Quote:
Originally Posted by Waxing_Gibbous
I honestly can't see what niche they are trying to fill. Unless they a manifestlly better than the offerings from Pentax, Vixen, ES or TMB, at these lengths, I don't see the point...
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I'd say the target niche is people like
me.
Wearing spectacles, I find any eyepiece with less than 17mm of eye relief annoying to use and I prefer 20mm of eye relief. That means that the Naglers (other than the Type 4 and very long focal length ones) and the whole Ethos series don't really work for me. The extra eye relief offered by Radians, the new Delos and other long eye relief oculars (from Pentax, Vixen, etc) is the difference between no sale and a possible sale. Sure, I'll look through an Ethos occasionally (I even bought an ES 100° 14mm ocular for an extended trial) and like it for a while but I can't quite come to grips with using it regularly.
While I like the Radian series I prefer the Pentax offerings (mainly the XL and XW series) in focal lengths <=10mm. This isn't because of the Radian's slightly warm tone (I think the whole "coffee" thing is
way over done) but rather the extra apparent field of view (AFOV) and a feeling of extra comfort that I cannot put my finger on. The more offerings that enter the long eye relief, wide AFOV market the happier I will be. Remembering that the population of `four eyes' star gazers is growing as our average age increases, I am not surprised that increased eye relief is being seen as desirable by more customers. I have tried work arounds like the TV Dioptrix and while it works I don't like it as a solution (too much swapping and fiddling).
These eyepiece won't appeal to everybody but if they are as good as the Pentax XW series then I think they will find a good niche market.
Clear skies!