[vespine]

Ok well I'm thinking more about getting the bintel 12" dob and have read a bit about the stock eyepieces you get not being crash hot so was wondering what people's thoughts were specifically to this scope..

The eye pieces you get are (and their mag):
32mm (2") 46x $79.00
15mm (1.25") 100x $49.00
9mm (1.25) 166x $49.00

=$177

I figure I can probably afford a few hundred more dollars so was wondering what the best way to spend that on upgrading eyepieces would be. Unfortunately there are so many of the things I can't quite get my head around it yet!!

1st thing I thought is upgrade to the Bintel SuperView 30mm (2") $99.00
and buy an additional Bintel Barlow 2x (2") $99.00

Could you then forgo the 15mm plossl? Anyone have any idea what the view through a barlowed 2" 30mm superview would compare to a standard 15mm 1.25"? I'm quite stumped on this one. Would you be better off sticking to the separate 15mm, even the cheapo one? or would the better 2" give a better view even with the cheapish barlow?

Then for the same price you could instead get: Meade Series 4000 Super Plössl 32mm (1.25") $99.00

But for the astro-newby do you reckon the 2" bintel would be better? Being a newb I don't think I'd be very "sensitive" to edge discoloration or distortion or the other "cheap EP issues", I kinda figure that the 2" would probably give a superficially better view, what do others think?

I've been playing with a borrowed el-cheapo 700mm refractor and found that about 175x (4mm) is the mag I was using the most for star clusters and whatever else I could find. (but the barlow is a plastic PoS, completely useless) So I figure the 9mm EP is the one I'd be using a lot but I didn't really manage to find any galaxies or nebula other then the faintest smudges, (which is what i'm hoping to see more of in 12") so what magnifications are common for those objects?

As for the 9mm ep the choice is:

Meade Series 4000 Super Plössl 09.7mm (1.25") $89.00
Meade Series 5000 Plössl 09mm (1.25") $145.00
Meade Series 5000 Ultra Wide Angle 08.8mm (1.25") $285.00
Tele Vue Plossl 11mm (1.25") $145.00

the 5000 UW meade is probably a little on the expensive side but is the ultra wide REALLY good? and would it perform with a barlow? Or is 340x not realistic? (even with good viewing conditions?)

If 340x is the very extreme range of mag for the 12" f5 dob (extreme range is good to have I guess) and the 5000 ultra wide is very good at native 166x, I could see my self using this eye piece a lot and therefore would consider spending a bit extra on it. 5000UW +30mm superview +barlow = $483 or $306 more then the standard ep package. I'd have to tighten my belt for a few weeks but not impossible...

If 340x is way overboard, then the choices are the teleview 11mm which barlowed would give 272x, a much more comfortable figure and would only set me back an extra $166 over the standard package.

or the 4000 super plossl which would give 309x with barlow and be only $110 over.

Am I really making amountain out of a molehill for a newby? Should I just shut up and get the standard EPs and see what I think before I start to worry so much? If you've made it this far through my too lenghtly post, I'd really appreciate any opinions