs need not be widefields with a tracking scope. The Pentax XFs 12 and 8.5mm would do very nicely here as would a 12mm UO HD orthoscopic (Frontier Optics). Vixen LVs are great if you want more flexibility in choice of focal length and long eye relief.
EP choices esp at the top end become very much of personal preference so it's hard to make definite recommendations for someone else, but I'll do it anyway:
20mm Nagler Type 5
12mm Pentax XF
8.5mm Pentax XF
These EPs I have used and loved and they are simply brilliant. And no barlow. The 8.5mm will yield plenty of magnification so you won't need one. If he is really power hungry could go a 6mm TMB Planetary also but I personally would not bother because you'll already see everything the scope can show you at lower powers.
In addition you'd be looking at one more low power eyepiece some time in the future for taking in bigger chunks of sky. From all reports TMB Paragon 40mm seems like a good choice there within your price range but I have not used one.
Good luck, and god bless your generous heart!