Quality Starter Set Suggestions

I am looking to spend $300 - $350 on a quality starter set of eyepieces for an 8"f6 dob. After a little research I put together two options.

1) Celstron Ultima 30mm, 18mm, 12.5mm, 2x barlow. This would give me focal lengths of 30, 18, 15, 12.5, 9, & 6.25.

2) Televue 25mm Plossl, 15mm Plossl, 2.5x Powermate. This would give me focal lengths of 25, 15, 10, & 6.


Any thoughts or other suggestions?

Hmmm, how's about this:

32 mm plossl (TV is good) or 30 mm Ultima - Nice widefield ep ($120 ish)

18, 12, 9 mm UO orthos - These are the BEST bang for the buck anywhere in ep's. ($165 ish)

2x Barlow - TV, Ultima, Orion Shorty Plus ($70 ish)

That's run ya about $350 ish and you will never need another ep. Of course, you will want many more and probably buy many more, but you won't need anymore

Clear skies,

Tom

I like option two, 2.5x Powermate and the two Plossl's. However, you might consider substituting UO Konigs for the Plossls. I recommend the 24mm and 16mm Konigs. Konigs have a wider apparent field than Plossls which may be useful with your Dob. Later on, you can add a 32mm Konig for excellent wide field views. If you eventually got all three eyepieces and a 2.5x Powermate, you will have your choice of 32, 24, 16, 12.8, 9.6, and 6.4mm focal lengths.

Tom is spot on with his comment that UO Orthos give the biggest bang for the buck. I think UO Konigs are not far behind considering their wider field of view.

Russ Schnitzer

Option 1. Ultimas are very well thought of. And the 30mm gets close to the widest field for a 1.25" focuser. Good for star hopping and finding things. Barlow is a great idea to avoid the small eye relief of the small 6 to 8 mm plossls. This sounds like a good option, although I haven't done this exact setup myself.

Option 2. I've had the TV plossls and they are very sharp. The 32mm would be good to add for wide field if you could squeeze that in. And I've had the Powermate which was very nice.

If you lean more towards deep sky, you could try a used Panoptic at 22mm or 19mm for around $200, then get a 12.5mm and a 9mm UO ortho $55 each for some occasional moon/planet entertainment and for globular clusters. UO orthos have about the best price/performance ratio in the world. Perhaps also 2x barlow could be squeezed in if you wanted the 6mm length for more serious planet watching.

I loved the 19mm Pan and the 12.5mm UO ortho with my old 6" f/8. The 19 pan was a real workhorse. Same field as the 25mm plossl but darker background due to higher magnfication. This was a good combination for many objects. The difference between a TV plossl and a regular plossl isn't really huge, but the difference between a 19mm panoptic and any plossl is astounding.

The 24mm Pan is even wider field but perhaps over your budget. It's newer and bigger, so used prices are pretty high.

Almost anything is better than the Meade plossl kit for $300 that are sometimes advertised here.

Mike