[taxman (Matt)]

Part of my new clean-up has resulted in my decision to get rid of my 8" bintel dob and use the money for a good eyepiece for my main scope. I never really use the dob, favoring my Megrez 90 which is set up by the back door instead.

I am an absolute dillettente at this but nonetheless, I really enjoy my style (wave around at low powers, find a smudge and zoom in) of astronomy.

As my highest power EP is a 6mm WO SP, zooming in is only around 100x so with my Christmas money, I got an 8mm radian and 2x barlow for higher powered views.

For the hunting part, I am thinking of setting my sights on a 27mm Panoptic which would give me 23x with a TFOV of around 3 degrees. But I already have a 25mm WO SWAN which gives me roughly the same magnification and TFOV.

Is anyone able to tell me whether a beginner will see any noticeable difference between the Williams Optics and Panoptic eyepieces?

Also, as a bit of a footnote, is $400 about right for a barely used 8" dob with a colimating tool as well as 6, 9, 15, 25 1.25" plossls and a 27mm 2" GSO wideview?