Eyepiece suggestion for Celestron (1 Viewer)

[Calhoun213]

I currently own a Celestron 80mm Regal M2 that is equipped with a 17mm Baader Hyperion. When I was in Yellowstone last month there were several times when I was wishing for more magnification. I was thinking about getting the 10mm version of the Baader. Anyone have this combo or is there anything else that you may recommend? Thanks.

 

[Cosme]

How much is your budget?

 

[Calhoun213]

I would like to stay under $200. I believe the Baader would run $150 or less.

 

[woodhornbirder]

take a peek at astromart.com

take a look in this thread....

http://www.birdforum.net/showthread.php?t=237700

some good wide angle eps mentioned!

dont forget the barlow route!

 

[woodhornbirder]

oops double post

 

[woodhornbirder]

found one for ya!

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Celestron...s-Telescope-Eyepiece-1-25-93432-/221786632866

bargain!

worth a try )

also a good midrange work horse.....

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Celestron-12mm-1-25-X-Cel-LX-Telescope-Eyepiece-93424-/221820967067

sorted

celestron brought out some eps last year i think, but i dont know if they are any good. specs similar to the baader eps, but they might be gamble to buy one.....perhaps do some research on them yourself, and get one in the future!

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Celestron...ual-and-AstroPhoto-2-1-25-93442-/391194976135

 

[Cosme]

This is slight above your budget, however take a look, 100 afov, not bad, this TS eyepieces got good reviews in cloudy nights

http://www.teleskop-express.de/shop...ies-10-mm-1-25--Xtreme-Weitwinkel-Okular.html

 

[Calhoun213]

I appreciate the comments and suggestions. I had thought about the barlow route as an inexpensive solution but after a little research there were too many comments about barlows not working very well with spotting scopes. I would love to find a good, reasonably priced zoom but worry about compatibility as when I first bought the scope I initially thought of the Baader zoom but it apparently it has problems of achieving focus at infinity. The WO zoom mentioned in the link gets positive reviews but it may be discontinued and again I am not sure about compatibility. I had only a brief experience with the Celestron zoom and it was OK but thought there was probably something better in the same price range. Any suggestions on a good zoom that would definitely work with the Regal M2?

I am happy with the Baader 17mm but when watching wolves and bears in Yellowstone I kept wanting more magnification. If sticking with a fixed power at this point leaning towards either the Baader, or a Celestron Luminos or Ultima in the 10 to 13mm range.

 

[mayoayo]

I own a BST explorer 12mm that I used on the Regal 65 and also on my Kowa 823 ,..on the Regal granted 30x and around 37x on the Kowa..it is now permanently mounted on my Nikon ED50 and the view gives nothing away to Nikon fieldscope eyepieces costing 4 times more..It works great in all of the scopes and for 50 or 60 dollars must be one of the best deals around.....I think 12mm would push the power of your scope enough ,but still be bright and will show an open view...60° is not super wide,but definitely all i need,with good edge performance..I used it a lot for sketching with the Kowa,and 37x was right on .

 

[mayoayo]

By the way..i thought the Celestron regal zoom was pretty good optically...Wider view than most zooms and very sharp...Did you buy your scope without the zoom?....The Baader zoom is a nice eyepiece,,I adapted one for the Kowa 823 and its a real workhorse now..it is a very wide eyepiece at high power..It has to be modified to reach focus in most scopes,but could be worth it

 

[Calhoun213]

I bought the Regal with the fixed extended eye relief eyepiece. My experience was a brief experience looking through someone else's Celestron at a bird sanctuary. I wasn't overly impressed at the higher range of the zoom. I maybe selling it short as it was on a cheaper tripod and the most of the other scopes I was comparing it with were more expensive.

 

[DRodrigues]

small goog barlow

For a small, good and inexpensive barlow have a look at http://www.pt-ducks.com/cr-telescopes.htm#Test_of_a_1.6x_magnifier

See also http://www.birdforum.net/showthread.php?t=249576

 

[JakeM]

Hello Calhoun213. i have a Celestron Regal 80 mm, but the previous version to the M2. i used a Baader 13 mm eyepiece for a while, but also wanted more magnification. i opted for a 1.9x barlow. it works very well, excellant resolution, but of course, noticeably dimmer. i have used this combination exclusively for the past year and a half. i have tried the Luminous 10 mm. it was out-performed by the 13 mm Baader. Good luck with your choice. jake.

 

[Calhoun213]

Jake, which barlow did you buy? Thanks.

 

[JakeM]

Burgess Optical. sorry for the late reply, jake.

 

[gcole]

Hello Calhoun213. i have a Celestron Regal 80 mm, but the previous version to the M2. i used a Baader 13 mm eyepiece for a while, but also wanted more magnification. i opted for a 1.9x barlow. it works very well, excellant resolution, but of course, noticeably dimmer. i have used this combination exclusively for the past year and a half. i have tried the Luminous 10 mm. it was out-performed by the 13 mm Baader. Good luck with your choice. jake.

I have also used the Burgess 1.9 barlow with a Pentax XW20 eyepiece on a Pentax 65 EDA II spotter but with no noticeable dimming. The Barlow is really compact. Even with this combo the XW20 is still pretty bright/sharp. ... gwen

 

[Josh Exmoor]

I've been contemplating a similar move, OP. I'm currently using my Regal M2 80mm with a 16mm Orion Edge-On Flat Field Eyepiece (Rebrand of this one) which has been great, but I also wanted something with a little more reach. I was looking for something in the 9-11mm range (10mm would be 48x), but a Dual ED 8mm eyepiece (60x) popped up on Cloudy Nights for a good price so I bit. I'll let you know how how it turns out.

I was really interested in the Celestron Luminos 10mm, but the limited eye relief made me cautious. My existing eyepiece is only 60 degree FOV and feels wide as heck so I'd be very curious what 80+ degrees would look like.

It's a huge shame that so few spotting scope manufacturers use standard 1.25 eyepiece mounts (Celestron and Pentax only as far as I'm aware).

edit: 16mm not 166mm.

 

[woodhornbirder]

Dual ED 8mm eyepiece

an orion clone? am guessing this was about $40 ? or was it a ....`BST explorer 12mm` type?

should work ok in good light, about 55deg fov though.

`the limited eye relief made me cautious.` alot of the eps with over 70deg fov tend to suffer from low eye relief.

Theres a few exceptions, but they will leech the dosh from your wallet in a big way!!

 

[Josh Exmoor]

Dual ED 8mm eyepiece

an orion clone? am guessing this was about $40 ? or was it a ....`BST explorer 12mm` type?

should work ok in good light, about 55deg fov though.

`the limited eye relief made me cautious.` alot of the eps with over 70deg fov tend to suffer from low eye relief.

Theres a few exceptions, but they will leech the dosh from your wallet in a big way!!

Yep, same eyepiece as the BST Explorer with different branding. I paid about $40 shipped for it so the risk is pretty low if I don't like it.

 

[Josh Exmoor]

I received the 8mm Dual ED eyepiece today. I didn't have time to go birding with it so full impressions will have to wait, unfortunately. Compared to my 16mm eyepiece things seemed less sharp than I was hoping for, unfortunately. It was a hot day in the late afternoon though so conditions were far from ideal. At one point I swapped eyepieces while pointed at a sign with very small text about 100 yards away. I could barely read it with the 8mm eyepiece, but I could actually still read it with the 16mm. I'm curious to see if it makes distant seabirds more identifiable or simply "bigger" if that makes sense.

While doing research today I discovered that Celestron sells a Ultima Dual eyepiece that's basically the same as the Hyperions, but a little cheaper. There 10mm might be worth looking into.