I've posted this as a new thread so those who are interested can find it and read this easily.
I purchased a Baader Hyperion ep in 17mm calibre 5 days ago, on the last day of Astrofest - but due to a lot of cloud that night and every night since it has had almost no use yet. DOHHH !!
Prior to this I had ordered an Orion Stratus in 8mm, but delivery had been delayed due only to supply issues with stock coming from the US. Naturally, this ep also arrived today with the sky still in full cloud cover.
I now have these 2 sweet ep's to use and compare: both have a 68 degree field of view, both have reputations as being good performers, and excellent value for money. I am VERY anxiously waiting for a chance to put them both through their paces, and hopefully this coming Saturday night (still very near new moon) will be clear and cloudless.
I can say already that these 2 "brands" of ep almost certainly DO come from the very same assembly line. The similarities are many, and I mean MANY, but there ARE differences even on a quick external inspection.
The Orion has a single piece eyecup rubber while the Hyperion is a 2 piece affair, although it doesn't look like 2 pieces. The Hyperion also has a threaded section on the upper end (cleanly concealed under the rubbers) to allow for direct mounting of cameras, etc. In fact the Hyperion advertising makes a big deal about these threads and how much direct weight they can support.
The Stratus does not have this threaded section at all, but as I'm not into astro-photography that doesn't make any difference for my purposes. If you were keen on the photography aspects of these ep's maybe the extra dollars for the Hyperion would be worth while - yes, they are more expensive, between $30 and $60, depending on what you buy and where.
[Side note: I got both of these for what I consider to be good prices - the Stratus with $10 postage, the Hyperion without, ended up costing me exactly the same, although the Hyperion price was part of a "package deal" price.]
I have read that the Hyperion has darker coatings on the lenses - well I'll have a better look in good sunlight sometime soon, but so far I haven't noticed any difference in the colour or intensity of the coatings.
Both of these ep's are designed in such a way that they can be used in a 1.25" focuser, but they can both be placed directly into a 2" focuser as well due to clever body design. These ep's are both an 8 element design with all glass to air surfaces fully coated
[This paragraph now edited] However there's a twist ... unscrew the 1.25" 'leg' of each of these ep's (incorrect: the Baader
can be unscrewed as described, but although the Orion has the same "seam gap" in the same place it does NOT unscrew the same way) and you have removed a 2 element "barlow like" portion of the ep, which turns the remaining ep (6 element design, 2" barrel only) into a lower mag, wider fov ep. The "barlow" bit would appear to have a mag factor of something like 1.5 to 1.8 ..... I haven't had a chance to really work that out yet.
More to come after I've taken a few pics of the ep's themselves, and had a chance to compare them when it counts - in the scope, under a dark sky.
