Which 1 eyepiece to buy?

[bobson (Bob)]

Dilemma!
I have Bintel 12” Dob, it came with:
2” 32mm, 1.25” 15mm and 9mm Plossls.

Besides those eyepieces that come with the scope, I also have:

Tele Vue 8mm Plossl and Tele Vue 3x Barlow and 2” Japanese made Barlow.
The 32mm that came with the scope is useless without this Japanese Barlow.

Now, I know you can’t buy just one eyepiece and have it all. But if you were to choose between these:

Tele Vue Nagler 17mm IV (2") $569.00
Tele Vue Nagler 20mm V (2") $659.00
Tele Vue Nagler 22mm IV (2") $679.00

Or

Pentax XW14 XW SMC 14mm Eyepiece $549.00
Pentax XW30 XW SMC 30mm 2" Eyepiece $719.00

Those are the choices, can’t really say why those, but I really like Pentax.
I like 17 mm Nagler too, it would be good as standalone and with Japanese Barlow I would get good 8.5mm. But I have 8mm TeleVUe plossl, but not the same FOV.
At the same time, 14mm Pentax is great standalone and would give me good 4-5mm Barlowed with 3x TeleVue Barlow for Moon and planets.

30mm Pentax sounds as the best choice since alone would give me great wide views of DSO, and nice view with 2” Barlow.

If I had enough to spend I would get 10 and 30 mm Pentax and problem solved but…
Which one to buy? But only one that would be good for both high power and DSO if that is possible Or maybe you have better one to recommend?

Cheers

bob

[Wavytone]

One eyepiece won't really do it all and Barlows are a fairly inferior solution to buying a really decent high-power eyepiece.

First what's the focal ratio of the Dob ? With a short focal ratio newtonian, (at a guess I suspect yours is f/4 or 5) spending a lot on low power eyepieces is misguided because over a wide field (say 30mm or more diameter at the field stop) your scope will have heaps of coma and field curvature degrading much of the field of view, unless you add a corrector that flattens the field and fixes the coma. As you already know your 32mm is useless, probably for this reason, as will be most other long eyepieces.

Where the $ would be useful is a good eyepiece round the 10-15mm mark which when barlowed will give you 4-5mm depending on which Barlow you think is any good.

If you really find you can use 4mm a lot then maybe one day buy one, but I think that is unlikely.

[GrahamL]

I have a 22t4 and 14 xw which cover most all my observing in a 12" f5..both work well .. though the 22 is very heavy and may present some balanceing issues .

30 xw would probably be a good choice for you .. I think they barlow ok If I remember right.. At the very least you'll buy some time to forget about the initial sticker shock and be able to justify another purchase

[dannat (Daniel)]

Bob, what type of viewing do you like to do most? sweeping views, dso, planets? i would probably go either the 30mm pentax or 17mm nagler

[koputai (Jason)]

Hi Bob,
I have the same scope, and I think you're heading in the right direction buying premium eyepieces. I've tried all sorts of cheaper alternatives, and frankly, they're all pretty useless. I must say I have Barlows but in general I don't use them, I don't really like them.
My current lineup of eyepieces I really use in that scope are:
Televue Panoptic 35mm - Awesome eyepiece. Great widefield views, nice and crisp over most of the field.
Televue Nagler 13mm - Best general use eyepiece. Great combination of quality and field.
Televue Nagler 9mm - The best eyepiece for closer views of DSO's, and reasonable on the larger planets.

As far as using your Barlow's and getting in to the 4-5mm region, forget it. There aren't many nights of the year when you can actually use 5mm or less in this scope. I've tried various 5mm eyepieces, including some supposedly good ones, and frankly the views are crap.
I'd really like to try a Nagler or Pentax 7mm.

I'd be going for either the Pentax XW14, Nagler 13, Pentax XW10, or a Nagler 9mm.

Cheers,
Jason.

[bobson (Bob)]

Thanks guys

I forgot to tell you that I also have 20x90 AOE binoculars.

Now thanks to you I narrowed it down:

Tele Vue Nagler 17mm IV (2") $569.00
Pentax XW14 XW SMC 14mm $549.00
Tele Vue Nagler 13mm VI $409.00

Nagler 13mm is hard to refuse, both price and reviews are great.
Pentax 14mm, I really like but its $140 more than Nagler 13.

Can this price difference be justified?

I can’t afford to buy paracorr since it has some field curvature. Review here:
http://www.iceinspace.com.au/42-245-0-0-1-0.html

Nagler 17 is 2”, $160 more then Nagler 13 but bigger FOV.

I think Nagler 13mm is a winner here.

bob

[Wavytone]

Tele Vue Nagler 13mm VI $409.00

Nice compromise between magnification and field of view, comfortable to use, and makes sense with your Barlows - with the x2 Barlow you have 6.5mm, drop in the x3 Barlow and you have 4.3mm.

I really doubt you will ever use the latter combination.

Not sure why but for me 13mm seems to be a sweet spot with eyepieces.

[astroron (Ron)]

I have the original 13mm Nagler which I love, and with a 2x Barlow gives a good field of view and Magnification

[bobson (Bob)]

Well, looks like I am calling Bintel tomorrow to order 13 mm Nagler.

Thanks again

bob

[astroron (Ron)]

Tell them Ron sent you

[bobson (Bob)]

Too late Ron, or is it

I ordered already this morning.
Never mind, next time I'll mention you and ask for discount

cheers mate

[astroron (Ron)]

Good luck with your purchase
One thing you will get is good service from Mike and the boys

[bobson (Bob)]

Ron,

I forgot to tell you, you are going to laugh

Last minute..before I pressed submit button...I changed my mind and ordered 17mm Nagler instead

The reason being I still want Pentax later on, maybe after tax return.
But either 10 or 7mm, 'cos they don't have any issues like 14 and 20mm ones. And then I should be OK for long time I hope

BTW, I just realised I didn't say this in my last post...

bob

[astroron (Ron)]

Bob, I hope to be over your way later on this year, I hope we can catch up and you can show me all your purchases

[bobson (Bob)]

Ron,

No worries mate, you are more then welcome.

cheers

bob

[koputai (Jason)]

Originally Posted by bobson

I changed my mind and ordered 17mm Nagler instead

Not necessarily a bad thing either Bob. It leaves the option open to aquire the 12mm Type IV later on! That would make a nice pair.
Of course, the Ethos 13 gives the best of both worlds as far as mag AND field of view! Where does it stop.........

Cheers,
Jason.

[micko (Michael)]

I recently bought a small new william optics refractor as a grab'n'go scope, and I've been checking out their UWAN eyepieces. The reviews are unanimously positive, and a couple of the independent reviewers who are serious amateurs with years of experience have been unable to separate the UWANs from a comparable nagler. they are considerably cheaper than the TV or Pentax EPs and it seems to me (a relative newbie) that if serious techies have trouble telling them apart I won't do any better, and you could buy 3 of them for the price of one Ethos.

When I went back to my Newt with the UWAN I was absolutely floored by the change from the reasonable quality plossl I had been using. When my next round of gear upgrades is planned, I might end up with several UWANs instead of a nagler...

[bobson (Bob)]

I got my 17mm Nagler yesterday. Its very impressive eyepiece even if you just hold it in your hand. I didn't have a chance to test it properly 'cos of weather. Had a look at the Moon just before night and clouds, and all I can say its magnificient eyepice even under this bad weather and light conditions.

I did have a chance to look through UWAN receantly, good eyepiece, much better then the one that came with my Bintel Dob. The same night I looked through Ethos eyepieces and have to say that Ethos was better. Not the whole lot better, maybe 'cos of wider FOV the images were brighter.

Don't know, it would be the best to have all of them at once to test it before you buy. Have a friend swap them without telling you through which one you are looking and then make a decision which one is the best. The reason I am saying this is 'cos when people say Nagler, Ethos or Pentax they have already created some sort of view or expectation for this eyepieces.

But the fact is you don't see those eyepieces for sale that often as other ones. That means people are happy with them and want to keep them. For instance, I can't say that I ever seen 10mm XW Pentax for sale. And thats one of the reasons its next on my buying list.

Another thing is that those eyepieces don't lose their value, so you can get most of your money back if you decide to sell them.

cheers

bob