We have all seen advice that teleview plossls and Celestron Ultima type eyepieces represent top of the range for a 50 degree field of view at reasonably affordable prices.
What about others not as expensive? What would you recommend to someone on a budget who wants to buy a few extra plossls ?
The Andrews plossls I got with my GS dob are shockers compared with the "silvertop" plossls I got with a Saxon dob. Comparing the 10mm silvertop to a 12.5mm Ultima I was hard pressed to see a difference, whereas it was instantly apparent that the Andrews plossls were inferior. Silly me sold the silvertops with the saxon dob.
If I knew where to get silvertop plossls of the same type I would happily recommend them to others.
Which reasonably priced plossls would you recommend to others?
lf these are what your talking about then l think they are available at Kirk's cameras in Ringwood ph-98704644 fax-98706129 and talk to Paul, l was given a couple of these as extras when l bought my 10" skywatcher.
I dont need any for myself. I'm just trying to get some discussion about which are the good budget eyepieces out there, as there are certainly some bad ones in the market.
I only own one GSO plossl the 15mm; it's a wonderful Ep to use in my Lx90 at f/10 crisp and clear with good eye relief. I didn't like using it in the 12" dob at f/5, but one night I barlowed it to view Saturn at 200x and was very impressed. Maybe I let the scope cool down longer or the night was just exceptional or the barlow made a difference I don't know but sometimes you need to give things a second chance. I would recommend GSO plossls for longer focal ratio scopes, I will buy more eventually.
I think the GSO plossls I have are quite good. They're not crisp right to the edge, but I didn't expect them to be. They have quite good contrast and are nice and sharp on-axis with good eyerelief, no kidney beaning etc.
Having said that, I haven't done any side by side comparisons with other (good or bad) plossls so take my opinion as you will.
Maybe someone else has some medium + good quality plossls of the same focal length and can do a review/shootout for the reviews section of the site?
I know that my series 500 plossls aren't the best. My 9mm is quite good but it isn't a series 500. It has no brand name, but says it is Multi-coated and is the only one with a roll down eye-cup. It performs quite well.
I do want to replace the series 500's so anything said in here will be of help.
I will be barlowing My 2" SV 30mm so I won't need another 15mm.
With ultimas very close second and Parks gold series very good also.
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