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Never A/B'd them, but used them both and the 31mm Nagler. Geoff's assesment is spot on. They will give you the same TFOV, albeit the 26mm Nagler at slightly higher power. The 30mm Pentax is a lot easier and more comfortable to use allowing you to take in the full FOV more easily. I regularly use Andrew Murrell's 26mm nagler and I personally prefer the 30mm Pentax and the 31mm Nagler over it because they both have longer eye relief and greater comfort. Andrew is not fussed about the eye relief and I know his preference is for the 26mm Nagler. The Pentax is the best of the 3 in terms of contrast and light throughput, although at this level they are all outstanding. One thing I will say is that if you are likely to do a fair amount of observing from less than pristine skies (like Pony Club) the 26mm Nagler may be a better choice due to its smaller exit pupil in your F4.5 scope and resultant greater contrast because of the higher magnification. If you only ever observed from "dark" skies then the 30mm Pentax XW would be my choice. I am more than happy to let you try our 26mm and 31mm Naglers if you can wait until the June new moon, which is the next time I will be at Pony Club.
Cheers,
John B
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