Vixen LVW's

[iceman (Mike)]

Who owns any of these? In particular, around the 20-25mm focal length?

I'm wondering how these perform in a fast scope (f/5).

I sold my 22pan because I was too critical of the edge performance, so I'm looking for something that may perform better at the edge, without buying a nagler for over $500 because that's not an option.

Steve I remember you saying something about looking through one at Snake Valley?

If anyone owns one of these and is going to SPSP at the end of the month, i'd love to test one out in my scope if you don't mind...

Thanks

[matt]

Mike

The Vixen LVW 22mm has garnered some very favourable reviews.

No doubt you've seen Steve's (janoskiss) comments in the "your favourite eyepiece) thread???

I'm seriously looking at making it my next EP purchase.

All the reviews of this EP are very good.

[janoskiss (Steve H)]

Let me recycle my post from the fave EP thread:

The 22mm LVW is brilliant. In f5 and f6, sharper near the edge than a 19mm Panoptic. Even Stu who is a big Pano fan agreed when we were comparing EPs at the recent Snake Valley camp. The Pano might be sharper on axis, but given the difference in magnification, it's hard to say. I used to own the 21mm Stratus (LVW clone) and the original 22mm is a lot better at f6. (OTOH I found the 8mm LVW very similar to the 8mm Stratus on after a quick look.)

Mike, I wish we could have compared with the 22mm Pano, but Stu sold his.

[iceman (Mike)]

Stu's 22Pan was sold to me, which I've now sold back to the original owner

Rod has a 22 Pan still, so if I can get hold of a 22mm LVW at SPSP, I can do a side by side comparision (and a review!).

[ving (David)]

Originally Posted by iceman

Stu's 22Pan was sold to me, which I've now sold back to the original owner

.

did you make a profit?

[ausastronomer (John Bambury)]

Mike,

I have also used them both at F5 and Steve is spot on in his assesment. The 22mm Vixen LVW has better edge correction than the 22mm Pan but is not quite as sharp on axis and is down a little in light transmission. Based on my knowledge of your eyepiece preferences, I think you will like the 22mm Vixen LVW, but as always try one if you can. The 22mm Vixen LVW is an outstanding eyepiece IMO.

CS-John B

[cjmarsh81]

I would be very interested in the results if you do compare the Vixen LVW beside a panoptic.

[janoskiss (Steve H)]

You can read them in John's post right above yours, CJ.

[cjmarsh81]

Yes I did read that . I am interested in getting a few opinions though.

[Dave47tuc (David)]

Originally Posted by ving

did you make a profit?

Please

[Starkler (Geoff)]

Hmm what attributes to trade ....

The 22mm panoptic IS sharp, and when barlowed mops the floor with the 12mm nagler type 4 in this regard.

Loss of light transmission would concern me as I would use ep's in this focal range for finding and viewing large extended objects eg galaxies.

The vixen does have a nice Pentax like eye relief however.

[Dave47tuc (David)]

Originally Posted by iceman

Stu's 22Pan was sold to me, which I've now sold back to the original owner
.

Only 1 guess

I would like to see if the lvw is better than the pano. But not in a F5 scope. If Daniel comes viewing this way some time I mite see how they go in Apo's and my scope.
I bet everyone who looks will have a different opinion.
Or can't see any difference.

Personaly I don't think you could go wrong with either eyepiece. Both very good.

look foward to what you write up Mike