Celestron Ultima 65 ED and Regal F-ED 65 (1 Viewer)

Hi all,

how do these two compare? What I'm wondering is:

Is the view through the Regal much better than that through the Ultima? Is the difference great enough to make it worthwhile carrying the extra 700g weight of the Regal?

I am interested in these two because thay are low price, have good press here on BF and have zoom e/ps. I also like the fact that they take astro e/ps so I can play around with a big variety of e/ps should I feel like changing the view.
I currently own Nikon ED82 and 30x DS and I miss having a zoom (I can't get along with the Nikon zoom, fov too narrow and eye-relief no good with my specs on).
If I buy a Celestron I may sell the Nikon and put ther difference towards a trip to Alaska.
Best wishes,
Martin.

Martin Fagg said:

Hi all,

how do these two compare? What I'm wondering is:

Is the view through the Regal much better than that through the Ultima? Is the difference great enough to make it worthwhile carrying the extra 700g weight of the Regal?

I am interested in these two because thay are low price, have good press here on BF and have zoom e/ps. I also like the fact that they take astro e/ps so I can play around with a big variety of e/ps should I feel like changing the view.
I currently own Nikon ED82 and 30x DS and I miss having a zoom (I can't get along with the Nikon zoom, fov too narrow and eye-relief no good with my specs on).
If I buy a Celestron I may sell the Nikon and put ther difference towards a trip to Alaska.
Best wishes,
Martin.

Click to expand...

I considered the Regal before buying the Ultima - 100mm version for digiscoping. The Regal will be better chromatically, though I seriously doubt I would notice the difference. I think the Regal has a more standard eyepiece size (what I was told, anyway). Very pleased with the eyepiece t-thread/t-ring connection. I also wear glasses & can't get on with the zoom e/p without taking them off, but I didn't like the Swarovski wideangle e/p either & that costs most than I paid for the whole 'scope. Probably just me but I didn't like the Zeiss zoom e/p either. Both their fixed e/ps were fine with glasses but not very helpful for my needs. The best price I found was Picstop.

inags said:

I considered the Regal before buying the Ultima - 100mm version for digiscoping. The Regal will be better chromatically, though I seriously doubt I would notice the difference. I think the Regal has a more standard eyepiece size (what I was told, anyway). Very pleased with the eyepiece t-thread/t-ring connection. I also wear glasses & can't get on with the zoom e/p without taking them off, but I didn't like the Swarovski wideangle e/p either & that costs most than I paid for the whole 'scope. Probably just me but I didn't like the Zeiss zoom e/p either. Both their fixed e/ps were fine with glasses but not very helpful for my needs. The best price I found was Picstop.

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Do you mean you can't use the Celestron e/p with your specs on? If so that puts me off quite a bit. I really want to try before I buy but they are not stocked by anyone near me. Perhaps I should just order and hope I like it.
Did you try before you bought? If so, did you think there was any sample variation? Quite a few posters on here mention that Celestron has (or possibly had) quality control issues so there is a great deal of variation on the quality of each individual scope.
Thanks for the Picstop tip. Never heard of them before but they are a fair bit cheaper than anywhere else.

Martin Fagg said:

Do you mean you can't use the Celestron e/p with your specs on? If so that puts me off quite a bit. I really want to try before I buy but they are not stocked by anyone near me. Perhaps I should just order and hope I like it.
Did you try before you bought? If so, did you think there was any sample variation? Quite a few posters on here mention that Celestron has (or possibly had) quality control issues so there is a great deal of variation on the quality of each individual scope.
Thanks for the Picstop tip. Never heard of them before but they are a fair bit cheaper than anywhere else.

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Martin, what I was trying to say is that I can't get on with any zoom eyepiece, including £2.5k of Swarovski ATM80 (tried it out at Warehouse Express -I see you live in Norwich area too).

By attaching my slr, I can use both eyes to look at the LCD screen on the back of the camera.

For what you want, I would go for a quality maker.

Cheers

Peter

Martin,

I may be wrong but I do not believe the Ultima line of scopes accepts the standard 1.25 inch eyepieces. They will accept the Baader Hyperion Zoom ($200) which, from what I have heard, takes the scope up to an entirely higher level of performance. There was a thread on here about it (main spotting scope forum) a year or so ago if I remember correctly.

"They will accept the Baader Hyperion Zoom ($200)"

is that attached via double sided sticky tape? if the scope doesnt take standard size eyepieces, how come this actually fits?

FrankD said:

Martin,

I may be wrong but I do not believe the Ultima line of scopes accepts the standard 1.25 inch eyepieces. They will accept the Baader Hyperion Zoom ($200) which, from what I have heard, takes the scope up to an entirely higher level of performance. There was a thread on here about it (main spotting scope forum) a year or so ago if I remember correctly.

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Hi Frank,
so the Ultimas don't take astro e/ps but the Regal does? That may settle my quandary. I like the idea of having a huge variety of e/ps to play with so it may have to be the Regal.

Having said that, I have just now been looking at the Pentax PF-65ED on the internet. That looks very nice indeed from what I've read. A lot more money mind. I can feel a piece of plastic flexing in my wallet! Oh dear.

I take it there is quite a large gap between the optical performance of the Regall 65 and the Pentax 65. An obvious weight difference, that's for sure.

woodhornbirder said:

"They will accept the Baader Hyperion Zoom ($200)"

is that attached via double sided sticky tape? if the scope doesnt take standard size eyepieces, how come this actually fits?

Click to expand...

Actually, no, no sticky tape. From what I read on here in the thread I referenced previously and from what Henry Link posted the "Synta scopes" that Celestron labels have the outside threads that work with the Baader Hyperion eyepiece. You screw the BH onto the Celestron scope. The Regals have the "more common" twist and lock collar like that found on the Pentax ED series. Any 1.25 inch astro eyepiece will fit. Not all reach infinity focus but a majority of them do. In my experience more astro eyepieces work with the Pentax in comparison to the Celestron ED.

Which leads me to Martin....the optical performance of the Celestron F-ED 65/80 was entirely comparable to the Pentax (comparing their factory supplied zoom to the Pentax 65 with the XW 20 eyepiece) in terms of brightness, CA control, apparent sharpness, etc... The Celestron seemed to have slightly better contrast. Image representation for various astro eyepieces seemed to be better in the Pentax (less edge distortion).

I think either would be a good choice. If money is an issue then the Celestron Ultima ED series would seem like the logical choice but then your choices in eyepieces are fairly restricted (though the Baader seems to be a good choice if you just had to choose one eyepiece). Both the Celestron and the Pentax give you more eyepiece flexibility but you have to decide if each is worth the respective cost.

Hope this helps.

Thanks for your input Frank. I think I'll take a look at the Pentax in a local shop. I'll have to wait until November to check out the Regal though as they are not in this country yet.
I can't find any celestron scopes nearby so I may have to buy on the internet without a trial beforehand.
So.............one last question. Is sample variation a big issue with Celestron or is their quality control better than it was?

I would prefer not to make that broad of a generalization. My experiences with Celestron are as follows....

Celestron 8-24 mm zoom - excellent optics for the $80 price and seems to possess good overall fit and finish

Celestron X-cel ED eyepieces (25 mm, 12.5 mm and 8 mm) - very impressed by the performance of these eyepieces. CA control, color, sharpness, contrast

Celestron Ultima 65 scope (non-ed) - wonderfully lightweight and well put together. Optical quality for the $125 I paid for it was definitely recommendable.

Celestron Ultima DX 8x32 (I had three pairs) - All three were properly aligned with good fit and finish. No complaints

Celestron Regal F-ED 65 - Again, excellent optical performance for the $420 I paid. I would recommend it optically and mechanically. It is noticeably heavier than other 65 mm scopes I have tried.

Celestron Regal F-ED 80 (two of them) - The first was absolutely excellent optically. The second was noticeably inferior optically though everything else seemed to be just as good as the first.

Take what you will from those comments.

Thanks Frank,
sounds reassuring. I look forward to trying out the Regal F-ED 65 when it is available over here.
Best wishes,
Martin.

My Baader Hyperion zoom eyepiece just arrived & it is obviously a very big improvement to original supplied with the Celestron 100ED.

Not used it much yet (just through the window) but it is very good with spectacles.

A trip to Strumpshaw tomorrow I think.

Inags,

Please post your comments on this combination. I remember a very favorable review of the Baader with the Celestron 65 from a few years ago. I would love to see what it does with the 100 mm version.