Quote:
Originally Posted by MortonH
Just received my 10mm XW today. No car available tonight so I spent an hour on my balcony with my 80mm ED scope surrounded by various blankets and towels to block out all the stray lights.
I don't have a 10mm Delos for comparison but I do have a 14mm Delos which I've used a couple of times. It does seem that Tele Vue have gone for a similar design to the XW, but they definitely haven't captured the Pentax comfort factor that John mentions above. My Pentax XL 21mm is the most comfortable eyepiece I've ever used, so much so that I've bought various other eyepieces over the years to replace it but always kept it in the end.
The 10mm XW feels very similar to my 21mm XL. Very easy on the eye. And it does seem to have a certain penetration even in my light-polluted location. I'm looking forward to getting out under a darkish sky.
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When I first used my new Pentax 10mm XW I had buyers remorse. I though the view was not as good as I was hoping it would be. I thought from what I had heard and read that the view was incredible and magical, like Steve Jobs trying to sell you an over sized iPod touch. I thought the view just wasn't worth that extra premium.
The key word being "thought". It's kind of hard to put into words what I'm thinking right now. But, you will get the idea.
I've now had the opportunity to use it about 5 times. On both my AR102 and 12" newt. I've done side by side comparisons with my current ES eyepieces and I've learned a couple of things. I learned that eye-relief and thus comfort is really an under-rated feature of eyepieces
. Being able to sit at the eyepieces and look through for extended periods while attempting critical observations is appreciable. Another thing I learned is that the improved sharpness and improved contrast of the Pentax eyepieces is really there and it's noticeable. They are worth the premium. The 70 degree field of view is still an appreciably wide field of view, and allows enough time for objects to drift through the field of view in a non tracking scope. Even though I'm now used to 82-100* eyepieces. Most importantly I get the feeling that I am actually looking through my telescope at the sky and not looking at something in the eyepiece. I guess that's the product of the whole "port-hole on space" theme the hyper wides are marketed as.
All in all its left me with a dilemma. Right now I am deeply considering selling my 6.7 mm, 14mm 82* degrees eyepieces and my 9mm + 14mm 100* degree eyepieces and replacing them with a 6mm or 7mm and 14mm 70-72* eyepieces.
The question is do I get a 6mm and 14 mm Delos or a 7mm and 14mm Pentax XW.
I can get the 2 pentax eyepieces from the US for about $580 including shipping, or a 6mm Delos and 14 mm Delos from Bintel which has them extremely well priced at the moment, but they still work out to be more then $80 more then the 2 Pentax's. Not an easy decision, but I suppose from a certain point of view an enviable one as well.