Hi folks,
I bought one of these from Bintel recently (they're available elsewhere also).
This is by far the worst eyepiece I've ever seen:
- It doesn't achieve a crisp focus anywhere in the FOV in either scope I have.
- The glass with the reticle scored onto it also has imperfections that catch the red illuminator, so you end up with distracting red flecks across the FOV.
- The 1.25" nosepiece is held on with a collar that is abnormally large and rather unnecessary when you look inside, but worse is that the tapped threads for the illuminator are rough and at an angle - really poorly tapped.
- The illuminator is "nasty" cheap plastic and overly large compared to the other type that comes with, say, the Skywatcher 12.5mm illuminated reticle eyepiece
- There are no instructions.
I'd return it, but in the process of dealing with those poorly tapped threads, the threads on the illuminator are now wrecked ... and no, that wasn't me cross-threading - I could not have been more careful.
I know these eyepieces are cheaply made for a simple purpose, but this one is woeful and not even that cheap - $129!
Unless you're desperate for an illuminated reticle eyepiece at exactly that F/L (20mm), stay away from this one.
As for me, I'm figuring out how I can fix it (drill and re-tap the illuminator hole and use an insert, then get an alternative illuminator; maybe polish the glass with scored reticle?) but I may just end up binning it.