Pentax 14 mm "Long story"

[janoskiss (Steve H)]

Great news, Mike! Looking forward to the review.

[ausastronomer (John Bambury)]

Originally Posted by janoskiss

Add the LVWs to your list too, if you haven't already. The 22mm in particular should be superb in your scope. It has some coma-fixing field-sharpening built-in magic that not even naglers and panos can compete with in an f5 Newt.

Actually I just found out the Denkmeier eyepiece I recently used was in fact the 21mm and they have never made an 18mm, which is what I thought I was using. The old fellow who owned it got his wires crossed.

It is one of the best, if not the best, 1.25" eyepiece I have used in this focal length and marginally superior optically to the 22mm Vixen LVW IMO for about the same money. Another upside is that it is much smaller and lighter than the 22mm Vixen LVW (1/2 the size and weight). The 21mm Denkmeier eyepiece would run out around $AUS 350 imported direct from the USA. I am not sure if they are available from an Australian dealer yet and at what price, however, I will check with Daniel from Frontier Optics who does sell the Denkmeier Binoviewers.

The 21mm Denkmeier eyepiece is very small, light and compact at 7oz, has 20mm of eye-relief combined with a good sized eye-lens and very sharp optics. The downside is they are only available in 2 focal lengths (21mm and 14mm) due to the power switch on the Denkmeier Binoviewer giving multiple magnification options with each eyepiece focal length making a large number of different focal lengths superfluos.

I intend to buy one for myself and cost doesn't come into this equation.

CS-John B

[RapidEye]

Originally Posted by ausastronomer

I think you have hit the nail on the head here Geoff. Americans probably provide 90% or more of the ONLINE astronomy community and 80% of those 90% are about as patriotic as it gets, when it comes to supporting a home grown and home owned company. The majority of them don't have a clue that the Televue eyepieces are now manufactured off shore in south east Asia and have been for several years.

Well you can see from my Location tag - I've got a different Point Of View on this
I honestly doubt that you'll find many people willing to shell out the $$$ for a Nagler that believe Uncle Al hand grinds and assembles those EP's out in his lil' ol' shop The people that collect that level of EP are quite a bit more informed than the average dolt that wanders into a camera shop to buy a scope.

For me it was a pretty easy choice - eye relief, eye relief, oh, and yeah, eye relief!!! I know I could have gone with a Radian, but that wider FOV, and heftier EP fit my needs better. The bigger assembly that the Pentaxes have are much more resistant to fogging.

I think someone earlier hit it better: advertising! Uncle Al shells out a LOT of money in the US publications for pretty full page ads. A lot of the major retailers also take out big ads and their TV gear usually gets center stage.

Pentax??? I've never seen an ad from them.

Are we all a bunch of sheep, only willing to buy what has the prettiest ads? No - but you can't deny advertising works: why else is does XXXX spring for those big signs around the football stadium

I've got 4 XW's right now: 7mm, 10mm, 14mm, and 20mm. I am going to add the 5mm, probably later this year. Heck, I might even go crazy and toss a 3.5mm and/or 30mm into the order (moment of weakness honey - honest, I couldn't stop myself). Are they the best??? I don't care - they SUIT MY NEEDS BEST!