GSO Filters and EyePiece Quality

[BlackWidow (Mardy)]

Hello. This is now my second post Yea!

Have been using some GSO Plossel's and fittings. Some came with my 10" DOB as it is also made by GSO. I have found all that I have to do a super job as a newbee to Astronomy.

I am wanting to purchase a few other things to add to my scope like a Barlow and a wider angle lense. I just wanted to get some opinions as to what people think of thier products. I have read that this company makes optics for some of the very large names in scopes, but this does not suggest that the lower cost items are great or bad. They seem to be well made and of visual quality, and seem to be sold at very good prices. As I don't have any really expensive stuff I have not been able to really compare. My friend has a Mead Scope and I have tried to compare his 24mm Eypiece with my GSO on both his scope and mine. I have not been able to see any noticable difference between them, and nor can he.

I just want to make sure I am not waisting money on these items, or if you nice people feel that for amature work they provide value for money with good and acceptable results.



Very Best Regards
Martin

[jjjnettie (Jeanette)]

Andrews sell a rather nice GSO APO 2.5x barlow.
With a budget price of only $49, it's far superior to their achro and ED barlows.
The GSO 15mm superview eyepiece is surprisingly good for it's price. Nice wide field of view.

[kinetic (Steve)]

Originally Posted by jjjnettie

The GSO 15mm superview eyepiece is surprisingly good for it's price. Nice wide field of view.

Hi Martin, Jeanette,

I agree Jeanette, the 15mm GSO does a fairly good job in my
12" Newt also.
But I have a set of circa 1980's old 0.965" Orthos and Kellners
and , even though at the time they were considered budget
eyepieces, they really show up the GSO eyepieces.
A lot of people would analyse what they get and see judged on
using only their GSO eyepieces with their GSO scope but that, in
my opinion, does the scope a disservice.
When you see what the GSO scope is capable of with a good
eyepiece it is a pleasant surprise.

Steve

[dannat (Daniel)]

Martin, what type of meade eyepiece did your friend have - they have three levels: basic s4000, better s5000, best uwa - the uwa will give wide & also sharp views cf. the other two

[BlackWidow (Mardy)]

Thanks Daniel

My friends Mead is an ETX (cassa type) scope. the eyepeice came with the scope, so I am guessing it's only a low cost one. I guess it's hard to scale it as the GSO items are about a third of the price (even less). I am not sure if spending the extra money gives me 3 times the view, or will I only get 2% or 5% better results. I guess it's trying to sum it all up and not spend more than I need to without doing myself an injustice.

As I am very new to this I find that I am amazed at what I am getting to see and have been having a ball. At some stage I am going to try an join a group so that I can increase my learning curve. This I guess will allow me to compare things as well. I have always been a little shy of joining groups as I don't like the I have better than you mentallity that often happens in groups. This is why I have asked this question on the forum, as I seem to getter better outcomes. People on here seem very helpfull.


Regards
Martin

[jjjnettie (Jeanette)]

If you don't have a UHC filter yet, that could be next on the shopping list.
They're a great asset if you live with light pollution.
And you definitely need a barlow lens.
If you're happy with the eyepieces that came with the scope, you might as well keep using them.
Wait till you get to a biggish Star Party where you can try out all the different types of Premium eyepieces in person. Best to make an informed decision before handing over the big bucks.

[Coen]

My experience is that even the budget eyepieces do alright including the GSO's. In fact the Super Plossl's are good by all accounts especially for the price. Once upon a time the same quality would have cost an arm and a leg. So compared to the past we get good quality at a cheap price but we are also becoming, as a result, perhaps fussier buyers because we can be.

Having said that, what you will notice as you get more experience observing visually is that things such as contrast and levels of distortion will come more to the fore in your appreciation of what you are seeing. When starting out these are not as big a consideration as the immediate wow factor of enjoying the first views of nebulae, clusters and galaxies.

As you spend more time at the eyepiece and concentrate on each object for longer to learn more about it then you might notice that say, I could do with more contrast, or there is a level of distortion near the edge of the view that begins to bother you whereas before it was hardly noticable. That is when certain eyepiece types and constructions become the topic of discussion, also their coatings because you wish every single photon of that faint fuzzy to come through to your eye. Then there is also the field of view and its crispness to the edge to consider. When starting out I'd hazzard to say not many of us are immediately bothered by these considerations.

So what does this mean? Well it becomes subjective very quickly and it also comes to what you wish to do as well as budget. Some can have a great time with the "cheaper" (not to say worse) eyepieces whereas others feel they need the maximum and anything less is going to take away from their enjoyment. Where you fit in the scale of these viewpoints only you will know. I recommend though that if possible you get along to a local viewing night or out with folk who have a cross section of eyepieces and see what you like to see how the value to dollar ratio is to you. To get that last 5-20% improvement might not matter to you especially if the cost of the eyepiece becomes very high.

The more expensive eyepieces are very good and do make a difference in even modest telescopes (where the cost of the eyepiece is at least comparable too or more than the telescope & mount itself).

Other factors
- eyepieces can outlast telescopes i.e. you can have them for life so an investment in them will pay dividends if you stay in the hobby.
- there is no point in having quality optics on your telescope and then loosing out with a shocking eyepiece (be it its condition or design).
- longer focal length telescopes are perhaps more forgiving of some the "cheaper" eyepieces, for example the 68 degree FOV 15mm GSO works fine in an F12 refractor (some minor distortion in the outer edges of the FOV but I can live with it for now) but in an F5 it is not anywhere near as nice. I found an 18mm University Optics ortho is much better visually when I compared the two but at more than twice probably three times the price you'd hope so note its FOV was much narrower.
- eyepieces that come with telescopes are fine to get started but there is generally the assumption that upgrades will occur or that the user will have their own personalised collection.
- a selection of focal lengths and a good quality barlow work well.
- if you wear glasses then eye relief is generally very important.

[dpastern (Dave Pastern)]

I'll add my 2.2c inc. GST worth here, although I've only used several GSO eyepieces for one night's observing (last night). The 1.25" 15mm plossl is pretty good. The 2" 40mm plossl is also pretty good. The 1.25" 4mm plossl is well, bad imho. Severe fringing as soon as anything remotely bright is near to it, lacks contrast, very small exit pupil. You end up with a small circle that moves around and it's all you can see anything through, the rest is like just black or internal reflections. The 2x Barlow was OK as well.

Look, for the price, you could do worse, but there is better. I bought a few of the GSOs as they were cheap, and were only intended as starters until I can afford better quality units. I knew that they'd have limitations, and accepted that.

Dave

[erick (Eric)]

I suggest that one doesn't go below the 9mm plossl. I found the 6mm to have too little eye relief. The 9mm was acceptable.

[dpastern (Dave Pastern)]

I agree, although I don't have the 9mm, so I can't say too much about it. Eye relief, that's the term I was after. Still, the 4mm was like AU $30 or so, dirt cheap, I can live with 'wasting' that smallish amount of money as a temporary solution until I pay off the current gear (loan from parents) and can afford better quality eyepieces.

Dave