Best selection of eyepieces for a 10" f/10 SCT?

I am getting back to the hobby of amateur astronomy after a hiatus of ~20 yrs. I am finding that I have to re-familiarize myself with modern equipment. I thought that it made sense to seek the opinions of this forum before I went and spent a lot of money on eyepieces. Can anyone suggest the best eyepieces (brand and design) for a 10" Meade LX200 f/10 SCT for planetary and deep-sky viewing- with some emphasis on value? I've been looking seriously at the Baader hyperion for planetary observations and the Meade series 5000 SWA for deep-sky. Any recommendations would be appreciated!

I have a 12" SCT (used to have a 10") and I almost exclusively use a 22 Nagler with a Denk PowerSwitch S1. This gives me three EPs in one...you should seriously consider this as it ends up becoming a great value. In general, target 3 EPs with 100X, 200X, and as wide as you can get.

For your scope:
Alt A - Used 22 Nag could be $300 on AM, plus $340 for a Denk S1 = $640 the combo gives you roughly a 14, a 22, and a 40 translating into 62X, 113X, and 178X.

Alt B - I have owned a few of the Meade 5000 SWA series EPs, and the $599 special for the set of 34, 24, and 16 gives you 73X, 104X and 156X is not a bad deal. FOVs are less than Alt A, though.

I am a fan of the PowerSwitch, and I think the math shows that for roughly the same price you could get a single perimium EP and have lots of flexibility. If you want to get higher mags on the planetary, add a single hyperion in the lower range and you get three EPs from that (e.g., a 13 goes to 7mm and 26mm).

Just my thoughts...others will chime in Im sure.

Brian think in terms of exit pupil. It may take awhile before you determine which design you like best. Buy inexpensive plossls to narrow down which exit pupils you like best with the scope. You can buy them on Astromart, and sell them later for virtually no cost.

I would buy plossls in 30mm, 25mm, 20mm, 15mm, 10mm, and 8mm. I would also buy a used barlow. Pretty soon you will determine your most used eyepiece. Once you do try something like a Nagler, UWA, XP, XL, ect in the most used size. Sell the one or two you never use. Repeat this process as needed. By this time you will also know whether you like using a barlow.

Good luck,
Richard

Hi Brian: I used to have a Meade 10" LX3 SCT. I have a C14 now, but the observing tips I have apply equally to both systems. There are lots of good suggestions here from others. One thing you should really consider that hasn't been mentioned is a focal reducer. If you want wide, pleasing deep-sky views with an f/10 system, these are a "must have." There are used, $100 f/6.3 versions available from Meade and Celestron, however they have a small lens and will vignette pretty badly with long focal length eyepieces. Lumicon offers a better choice with their 2" lens version new, for about the same price. They will not vignette as badly. Lumicon also offers this reducer in a "photographic" version with a built in guider, just in case you're thinking about astrophotography. Another fellow suggested getting an adjustable barlow so that you can make one eyepiece perform like three separate ones. I think that's a great idea. Get a couple of Naglers, the adjustable barlow, and a focal reducer and you'll have one of the most versatile scopes around. For Naglers, the 31mm will just blow you away. It might be a problem to use with a barlow - I don't know. I have used my 31mm on the C14 with the focal reducer. It's long and bulky hanging off the back of your scope, but the wide field views were just jaw-dropping. I'd recommend that you consider the 20mm T5 Nagler to test the waters. Nice eye relief and relatively small/light compared to other Naglers. Should work quite well with the barlow and the focal reducer also. You can then decide if you want a lower and/or higher powered version(s). Good luck and welcome back to this fascinating hobby! - Chuck