Eyepiece Selection?

[Kurt A. Casby]

Greetings All,

I am looking for some free advice again, got any?

For years I have been using a Meade Super Wide 40mm eyepiece as my starting/wide field eyepiece in my 16-inch f/10 scope. As it provides about 100 power, along with about as wide a field as one can get with this scope at its native focal ratio, it has been a very useful eyepiece. Many nights, it ends up being the only eyepiece I use all night.

I am, however, looking for a replacement and thought that I should seek advice on other alternatives. I still want about 40mm and a wide field so I am considering the following:

1) Replacement Meade Super Wide 40mm (on sale now as they are discontinued)

2) Meade series 5000 Super Wide 40mm (the reason the other is discontinued)

3) Pentax 40mm XW

4) Televue 41mm Panoptic

5) Any others?

I have read what reviews I could find, and the Meade seems to come in last in all of them! All of these have enough eye-relief, and any would most likely satisfy me. They are all expensive, however, so I though I might try to pick the one I want and buy it, instead of buying them all and picking the one I want. Any opinions out there?

Thanks,
Clear Skies,
Kurt

PS: As an aside, I can report with certainty, for your edification, that the Meade 40mm Super Wide eyepiece can only be dropped so many times on a carpeted plywood floor before things start to rattle inside a little. Just FYI.

[Deane Clark]

I did some research into the same problem just about the time the 41 Pan and 40 XW came out. I saw (but did not view through) the 41 Pan and the 40 Pentax XW at Astrofest two years ago, and if I had to buy one, I'd pick the Pentax.

I wanted to like the Panoptic, but what turned me off was the silly eyecup "adjustment", which is to basically unscrew the top like you are taking the eyepiece apart. The Pentax at least has their "twist up" eyecup, which is a much better system. The only downside of the Pentax I can think of is that it does not actually have an eyecup which blocks light from the side. The adjustable top is rubberized, but it doesn't flair at the top. It actually curves inward. This could be a problem if you have to use it in a light polluted environment. I've noticed that my 35 Panoptic shows annoying reflections if I'm using something like an OIII filter and there's stray light coming in from the moon or a street light. (The 35's eyecup is not adjustable at all.) The Panoptic has TV's normal flexible rubber eyecup on top of the ring you unscrew to adjust it.

I assume the reviews of the Panoptic and Pentax are similarly glowing when it comes to sharpness and other optical qualities? I haven't looked for a while.

Re: Rattling eyepieces
I notice the chrome barrels on some eyepieces can sometimes loosen, and allow a rattle. Usually just a twist to tighten it fixes this. (But you probably thought to try that already.)

[Starforce2]

stop screwing off

Mine rattles too, I've accedently stepped on an eyepeice once or twice. luckily I didn't damage anything.