Those Infernal grooves. Not the word of choice!

I hope I am not alone in my opinion of the groove cut into the barrel of eyepieces these days.
I think they are an anachronism, for which apparently, Astronomers/Telescope enthusiasts seem to have an inexplicable affection.
They compromise the fit into the holder. They compromise the fit even when using compression ring holders. And, even some of the time they don't match up with the screws that they were put there for in the first place. Using my smooth eyepieces is such a joy by comparison.
I dislike the "dreaded grooves" so much that I will not buy another eyepiece with them. It seems that, just like cars, any extra, option or feature is embraced as an improvement without thought. Doors that lock automatically as soon as you move the car? ( yes, I drive a manual transmission 8) )
There, I've got that off my chest.
I suspect that i'm in the minority. Oh well :-)

Clear skies, Norman.

I don't like the grooves either! They should offer replacement barrels without the groove, they could make money on that one!

There is no redeeming value to the grooves for me. In fact the EP is less functional in my situation. My feeling is that they just look good like the wrinkles on the sie of a car. Someone could probably make a mint replacing them, at least those that do not house barlows or other.

Makers of EPs, hear me now! Give use the option! We(a lot of us) don't want no stinkin grooves.

Count me amongst those that hate 'em too. As I recall, those stupid things came out back before compression ring focusers/diagonals/Paracorrs/barlows became all the rage, so they were designed to hold the eyepiece just in case the setscrew wasn't tight enough. I still think that the grooves are an abomination.

FWIW, I don't like compression rings either. :S

Doug
Midway, FL

I dislike them, also. I have taken to filling mine in with aluminum tape. It's not the most durable thing, but I use Nylon thumbscrews in a Dob-Newt (it's not capable of dumping an eyepiece), and it seems to hold up OK, and it's easy to remove cleanly and replace if I want.

Grooves on diagonals really bother me. I've got a
bunch that won't seat in the scope at all, cause
the scope's "brass clamp ring" is right on the edge
of the diagonal's "safety" groove. You tighten the
set screw, and the diagonal pops out of the scope by
an 1/8 inch!

Hmm. I could take them or leave them.
They don't bother me that much.
But I sure wish my old TV camera adapter would have been notched...
Perhaps my 20D wouldn't have fallen out of the tail end of my TV-85!
Linton

Hate em!

Eyepiece makers, give us the option and see which ones sell the best! Seems the barrels would even be a little cheaper to make? Why is this taking so long, it isn't like it ain't been brought up before.

Al, you are the leader, give us a better product.

I had problems with my ethos fitting into the paracorr so like Mike said I placed an aluminum stip of tape around it and now I like it even more. See.
http://www.cloudynights.com/ubbthreads/showflat.php/Cat/0/Number/2011234/page/6/view/collapsed/sb/5/o/all/fpart/1