ED 2 Series EPs

[asimov (John)]

Ummm. Anyone got anything good to say about these?

http://www.aoe.com.au/eyepieces.html

[iceman (Mike)]

Why ED-2 and not just ED? Are they the same as the ED ones for sale at Andrews? (they look the same).

They are rebadged Orion Epic ED (http://www.scsastro.co.uk/it040022.htm), and to be honest, the ones I tried from Andrews weren't any better than my (cheaper) GSO plossls.

I found the 20mm eyerelief to be a bit much, and it was difficult to find a comfortable position for my eye - a lot of blackouts and kidney beaning. I also experienced a lot of internal reflections on bright stars.

HTH.

[dhumpie]

I have a used 5mm Celestron X-Cel and I think they are similar to the ED 2's (Orion's, Andrew's etc.). Pretty good for the money and the tones are distinctly more "natural" than my other ep's (probably as a result of the ED components...there are two by the way hence the ED 2 label). Eye relieve is huge (and it is good for me as I wear glasses while observing), FOV is an acceptable 55 degrees (not as small as the Plossl's) and baffling seems to be light years ahead of the Expanse ep's. And since it is a barlowed formula there is little if any edge of field distortion. The views at the ep are also quite bright in comparison to other Plossl ep's due to the multi coatings (very nicely applied). While these are no Radian substitutes, they perform remarkably well in my Orion 80ST and my C6 (both f/5 scopes!) for the price.

Hope that helps.

Darren