Orion Stratus

[Scoper (Malcolm)]

Morning all,

After many weeks I'm still agonising over eyepieces. Have finally decided on a 13mm Orion Stratus for DSO's and an 8mm Teleview plossl for planets. Phoned Bintel and the nice bloke there was very helpfull. Does anyone have experience with the Stratus line of eyepieces: contrast,sharpness, off axis performance? Was thinking of Meade series 5000 but they're apparently not terrific off axis. Am on a limited budget; have a 10" f/5 and an 8" f/7.4.

Appreciate your opinions, does this sound like a good idea or am I being a right twizzle.
Cheers
Malcolm

[ausastronomer (John Bambury)]

Hi Malcolm,

I have used a couple of the Orion Stratus Eyepieces, the 13mm and the 17mm I think. I rate them very highly. They are a small notch below the premium offerings from Televue and Pentax but for they price they are easily the best choice for those needing good eye-relief with a generous FOV on a limited budget.

Assuming both your scopes are dobs and undriven, I would give some thought to getting the 8mm Stratus as opposed to the 8mm TV Plossl. The on axis performance level of the Stratus, while very good, is a small notch behind the TV Plossl. However, it has a much more generous FOV and longer eye-relief making it infinitely more comfortable to use for long periods.

I highly recommend the Stratus at this price level, They are clearly superior to any of the cheaper Chinese/Taiwanese offerings.

CS-John B

[janoskiss (Steve H)]

I'll second John's recommendation on getting the 8mm Stratus instead of TV plossl. The 8mm PL has painfully short eye relief. The 13mm Stratus also makes for a very nice and comfy planetary EP for a typical Dob in a good barlow (e.g., Orion Deluxe, Televue). The very similar (some say slightly better) Hyperion EPs are worth considering also. I noticed that MyAstroshop has started selling them recently.

You might also like to consider the similarly priced 8.5mm Pentax XF. Compared with Stratus you get pros: better contrast, sharpness and brightness (but the Stratus is already v. good), no astigmatism at extreme edge of FOV; cons: slightly reduced FOV and comfort (due to superior eyecup on Stratus).

The Meade 5000 Plossls (i.e., the 14mm and 26mm I compared) with a smaller 60 degree FOV exhibit somewhat more near-edge astigmatism in fast scopes than the Stratus EPs. The shorter focal lengths of the meades are nowhere near as comfortable either.

[mick pinner]

when l first bought my Stratos 8mm from Steve ( Janoskiss ) l was very critical of it's performance in my f/10 SCT however, after quite a bit of observing l have changed my mind somewhat, some ep's just need a little getting used to l suppose. in my W.O. ZS 80 this is a great ep very sharp and flat field, also by unscrewing the bottom barlow section it will give you a slightly wider field with less magnification.

[Scoper (Malcolm)]

Many thanks to you all for your help. Will take on board your advice about the 8mm stratus instead of the Teleview. Will also have to look at the Pentax XF series as well, didn't know about these. Is there a retail outlet for them in Oz? Can only find the more expensive XW series.

Thanks once again
Malcolm

[janoskiss (Steve H)]

Any local dealer who sells XW should be able to get XFs, which go for 1/2 the price of the XWs -- although for a one-off you will probably pay more (which is why I bought mine from a US dealer). XFs are a fairly new product so it may take some time for Oz dealers to make them part of their regular lineup. The more people ask for them the more likely it is to happen.