Planetary EPs

Last night we set up a 6" Refractor, 4" Refractor, 8" Newtonian, 8" SCT for some Mars Viewing.
Out of the 4 the best views were in the 8"SCT with a 12MM Nagler and 2" Big Barlow at 338x.
I looked through Orthos,Plossls,Kellers,Erfles and other Naglers, and the 12MM Nageler T-4 with the Big Barlow was just better than the rest.
Very surprising!
Also a surprise was the wiew of Mars through a Parks ALP filer.WOW! The constrst was amazingly better than the p color filters.
Viewing was not bad, but anything from perfect.

That is very surprising. Its all about personal preferences. I had the 12mm T4 and it provided excellent wide field views of planets through an APO. However, I found the orthos and plossls provided much better contrast and slightly sharper and brighter images. For instantance, my 7mm Tak Ortho surpassed the UO 7mm ortho which easily surpassed my old 7mm Nagler Type 1 on contrast and sharpness. If you like the wide field, the 12mm T4 is great! This eyepiece helped me to easily find Uranus. I sometimes wish I never sold it.

Rob