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Here's my two bob's worth - firstly, I think its a good idea to go to star parties and check eyepieces out, although I didn't before I upgraded to premium eps for the 12' gso dob that I had. And I have no regrets. What I would recommend is working out what focal lengths you want, so you can make a plan for a range of good eyepieces - once you upgrade one, you won't want to stop. The way I went through the process, I ended up with a 17 mm Vixen LVW and a 24 mm Pan which are not, IMO, different enough to warrant owning both.
If I was doing it again, I would have been very happy with my 9mm Nagler, 24mm Panoptic and a good 2x Barlow. In a 1500mm fl scope, this gives mags of 62.5, 125, 167 and 333 (for nights of exceptional seeing). Its an enjoyable luxury to have the 13mm Nagler for the extra fov and the ease of not barlowing, but I found the 24 Pan barlowed was fantastic for smaller galaxies, GCs etc.
I agree with Dave (prickly) about the Vixen LVWs - my 17mm is an excellent ep. And I defer to those who laud the Pentax 10mm - I would have bought one, but the 9 mm Nagler was quite a bit cheaper at the time I bought it.
Anyway, all that is really just to suggest that you allow for a long term premium eyepiece strategy. You will love good eps in your scope!
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