New UO Wide Field Eyepieces?

Gday there,

Anyone know anything about the new line of UO widefields? Focal lengths range from 5.7mm to 25mm, and boast a 70 degree FOV.

I was going to start purchasing some good old cone top orthos for double star and planetary work but just noticed these on their web site.

http://www.universityoptics.com/125inch.html#70

Cheers,
Phil

A bunch of places market these. I have not tried one myself, but understand from UO that they are NOT as sharp for planetary/lunar work as their Orthos.

>>>Gday there,

Anyone know anything about the new line of UO widefields? Focal lengths range from 5.7mm to 25mm, and boast a 70 degree FOV.
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These are actually the Antares W70s. The 6.8mm focal length is actually supposed to be 8.6mm.

And the Antares W70s are really nothing more than the generic Synta widefields (Orion Expanse for example) with a fancy aluminum sleeve glued over the barrel. Owning both and suspecting this, one cloudy morning I removed the outer barrel from my Antares 8.6mm (=9mm) and underneath was the generic Synta eyepiece.

These are not bad eyepieces, I use mine more than I use my Orthos, they have good eyerelief and a nice widefield with good edge correction in a fast scope. But they are not $70 eyepieces and you can get them from ScopeStuff for $50 or used on AM for around $35.

I think the picture tells the story.

jon

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