"Expensive" EPs worth it?

Hi Mark,
Expensive EPs are worth their price and always give you the best view that your scope has to offer. But, the scope must be able to give you an image that is worthy of the expensive EP or the expense of the EP might not make that the difference in cost worthwhile.

I think that having 3 good EPs could be all that a person would have to have, if they were matched to the scope you use.

However, I would also say that if money is tight, then $400-700 for an EP would be better spent on a better scope with a step down in EP expense. Or after the better scope you buy one good EP a year until you have both a good scope and good EPs to go with it.

Now I am not saying that the Hardin is not a fair scope, I have used a couple of them and they were OK. So please do not think I am being an elitist, I am just being a realist and realize that the image from the Hardin 10" scopes that I have used were fine in EPs costing 1/2 that of say a Nagler and that a Nagler did not improve the image that much. Hope my meaning is clear as I am not trying to talk down your scope, but trying to explain the situation.

I won't offer my opinion. I simply note that my club is associated with a program that distributes 6 and 8 inch dobs FREE to "rising star" interns.

So I was out one night with my refractor and there were half a dozen of these Orion scopes out there.

I lent out my Pentax XW10 and well after an hour had to go hunt it up again. It was a revelation to these interns what a good eyepiece was like and no one who dropped it in wanted to give it up.

regards
Greg N

I would say yes in my opinion it is worth it.

I figure that the humble mirror made in Asia is at a guess nearly 90% as good as the best mirror you could buy (I'm guessing because in fact it might be 89% or it might be 94%)...it is unlikely to be equal but it is probably close.

So it seems to me that you have a scope that is pretty good...a great eyepiece will help you get the maximum out of the scope...go for it.

A high quality eyepiece can last a lifetime and be used in many different future scopes...buy quality once and get a lifetime worth of enjoyment, if your budget can handle it.