Needing advice on eyepieces

I just purchased a 13.1 inch dobsonian and have a 32 mm plossel with a 2x barlow. I want to purchase another eyepiece of smaller aperture with a wide angle field. My intent is to view some of the Messier galaxies. I'm sure price does equate to quality, but $200 plus for a nice Nagler is out of my price range. But I don't want to buy a collection of eyepieces I will be unhappy with on the second night of use. What is considered a good size field of view for a small aperture eyepiece? Any suggestions? Thanks

The standard apparent field of view for most plossl eyepieces is 50-52 degrees David. If you are interested in a wider field of view in an affordable eyepiece, I might recommend Orion's new Expanse eyepieces with a 66 degree FOV.

Reviews of these eyepieces have been quite favorable for the price (just $50 each). The whole set of four (20, 15, 9 and 6mm) is just $169 and would nicely compliment your existing 32mm plossl. Should you wish to upgrade to beter oculars later, you could resell them on Astromart.

Adorama also is offering these same eyepieces right now under their Pro-Optic name with a special buy-two-get-one-free deal.

David,
A little more information would help. What's the focal lenght of your dob? I found that a magnification around 100x-140x are good for galaxies. I use 132x most of the time. It's kind of tough to make recommendations without knowing the focal lenght of the scope.

I have 3 Panoptics, 1 Nagler, and one Pentax SMC XL in my wide field eyepiece collection. I have a 10" f/10 SCT. For me, an eyepiece with AFOV of 65 degrees is considered to be a 'good size' wide field. Lately there have been some buzz about the new 65 degrees offering from Orion (Expanse) and Adorama (ProOptic Ultra Wide). They are the same, just packaged under different names. They have AFOV of 65 degrees and comes in 6mm, 9mm, 15mm, and 20mm focal lenghts. The price is $49.95 each. Adorama has a deal where you buy 2 and get the third one free. Check out the reviews on cloudynights.com

If you want to stick with something with a reputation but don't want to buy a Nagler, consider the Panoptics (68*) and the Pentax SMC XL (65*). I have the 35mm, 27mm and the 19mm Panoptics and they are my primary Herchel 400 objects eyepieces. My Nagler is a 13mm Type 6 and my Pentax is a 10.5 mm. These two don't see as much use because of their focal lenght but they come in handy for those little Planetary Nebulae, small galaxies, and small globular clusters. Others will recommend other wide field eyepieces, I've used the Panoptics the most and can say that I love them!

Take a look at a 19mm panoptic. Maybe this is the focal length you're after? If you want something smaller, the 14mm SMC XL and the 10.5 mm SMC XL are very nice eyepieces. They usually go for $190 used.

Nat

You might consider a Meade 13.8 Superwide. Some say the design is a bit long of tooth, but I have been very happy with mine in an f5 scope. I think they run ~$130-140 new, less used. They have a nice wide view and would give you 108x. Eye relief is OK.

Charlie