Vixen eyepieces - LV, SLV and SSW

[Wavytone]

In case anyone is interested, now that I have some LV's (25,10,5mm) and SLV's (25, 12, 6,4mm) and one SSW (14mm) and a chance to try them on some bright stars, Mars and the Moon, a few quick remarks.

The scopes I'm using are an APM 70mm f/6.7 quadruplet flat-field APO, and APM 130mm f/7 triplet APO.

In both the LV's are good but not perfect - all 3 appear to have a tad of chromatic error off-axis, showing a hint of yellow around the limb of the first quarter moon. Bright stars off-axis likewise show a hint. I'll have to wait for a star party to check this in a newtonian but I'm fairly sure this is not from the APO objectives.

In case you're wondering, a few seconds use shows the SLV's are not just the LV optics in a new barrel. Although the apparent field of the SLV's is similar (around 50 degrees) they are distinctly superior to the LV's showing perfect colour correction and tack sharp images to the field stop. I was happily watching mars float past edge to edge at 225X in the 130mm scope, and same in the 70mm. While I was at first skeptical about the eyecup on the SLV's it turns out to be very comfortable - much more so than the rubber cup on the LV's.

The coatings in the SLV and SSW are also excellent, handling the first-quarter moon and bright stars perfectly without ghosting or flaring, and distinctly better contrast than the LV's.

The SSW 14mm is also extremely well corrected like the SLV's. With a claimed 83 degree apparent FoV putting it up against various other eyepieces will make an interesting comparison later when i have a chance to try these on the same scopes.

In short the SLV and SSW eyepieces are a good match for refractors or SCT's and are midrange cost-wise (significantly less than Televue equivalents).However I would hesitate to recommend them to users of fast newtonians (under f/5) as the field curvature may not match these scopes.

Might get round to a more extensive comparison when i have time to make it to a star party.

[mental4astro (Alexander)]

Interesting read, Wavy.

I'd be keen to try out your EPs in my C8 and Newts and see how the image from each EP turns out.

I'd be keen to have you check out the entire line of the current iteration of TMB Planetary Type II's I've just got my hands on. All 10 of them. I've had limited time with them due to the fickle nature of getting work, seeing and conditions to all line up. What I've been able to see so far is they are all primarily designed for refractors, a few doing OK in Newts, some NOT for Newts, and a couple that are absolute cherries in Newts! I'm slowly working my way through the lot in a couple of tests I'm putting them through.

I had the chance to compare the 2.5mm TMB with a 2.5mm XO Pentax that I tried both in an f/4 Newt and an ED80 refractor - HOLLY MOLLY! BOTH are blooming brilliant in both scope types! I was expecting the TMB "clone" to crap itself next to the Pentax - not at all. The $60 EP went blow for blow with the $500 EP.

Also lent to me was the 5mm XO stable mate - that piece is certainly for refractors only. And an absolute crackerjack in the ED80, but a let down in the f/4 Newt. Not surprising really, having being designed for refractors in the first place for the Japanese market.

All this is just as an example of how even within a model line of eyepieces, not all will perform the same way between scope types, and how there can be individual pieces that will surprise when used in the "wrong" scope type.

I'm curious to know how the other Vixen SSW pieces perform in Newts too. Might be a cherry or two in that line up for Newts,