Panoptic 41 vs. Pentax XW 40

Has anyone ever had the expensive pleasure of comparing the 41mm Televue Panoptic with a 40mm Pentax XW? I own the Panoptic and also a 14mm XW which I understand has a 98% light transmission rate and has visibly brighter images over the 14mm XL. So I wonder, does the 40mm XW have brighter images, or any better contrast, or is the 70 deg. field any different than the Panoptic?

I have spent fairly long periods with each eyepiece because a club member has the Pan 41 and I have the XW40. I've compared them in a C14 and in an f/6.5 102mm refractor. I think I may also have compared them in the FS128 as well.

I'm really a Pentax nut and prefer Pentax XWs to just about anything Televue has to offer.

HOWEVER, the Pan 41 is a bit different. The Pan 41 is the Televue eyepiece "for people who like XWs".

I consider it equivalent to the XW40 in every respect. Neither one nor the other has an edge. They are both stupendous. Fields of view are identical, magnification nearly so.

The XW line has 96% light transmission at green-yellow. I don't know about Televues, there is precious little data and much of that is old and from only one source, but I think they were around 90% but that was like, 18 years ago.

There's a reason why it doesn't matter. You don't go hunting for super faint objects at your lowest power, which is what either eyepiece will be. I can't tell you how many times I've been unable to see something in my 102mm f6.5 at 17x (the XW40) only to have it appear at 60x or 100x. My refractor rides on top of the C14 so often I check to see at what power the object becomes visible in the smaller instrument (if at all).

So get whichever one you like factoring in cost, weight, and brand loyalty.

Greg N