Are Televue that good?

[taxman (Matt)]

Part of my new clean-up has resulted in my decision to get rid of my 8" bintel dob and use the money for a good eyepiece for my main scope. I never really use the dob, favoring my Megrez 90 which is set up by the back door instead.

I am an absolute dillettente at this but nonetheless, I really enjoy my style (wave around at low powers, find a smudge and zoom in) of astronomy.

As my highest power EP is a 6mm WO SP, zooming in is only around 100x so with my Christmas money, I got an 8mm radian and 2x barlow for higher powered views.

For the hunting part, I am thinking of setting my sights on a 27mm Panoptic which would give me 23x with a TFOV of around 3 degrees. But I already have a 25mm WO SWAN which gives me roughly the same magnification and TFOV.

Is anyone able to tell me whether a beginner will see any noticeable difference between the Williams Optics and Panoptic eyepieces?

Also, as a bit of a footnote, is $400 about right for a barely used 8" dob with a colimating tool as well as 6, 9, 15, 25 1.25" plossls and a 27mm 2" GSO wideview?

[erick (Eric)]

Originally Posted by taxman

Also, as a bit of a footnote, is $400 about right for a barely used 8" dob with a colimating tool as well as 6, 9, 15, 25 1.25" plossls and a 27mm 2" GSO wideview?

Yes.

[koputai (Jason)]

Hmm, I've bought two Bintel (GSO) 8" Dobs, one complete, with eyepieces for $200, the other one just the OTA with finder for $150. $400 might be a bit steep. Nothing to stop you trying though!

Cheers,
Jason.

[mozzie (Peter)]

televue eyepieces are the best in my opion nice clear view all the way to the edge they are a life time eyepiece remember you pay for what you get
mozzie

[Smirnoff]

I'll put my hands up for the TV Powermate. These are absolutely fantastic and sometimes I get the impression that they actually improve the performance of my eyepieces! Their standard barlows are great aswell, but the Powermate seems to outperform them.

[Miaplacidus (Brian)]

Mmmmm... I prefer the Pentax XWs myself, when it comes to the shorter FLs. But then, I like eye relief, and I can live with a narrower filed.

Mind you, if I scored one for my birthday, I wouldn't be complaining...

[rmcpb (Rob)]

Before you part with your hard earned go to a viewing night for your local astro society and see if you can try some of the top end occulars. In this bracket you are talking serious money so I would advise that you take it easy and try before you buy.

[space oddity]

Different scopes work with different eyepieces. Best to try different eyepieces on your scope to guage the best. Having said all that, you cannot really go too far wrong with the TeleVues. I do recall surprising the %#&% out of my son when I slipped on an Ethos 13mm (which he did not know that I had bought when the $A was at its peak) and trained on Tarantula - he could not figure out why the view was so sharp! Looking forward to a contest between my beloved Pentax XW 7mm and an 8mm Ethos.

[Satchmo]

Originally Posted by taxman

For the hunting part, I am thinking of setting my sights on a 27mm Panoptic which would give me 23x with a TFOV of around 3 degrees. But I already have a 25mm WO SWAN which gives me roughly the same magnification and TFOV.
Is anyone able to tell me whether a beginner will see any noticeable difference between the Williams Optics and Panoptic eyepieces?

I'd say you'd gain little on the 27mm Panoptic. Pans are good at providing sharper edge stars on faster telescopes but at F7 of the Megrez 90, I'm sure you would see little difference at the field edge between a Pan and WO. The apparent field of the WO is slighly wider at 72 degree.

The short focal length and small aperture of the Megrez 90 will really limit what you are able to see as you increase your observing skills . Why not put the $400 from the 8"towards a quality 6" Maksutov or some other quality scope that suits your love of compact grab 'n go ideology?