not sure if i had missed it, but what is this ep like. Do you get to use it much on jupiter. It would be a rippa for having a go at antares splitting
Hi David,
I know my name's not Matt, but I have a 5 mm LVW. I'm still comparing it, but so far I give it the nod over a 5 mm Radian. (It's main problem seems to be eyeball reflections.)
As you'd expect the 3.5mm is one for the night's of very good seeing which are in very scant supply here in Canberra
But I knew that when I bought it.
I just wanted a top quality 65 degree FOV high mag (285x) ep in my kit for those few nights when the door's wide open for planet gazing "up close".
To be honest, I've used it once since it arrived a month ago. That's testament to the awful seeing we've had on the east coast for weeks. On that occasion the seeing was no better than 5/10, so I've not had a real chance to push all its buttons. I do, however, love the 20mm eye relief of the LVW range.
Rest assured the moment the conditions allow an opportunity for a fair appraisal I'll post a report
Although I'm still uncertain an 8" is up to the rigours of splitting Antares in anything but the best conditions, compared to your 10"?
Maybe Ving can comment here, being one of our many double lovers working with a scope of the same aperture
I reasonable seeing both my 8" Dobs comfortably split Antares using medium magnification numbers. 120-150X ish is OK, no need to exceed 200X. However, turn the mirror fans off and more often than not (particularly with the solid tube dob), the companion star merges into the primary "mush".
Am going to have another go at Antares with the FS-102, I thought, I had it last year, could see something but wasn't 100% sure, I will be using around 7 - 5mm although I have a 3mm Radian.
the only comparison I can make is between the 6mmLV and the 5mmLVW.
To my eye, the LVW appears to let a little more light through, stars look a little more crisp and it appears to offer sharper images towards the edge of the FOV.
But I'd really need to give myself a bit of time to carry out a more comprehensive side-by-side.
I've never actually switched from one ep to the other on any given night to compare on, say, Jupiter... a few doubles, a nice DSO etc
But you certainly notice the difference when you've got them in hand. The LVWs are huge compared to the LVs. Big bits o' glass.
The eye lens is very comfortably sized on the LVWs. Not that the LV has any problems in this regard. The LVW is just more of a "luxury" ep.
are the 22mm etc of simliar size, or are they up with the 31mm nagler "grenade" size???
gee that pentax looks nice.
Pentax is really starting to capture that "X" factor now. They have had the die hards over the last 12 months, but performance is really coming thru and rightly so.
but i have done sirius! 
