Ultrascopics

A friend of mine and I have compared his UO ortho with my similar length Ultrascopic (25mm), and both agree that the Ultrascopic is a better eyepiece. It allowed the viewing of fainter stars, with a bit better contrast.
Does anyone know where there are reviews of Ultrascopics, or comparisons including them? Anyone else use them? Is this just a "got lucky" eyepiece purchase?

The Ultrascopics and old Celestron Ultimas are certainly
nice eyepieces. They have an extra element compared to
orthos. They are multi-coated on all surfaces vs.
one surface for the UO orthos, which might account for
slightly better contrast. Price point is about twice
that of the UOs, so you are paying a good price for that
bit better contrast.

Around the 10mm model and below the eyerelief in the
Ultrascopics gets pretty tight, at least for my taste;
whereas I find the UO pretty tolerable all the way down
to the 7mm or 6mm. I think it is partly due to the
"volcano" vs "recessed" metal work.

Also the UO 25 is probably my least favorite in the
line up. The sweet spot of the UO lineup is probably
in the 7mm to 12.5mm range. Whereas the Ultrascopic 25
is right in the sweet spot of their lineup. Bruce
at Company 7 once opined that the end focal lengths
in an eyepiece line are usually the least nice, and
I think there is some merit to this view.

So I would tend to agree about the UO 25.
But it might go the other way if you were looking at
the 7.5mm - 10mm range. I don't think anyone ever
claimed the UO were the greatest eyepieces ever
made, just that they represent an outstanding
price / performance point.

There are reviews in the usual places. See
http://www.excelsis.com/1.0/section.php?sectionid=22
and look under Celestron Ultima and Orion Ultrascopic.

Mark,

A while back I did a compare of the TV 8mm Plossl vs the 7.5mm Ultima (same as Ultrascopic) on AMart Reviews. On stellar images the Ultima was the clear winner, producing much finer star points and picking up fainter stars (I also have the UO HD 7mm and the Ultima beats it on stars). So looks like you are experiencing the same thing with the 25mm. The Ultima/Ultrascopics are a fantastic performer for stellar work, particularly globs. I think the Ultrascopics are real sleepers and if Orion discontinues them as Celestron did, I think they may be sought after in the coming years.

-Bill