Delos vs. Pentax XL/XW

Has anybody compared the Delos line to the XL or XW Pentax's?? My full set of
Pentax XL's were recently stolen returning from a star party at a motel. It
looks like TeleVue is finally taking direct am at the XL/XW Pentax lines. I
really liked my XL's and I assume the XW's are about the same.

Any opinions on whether I should come back with a set of Delos' or go with the
XW's???

I haven't done any direct comparisons, but I've owned a Pentax 5.2mm XL for many years. I've never liked the screw up/down eye cup. When I saw a Delos I was impressed by the ease and simplicity of adjusting the eye cup.

Clear skies, Alan

I've owned several Pentax XW and Delos eyepieces. Candidly, I found little difference between them optically.

George

Sorry to hear of your loss, Ralph. That sucks.
The XL's are nice. Haven't tried the Delos line yet,
but I never met a TeleVue I didn't like.
Linton

Thanks for the response guys. I purchased a 12mm Delos and have done some casual testing against the 10mm Ethos, 12.5mm UO Volcano Top (VT), and 12mm UO HD all from my light polluted observatory(The WHO)which houses a C14 Edge.
The following is my "observing for the pure pleasure of it", qualitative, non-sientific comparisons. Targets included M15, M42, M31, Jupiter, Saturn and Sun thru Thousand Oaks filter.

Even though the focal lengths are different, my gut from my eyeball is that on axis the Delos and Ethos are similar optically. The UO VT is superior in every way optically except field of view, ie, more stars and greater contrast and resolution on planets. The UO HD is has even slightly more light thruput but lacks the contrast (shades of color) of the UO VT. Both UO's have zero blackout issues. In previous rather extensive testing, my recollection is that the XL's on axis were closer to the UO's.


Initially, I was going to just replace the XL's with a set of XW's. However, I noticed using a friends XW's at the DSRSG thru my TEC 140 recently that they seemed to be ok but not as luxuriously comfortable as the XL's. Specifically, they seem to be somewhat prone to blackout and for at least some of them the cups don't screw out far enough to get your face hard enough on the cup to steady your eye to eliminate. The 12mm Delos has similar issues, but the eyecup extends far enough to minimize the problem. I don't recall nearly as much of an issue with the XL's but maybe I'm just romanticizing them.

Please note that the blackout is still minor in all these eyepieces compared to some of the old TeleVue Naglers but here I'm talking of ultimate comfort where you may comfortably keep your eye in an eyepiece for a half an hour or more.

I actually compared another dozen or so eyepieces from my remaining (after theft) 75 or so collection, but it gets too complicated and long discussing all these eyepieces.

I'm half tempted to buy one of each type in 10mm and go at it, but so far have not been able to bring myself to part with that much bread.

Any thoughts, comments, different experiences, etc?

Ralph