New Eyepiece Evaluation

[rumples riot]

Well my folks finally returned from their two month trip to the USA with mixed feelings about the trip, the people that live there and most importantly my new Eyepieces. I got my mum to purchase two while in California and then they carted them back for me. It was cheaper and convenient, and my mum was happy to do it. She is also into astronomy and did not really want to give them to me.

What I got. Well I purchased a 24mm Televue panoptic 1.25" and a Meade 5000 6.7mm Ultra Wide Angle 1.25".

The Televue was as expected in great condition and now rounds off my collection for Deep space viewing. I have yet to test the optics but I know that they will be magnificent.

As for the Meade, well there are mixed perceptions at this stage. First, this is a big EP even for a 6.7mm. It is bigger than the 24mm panoptic. About the size of a Duck egg. The lenses in the EP are very large indeed. This means that I wont have to go looking for the sweet spot that I am familiar with in this type of EP. The size of the EP is also good as it will not be easily dropped when handling.

As for Build quality that is where this EP falls down. While it looks like a great EP, it is just the little things that let it down. The Metal O Ring at the top of the EP has the black paint coming off the inside lip (this lip is about 1/4 of a millimeter thick and has little impact on the actual EP). Also the EP has a slide mechanism that allows the internal barrel and guts to move up and down thereby creating a fancy eyeguard which can be personalised for each users eye relief. Personally I think that this is a bit of a toss, but have yet to try it to really evaluate its value. However, I did note that there was grease coming out of the slide and would easily be transferred onto other surfaces which don't respond well to grease. The grease obviously helps to make the slide move easily. Bad move I think, but time will tell.

Now if this rain would abate and then I can test both.
Until then, you will have to wait for the second half of this evaluation.

[wavelandscott (Scott)]

Good luck with the eyepieces!

I just dropped my wife and kids off for a trip to the US too...I will be joining them in a couple of weeks where I am expecting to pick up a piece or two of gear as well!

On the list is also a 24 Pan and a 7 mm Pentax XW...

[[1ponders] (Paul)]

I'm sure some over here would be happy to test them for you Paul, if you weather stays bad. Shame about the meade but I'm glad your happy with the Televue.

A word of possible caution about that sliding sleeve. I learnt something last night If its like the sleeve on the 8mm Radians then be careful when you pick it up. Apparently if you pick them up by the sleeve (the Radians) and the sleeve slides it feels like you are dropping the eyepiece and reflex makes you grab for it again. but of course you haven't dropped it the first time, but you do on the second time . I've not had direct experience of this but after talking with Astro-south or mhodson (can't remember which ) last night and viewing his radians I can easily see how this would happen. It may not apply to yours if the setups different but I guess better forewarned.

[iceman (Mike)]

Interesting report so far Paul, look forward to hearing the first light reports and would be glad if you would do a review of either (or both) for the site!

[ving (David)]

got a pic of this sliding sleave? I am having problems picturing it

[rumples riot]

Alright, so I got the scope uncovered tonight and tested both EP's. There was a lot of wind and transparency was not the best. Added to this the seeing was very average for this time of year. Jupiter was located at about 45 degrees from the Western Horizon and would steadily move to setting. I had to work quickly but I got enough time on the 6.7 to get a real impression. Anyway enough of that for now.

Now as expected the panoptic was an absolute delight. I checked out the lagoon and Omega Centauri. Stars were nice and tight all the way to the edge of field. The whole image was very crisp with no flares. The contrast was very good and gives a better view than the 32mm plossel that I have. Given the speed of my scope at f10, this EP works really well to give a reasonably bright image of the nebula clouds without any filters. However when viewing Omega I could clearly resolve stars down to the core. I was extremely impressed by this. Everywhere I looked the stars were sharp and resolved. This was a very good buy, I will not regret buying this one. This gets a 9/10 overall.

For the Meade I wanted to test it against my 9mm Nagler. Not a particularly great comparision EP, but one that would give me some results I could trust. The 9mm has proven itself to be a fantastic performer on planets and that is why I bought the 6.7; for planetary viewing. Surprisingly, the 6.7 handled quite well against the Nagler. First off the 82 degrees of view is simply stunning. The image was bigger of coarse in the 6.7 and with seeing at about 5/10 for Jupiter a surprising amount of detail was visible. I could clearly make out the EQ belts and the Southern and Northern Polar Belts. I could just make out some detail in the EQ band. The contrast was a little better in the Nagler and the image was not as bright in the 6.7 (that could be really good when the planet is at opposition, not too much glare). There was some small amount of curvature in the FOV but not enough to really be distracting. With Jupiter in the Middle of the FOV I could just see at the very edge the fourth moon. That moon was in sharp focus and with no degree of flaring at all. The image was much better than anything a plossel could possibly muster, and I have to say that at nearly half the price this EP is pretty damn good. I am glad that I selected the Meade and look forward to years of service from it. I would need to spend more nights comparing but am confident that it will perform well despite its very small shortcomings. It gets a 8/10 overall and worth the purchase.

BTW I plan on doing a couple of reviews of these EP's but need more time viewing to give a totally fair review of both pieces.