Which 5mm Eyepiece?

[PhilW]

I've owned both of them, & sold the Tak LE 7.5 in favour of the XW 7. The Tak is an excellent eyepiece, but the greater comfort & FOV of the XW won out for me too.

One slightly cheaper alternative: you might be able to find a used Pentax XL 7mm (the model that preceded the XW). The FOV is slightly narrower at 65 degrees, but a fine eyepiece nonetheless.

[skies2clear]

Hi Wren,

a lot of good stuff already said about the XW's which is true. Given planetary is not your main concern and you like comfortable widefield eyepieces, you would be better served with the 5XW, or 7XW if your seeing conditions are often poor. In my case, I use the 5mm a lot with a similar scope and find no problems at all. This "trio" of XW's are excellent partners.

Since you asked about the Tak LE's, I also have extensively used the Tak LE 5 and 7.5 and have a pretty good idea of the differences, which may not necessarily agree with others opinions. The main difference, apart from cost (less), the Taks have a narrower field of view and shorter eye relief (about 12mm I think) which might still be comfortable for you.....not too sure though! In terms of performance, they are sharp across the entire field of view, as is the 5XW and 7XW. When looking at the moon, I feel the Taks give less false colour than the XW's and a "whiter" or cooler colour tone. They are very sharp eyepieces that resolve very well, though I note there has been some comment of slight scattering caused by an internal reflection, though I have never found this to be an issue. Apparantly this can be easily fixed by placing a suitable baffle into the field lens end of the eyepiece. When doing critical planetary observations, I personally prefer the Taks ever so slightly to the XW's, but for most other general viewing, the XW's get the nod wth excellent light transmission and a wider corrected field. Obviously the XW's will allow a longer observing time before you have to nudge the scope again. These comments are not intended to show the Taks as superior to the XW's, only to show both are truly excellent, but slightly different. Of course, there are other specialised "planetary" contenders which are generally not suitable to your needs that edge out both of these.
Given what you have said so far, it safe to say, I'd probably stick with the XW's.

Clear skies
Nick

[PhilW]

The LE 7.5mm has 9mm of eye relief, compared to the XW's 20mm.

[skies2clear]

Yeah I was wrong about the 12 mm eyerelief of the Tak LE 5 and 7.5 ED's. They are in fact 10mm and AFOV is 52 deg, so noticably less than the 70 deg AFOV of the XW's.

[Arthur Alchin (Arthur Alchin)]

Birthday present last week, Wife bought me a Televue 5mm Radian last week: cost a motsa, have yet to try it out, has adjustable eye relief but it looks and sounds good.

Arthur Alchin

[Greenswale (Wren)]

Begins to look like I will have a bit of a Pentax XW family! I hope that Santa is nice to me.....!!

Thanks for the info, again.

- Wren

[matt]

In its price range...I'd have to agree the 5mm Vixen LVW is a great option.

Having said that, I am also a Pentax XW owner (7 and 10mm) and love these eyepieces.

It really comes down to budget.

[Dave47tuc (David)]

Something else to think on is the Pentax XL range.

These are very nice eyepieces and about 50% of the cost of a new XW.

Shop around there are a few local people who mite sell you one Tak66
is one person to contact. I got a 7 mm XL of him and very happy with price and the EP is like brand new.

XL are not 50% of the XW more like just as good or just a tad off.
Most noticeable is a little less field, but much easier on the skyrocket.