Recommended Eyepiece(s) - Evostar 120

[Jrd15]

Hello all - first post!

I’ve just bought my first telescope - a Sky-Watcher Evostar 120. It came with 2 stock lenses - 10mm & 25mm. I’m keen to buy some additional lenses & was hoping for some advice.

The telescope will be predominantly used for looking at the moon/planets, initially at least. And I will be doing this with my (young) children.

My research so far has led me to consider:

1) Celestron x-cel 7mm

2) Baader Hyperion 8mm + tuning sleeve (?)

3) Baader Hyperion Zoom / possibly with 2.25x Barlow

4) Baader Classic Ortho 6mm


Clearly number 3 is a much more expensive option, but i was thinking it might future proof me, so to speak. However, I don’t know if it’s overkill for the scope I have / planetary viewing.

Any advice / other eyepiece recommendations would be hugely appreciated.

Many thanks

[helicon]

Hello JRD15 and Welcome to TSS!

[Lady Fraktor]

Hello and welcome, this article may give you some tips for choosing eyepieces for your telescope.
viewtopic.php?f=34&t=550

Celestron X-Cel LX are good quality, Hyperion can be a touch soft on the edge and the rings can be a pain in the dark.
The Baader Mk IV zoom is a good quality zoom for those that like zooms, the Classic orthos are quite good as well.

[Refractordude]

The Baader Ortho Classic has a 5mm eye relief. Five mm is to tight for me to enjoy the view, but everyone is different. Just something to consider. The Celestron 7mm is the best of the four. If you really want to get close, barlow an Agena Starguider 12mm with a GSO shorty barlow. I have the same length refractor you have, and can get 166 sharp magnification most nights.

https://agenaastro.com/agena-1-25-dual- ... -12mm.html

https://agenaastro.com/gso-1-25-2x-achr ... -lens.html

[Jrd15]

Thank you very much for the advice.

I will prob give the 7mm xcel a go.

Surprised Hyperion Zoom not the overwhelming favourite - this seems to get rave reviews!

[Lady Fraktor]

The Baader is a very good zoom but many people prefer individual focal lengths for better clarity and overall less light scatter.
A zoom typically works backwards with the AFOV as well, widest on high power and narrower on low.

[AbbN]

When I got my first scope, a Celestron Omni XLT 120, I was advised to wait and get comfortable with what I had first and then buy lenses based on my acquired viewing preferences. Mind you,at the time the scope came as a package deal with a Celestron 8 - 24 zoom. I took that advice with absolutely no regrets. I actually didn't start buying really good lenses until my 3rd scope, an ES AR102 and by then I knew exactly what I wanted and why

Goof luck!
Abb

[Lady Fraktor]

Always excellent advice AbbN, better to familiarize yourself with new gear before spending on what you may not require.

[Ruud]

From what I hear the 10mm kit lens you have isn't very good, so for high magnifications you might want to replace it with a BST Starguider (£47, 60°) or an OVL Nirvana (£69, 82° - prices are from FLO in the UK). Both the BST and the Nirvana lines great value and are a definite improvement what you have now.

Actually, the 16mm Nirvana is surprisingly good: nearly Nagler-like in image quality for a fraction of the cost.

There are even better performers out there, but they are in a considerably different price range.

[j.gardavsky]

Hello Jrd,

the Sky-Watcher Evostar are fairly good refractors.
We have had one on a comparison test with my old 6" F/5 achro on the 7th February.
On your place, I would not hurry adding just some eyepieces, as there is lots of very good stuff on the classifieds, and the prices are dropping.
Regarding the BCO, the 10mm is a very good performer on the deep sky objects which require high magnifications. The BCO 6mm is less comfortable. The BCOs are manufactured with the HT (high transmissivity) technology, and this seems to make the difference on the faint nebulae and galaxies.

Congratulations on your purchase,
JG

[Baurice]

Go for a Barlow lens first and then look at the Moonfish Group eyepieces. They have a wide field of view.

I'm sceptical about zoom lenses, as the extra glass can introduce distortion. The only 'scope I use mine with is the Coronado PST narrow band solar telescope.

Don't go too overboard on eyepieces. It is likely that you will get the astrophotography bug and your eyepieces will lay unused in the back of a cupboard.