Well, I just pulled the trigger on the new WO zoom. WO was selling them on ebay for 199 plus 19 for shipping so I bought one. 15 day "all expense paid" return policy so if it doesn't reach full focus I can return it.
Anyway, I have a Pentax XW 14 and a Pentax XF 8.5 for comparisons. I use my scope mainly for sheep hunting and the two Pentaxes worked great except they are about 19oz and I have to carry two ep's. The 8.5 does allow me to see more detail at long distances half mile +. Very good view. I think the scope can handle higher mag. I would still like to try an XW 7 on it but I'm not going to carry around two XW's at 26ozs and 600 bucks if I can find a decent zoom that will give over 50x with decent ER. Better off to cough up the extra bucks and just buy a swaro 65 with 20-60x.
If this zoom is a good compromise I may sell the other two eyepieces. I don't expect it to give as good an image at 14mm as the XW but from what I have read at cloudynights.com it gives great views. It only weighs 9ozs and will give 17-53 x on the PF 65. 20 mm ER and 43-69 degree FOV. Plus the convience of one ep only to deal with.
My only concern is that WO does not say it's weatherproof. Although they do say it is weatherproof on thier Swan APO 82 scope. The EP does have a different connector though. Similar to the swaro type. maybe the mechanism of the ep itself is weather resistant and in the Pentax compression system it is more weather resistant than in a typical astro scope.
Any thoughts on this eyepiece staying fog free internally in moist conditions? I don't plan on putting it in direct downpour.
Anyway, I will post my findings on this eyepiece when I get it.
Anyway, I have a Pentax XW 14 and a Pentax XF 8.5 for comparisons. I use my scope mainly for sheep hunting and the two Pentaxes worked great except they are about 19oz and I have to carry two ep's. The 8.5 does allow me to see more detail at long distances half mile +. Very good view. I think the scope can handle higher mag. I would still like to try an XW 7 on it but I'm not going to carry around two XW's at 26ozs and 600 bucks if I can find a decent zoom that will give over 50x with decent ER. Better off to cough up the extra bucks and just buy a swaro 65 with 20-60x.
If this zoom is a good compromise I may sell the other two eyepieces. I don't expect it to give as good an image at 14mm as the XW but from what I have read at cloudynights.com it gives great views. It only weighs 9ozs and will give 17-53 x on the PF 65. 20 mm ER and 43-69 degree FOV. Plus the convience of one ep only to deal with.
My only concern is that WO does not say it's weatherproof. Although they do say it is weatherproof on thier Swan APO 82 scope. The EP does have a different connector though. Similar to the swaro type. maybe the mechanism of the ep itself is weather resistant and in the Pentax compression system it is more weather resistant than in a typical astro scope.
Any thoughts on this eyepiece staying fog free internally in moist conditions? I don't plan on putting it in direct downpour.
Anyway, I will post my findings on this eyepiece when I get it.