Quote:
Originally Posted by Brundah1
Adam,
You have already written an excellent first hand review of this premium eyepiece.
I've been only at Stargazing for two years. Fortunately I bought a 19mm Panoptic early very early (from an IIS member). It helped that I had read Backyard Astronomer's Guide cover to cover.
One good night with that EP and I was hooked! So nearly 2 years later my EP kit contains 19, 24, 27mm Panoptics plus 12 & 17mm Nagler T4s. Recently added 2X and 4X Powermates for gear changing views depending on conditions.  
See reviews elsewhere - these are lifetime investments. You may upgrade your scope/s, but you will keep these EPs (if you have a champaigne income then some Ethos EPs may be tempting.)
David  |
Funnily enough, The Backyard Astronomer's guide was where I got my first practical, solid information about equipment too. It's also why I avoid Naglers as a general rule. I have no doubt that they are excellent EPs, but reading up on the section about eye relief indicated that at least for me, I should give those EPs with shorter eye relief a miss.
I should probably write up a review of that book for the site as well. It's a solid investment.
There seems to be a common theme among the responses here. As a general rule, it looks like many people have gotten a lot of mileage out of this eyepiece. I am completely unsurprised by this fact. I knew it was going to be good, I just hadn't realised HOW good.
I definitely agree with Malcolm's comment as well. For someone new to the hobby, I reckon this is a brilliant eyepiece to have. It does many things fabulously, and several things better than it ought to, given what it's designed for.
It gives excellent detail (which is good for those still learning to pick out individual stars and nebulae features etc), is forgiving (in that you don't need micrometer perfect collimation to get good results), and the "Spacewalk" experience, I can see this eyepiece giving budding astronomers the confidence, ease of use and WOW factor to keep them going during the tricky early stages. Given it's versatility, it's pretty hard to go wrong with this EP.
I'm also reconsidering suggestions that I write up a proper review for the site. I'm still umming and ahhing about it, but I can see why it'd be useful to have a novice's opinion. Given that it's generally accepted to be a good eyepiece, I would be hard pressed to write an inaccurate review.
I'll give it a bit more of a thorough road test, hopefully at my astronomy association's next viewing night. That way I can test it out under proper dark skies, against a variety of targets, in the company of much more experienced astronomers (to make sure I point the scope the right way up
).
We shall see what we shall see.
