Feedback on UO Konig II Wide-Angle Oculars?

Any and all glowing endorsements or flaming critiques welcome. I am trying to find a trade off of price and performance. These look to be a pretty good choice. Comments?

It looks like I can get 4 of these Konig II's 12, 16, 24, 32mm in 1.25" format for the price of one Nagler T4. The reviews of various eyepieces on cloudynights.com show frequent references to the less than perfect performance of the TV lines. I can live with a slight comprimise in AFOV for a SIGNIFICANT reduction in price.

http://www.helix-mfg.com/eyepieces.htm

rcordell

I have the 16mm, which I like, but the eye relief is pretty short. Off-angle sharpness is quite good in my f/8 dob, but it will probably be worse if you have a fast scope. I'm thinking about an Orion Orthoscopic, lanthanum, or even one of the Epic ED-2's (once I see a review) for a medium power, lower cost eyepiece.

Jim

I have the UO 1.25" Konig II 32mm and I love it. I've been using it with a 10" SCT, a 6" MakCass (Intes mk66) and it has very generous eye relief, no blackouts, excellent light throughput and is relatively cheap, especially in comparision to TV Panoptics & Naglers. I have yet to use it in a fast system such as a f/5 newt (will be shortly).

In general, I think the UO oculars are a bargain, great performers for slower scopes. My UO orthos are as good as my Takahashi LEs when it comes to contrast & light throughput.

Can't say much about their performance on fast scopes, though...on those systems I hear that the Televues have the advantage.

K. Michael M.

Randy,
You don't mention the kind of scope you'll be using it in. I'm a great fan of the UO Konig line. Don't know where I got the good sense to buy the 16mm last year-I knew nothing about eps at the time. I absolutely love it. Since then, I've chased down the 8, 12, 24, 32, and recently got a hold of the 6.5mm. Also recently barlowed the 12 with the 2.8 Klee. It's VERY impressive! I have a TV Ranger (f/6.8) and the 12, 16, 24 are great in that scope. The 32 in the Ranger blacks out a lot. I'll be trying them all out in my 8" f/6 dob and am hoping that the 32 works better. I'm encouraged by some of the remarks here about it. They are a bit soft on the edge in both of the scopes I've mentioned, but maybe in a slower scope they would be just fine.
They're hard to find on the used market and as it was mentioned earlier, they sell very quickly. So if you are unhappy with them you can certainly put them up on Astromart.
You should definitely give them a try!!
-Curtis Borg
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Okay. Great. Is that ciscochrist? My reply:

FC#1: I would if I knew what you meant by "against your scope's focal length" It's FL is 2350mm (9.25" F10 or 92.5")
FC#2: Is RKE a brand or a design? There are some $15.00 RKE 1.25" oculars at telescope warehouse.
FC#3: I'm not. NEAF happent afore I knowed what it was. Actually I still don't know that, but I do know there was goods to be had, a lot like halloweeny, and apparently those that didn't get none is pissed cause they can't sell em like the others can. So they crab on those that can. That about right in your observation?
FC#4: I dunno if I ever did do that. Probably haven't yet. But I'd like to. Name a time. Bring your box o EP's. We'll have a time of it.

As you were!

rcordell