Bintel or Andrews Eyepieces

[Spiney (Steve)]

Hi all,
After reading these forums for ages I've decided to purchase a 12" Premium Dob (with all the bells and whistles that they are now offering) from either Bintel or Andrews. It is now down to the eyepieces that they supply which will sway me as to which business I buy from.
Bintel supplies - 26mm (2") FMC, 15mm Plossl, 9mm Plossl

Andrews supplies - 32mm 2" SP series and four plossls 6mm, 9mm, 15mm and 25mm.

Which eyepieces are suitable or a waste of time. I've read on one post that the 25mm plossl is quite a good one from GSO.
I will also be purchasing a Collimator, 2x 2"Barlow and Telrad at the same time, phew!

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

[GeoffW1 (Geoff)]

Hi,

I found the Bintel 15mm and 25mm Plossls are quite good value for the money (which is cheap), but in 6mm and 9mm they aren't worth picking up. From Bintel, I would ask to swap the 9mm Plossl for a 25mm, it is more effective.

The Bintel 26mm is a Kellner type I think. I have a 32mm like that and it does OK in the centre of the field, but is nothing to get excited about at the edges. So you could also ask to swap the 26mm for a 32mm.

I guess I am saying that the 6mm and 9mm from Andrews will only leave you wanting something a bit better. I have had my telescopes less than a year now, with a very similar startup kit to that you decribe, and I already passed into the stage of experimenting with eyepieces. It is a bug you get.

If the budget is restricted there are several other types of "Super" Plossls such as the Televue 8mm, Meade series 4000 and 5000, which could deliver a bit more quality at the high power end of the range.

I lack sufficient experience at this point, so I will pass you to our colleagues for further comment!

Cheers

[Spiney (Steve)]

Cheers GeoffW1,
I thought that the 6mm and 9mm may not be up to par. Any advice is much better then my experience which is zip. Ta.
Will be ordering the scope tomorrow.

[Jupiter]

Do you still get a free set of binos from Andrews for every dob you buy?, as for ep's the 9mm and the 6mm are ok, for planetary, the 6mm gives pretty good views of the moon too, ok for starters I guess.
You won't be dissappointed either.

[Spiney (Steve)]

Jupiter,
I rang Andrews today to order the scope but the guys who look after the optical side of things were away on a conference. I wanted to know if the primary mirror was centre spotted. According to there web site the binos are no longer part of the deal but I guess with all the other extras they are throwing in these days, including free delivery to any where in oz, I'm not to bothered. Good to see that the 6 and 9mm EP's will be of use. Thanks for the reply.

[Gargoyle_Steve (Steve)]

For the record Lee Andrews and 2 of his best men were very busy - selling a table full of goodies to many of us at Astrofest in Qld!
(I'm pleased, and surprised, to be able to say that when talking to Lee at Astrofest he read my name tag and immediately said "oh yes, I've taken orders from you over the phone!" He has a great memory obviously, but I'm wondering now if I've been ordering too much stuff .... nah, no such thing!!)

I have 2 pairs of those bino's that Andrew's used to include with a scope - 10x32 pocket sized - great little bino's, very contrasty, very handy - but free delivery of the scope will save you real money!!

It cost around $80 to have my 10" dob delivered to the Sunshine Coast about 16 months ago, you can buy the bino's off Andrew's website if you want them for much less than that, or keep the difference in your pocket for other astro goodies!

[Solanum]

Originally Posted by Spiney

I rang Andrews today to order the scope but the guys who look after the optical side of things were away on a conference. I wanted to know if the primary mirror was centre spotted.

I got the 10" premium from Andrews less than a year ago. The primary was centre spotted (very spotted in my case, the glue had run halfway across the mirror - but Andrews were very good, shipped it back and cleaned it at no cost to myself). I find the 9 mm OK, but the 6 mm has such a small lens and so little eye relief that it is rather unpleasant to use. Optically, it's not to bad though. I plan on replacing it with a Vixen LV pretty soon.