First Light for 12 Eyepieces with Limited Comparisons

[StarBru]

Sunday, September 24, 2023
Where: My backyard in Arizona
Target: Saturn

Telescope: Meade 127mn f/9.3 refractor on a Skywatcher EQ6R-PRO w/WiFi

The 12 First Light Eyepieces:
Meade 25mm, 18mm, 12mm, 9mm, 6.5mm, 4.5mm ED-60
Meade 8.8mm & 6.7mm UWA Series 4000
ES 5.5mm 62°Series
Alstar SW 7.5mm Planetary
Celestron 5mm X-Cel LX

Comparison Eyepieces:
TeleVue 4mm & 10mm Radians
Meade 14mm UWA Series 4000
Baader 18mm Classic Ortho (not shown)
8mm TMB Optical Planetary

First of all, I apologize for this report taking over a week to get posted. But for what it's worth, here it is!

After buying the Skywatcher mount and the above eyepieces listed under First Light Eyepieces above, it seemed as if the clouds would never clear and when they did, I had other plans with friends and family, or I was working. Everything finally fell into place and I had planned to have First Light for the mount and the eyepieces on Saturday September 23, but the night proved to be a disaster. Sunday night I was determined to make it happen!

This is a rather limited, non-technical, and non-professional comparison and is based on what I experienced that night. There are plenty of great eyepiece comparisons and reviews under better testing conditions, equipment, and targets.

The Meade HD60 eyepieces comparison
I was pleasantly surprised how well the Series 5000 Meade HD-60 series compared to the other eyepieces. As a set, the images were all tack- sharp, clear, and without added color as far as these old eyes could tell. The 60° AFOV was much appreciated as well as the long 17mm of eye relief. When the eyecups were not positioned correctly, I did notice the kidney-bean effect from the 18mm and 25mm eyepieces, which really surprised me. That was easily corrected by putting my eyeglasses on or adjusting the combination twist/fold-down eyecup.

Looking at the design build, and size, I thought the eyepieces would be heavier, but the eyepieces weigh between 6.6 to 8 ounces. The magnifications in my 127mm f/9.3 refractor are:
25mm (47x ), 18mm (66x), 12mm (99x), 9mm (131x), 6.5mm (182x), 4.5mm (263x).

I did not compare the 25mm to any other eyepieces this time. I compared the 18mm to my 18mm Baader Classic Ortho; the 12mm to my 14mm Meade UWA; the 9mm to my TeleVue Radian 10mm and Meade 8.8mm UWA; the 6.5mm to my 6.7mm Meade UWA and Alstar 7.5mm; the 4.5mm to my TeleVue Radian 4mm and 5mm Celestron X-Cel LX. And I also checked the 4.5mm and 6.5mm against the ES 5.5mm 62° eyepiece. The Meade UWA 's have about a 78° AFOV in my opinion, (supposed to be 82). The 18mm BCO is 52°, and the rest have from 58° to 62° AFOV 's. (Most are 60°).

I also compared my Alstar 7.5mm to my 8mm TMB Optical eyepiece.

I consider my 8mm TMB Optical eyepiece to be a poor man's Radian. In my opinion, it is that good of an eyepiece. But I feel the Alstar 7.5mm eyepiece just edged over the view of the 8mm. The other eyepiece I have to mention is the Celestron X-Cel 5mm. I found myself enjoying the view of Saturn through the Celestron just slightly more than the ES 5.5mm or the Meade HD-60 4.5 mm eyepieces. I really can't tell you why. Maybe it was just the slight differences in the magnifications or the pupil exits. What I didn't like about the Celestron is it had a smell to it similar to something you'd find in a garage. I did buy all these eyepieces used, and I bought the Celestron 5mm, the ES 5.5mm, and the Alstar 7.5mm from the same person, but only the Celestron has a smell.

Other than the aforementioned Alstar 7.5 and Celestron 5mm eyepieces, and the different AFOV's of the Meade 4000 UWA's and the Ortho, I couldn't really see a difference in the clarity, color, contrast, and features of Saturn between the different eyepieces. I have no doubts that on different targets such as deep sky objects, double stars, and even other planets, there might be a difference seen. I know my 14mm Meade UWA Series 4000 has always given me the best view of the Orion Nebula of all my eyepieces, but this time on Saturn, my eyes could not differentiate. Once again, I am only telling you what I experienced. Your results may and probably would be different.

Ultimately, I will add on to this post to compare these eyepieces again while observing some deep sky objects, double stars, the moon, and other planet(s) for a more fair comparison.

[messier 111]

very good report, I can't wait to read more, thx.

[Lady Fraktor]

A good quick test for any eyepiece is to move the view in front of the object and let it drift into view.
If there is scatter issues or flaring it will be immediately obvious.

I enjoy doing this with globular clusters with mid to high magnifications.
Amazing how much deeper you can see into them.

[StarBru]

A good quick test for any eyepiece is to move the view in front of the object and let it drift into view.
If there is scatter issues or flaring it will be immediately obvious.

I enjoy doing this with globular clusters with mid to high magnifications.
Amazing how much deeper you can see into them.

Thank you! There have been times in the past when the object I'm viewing has drifted out of the eyepiece and I have noticed aberrations. I guess I had forgotten that fact. Can't wait to try this method.