Eyepiece quality

I just bought a Parks 15mm eyepiece tonight and I LOVE it. its sweet

I do have a quick question: What brands are considered the higher quality? I was told by the sales-rep guy that the Televue and Parks are the better pieces, where the Meade and Celestron are Ok at best. Of course there are cost considerations, and since I am not likely to see the miniscule and minute flaws in solid/average pieces, I figured that I wouldnt be spending 200+ on single eyepieces.

what do you think?

There are lots of good eyepieces available. It depends on your intended targets, your budget, your scope...

You must have been at Scope City since they are the only ones I know of who sell Parks...

Parks vs. Celestron and Meade

Parks has its Gold Series of Plossls, these are essentially the same (same design, same manufacturer, same everything) as the Celestron Ultima's, these are good 50 degree FOV eyepieces.

TeleVue makes a wide variety of eyepieces, all of them quite good. They make a series of highly rated Plossls, but their name has been based on the widefield Naglers and Panoptics as well as the Radians. TeleVue pretty much started the move towards high quality eyepieces that will work with fast scopes.

Meade makes some very good widefield eyepieces, their SWA (SuperWides) as well as their UltraWides.

Pentax, Zeiss, University Optics, AP, TMB, there are lots of vendors of high quality eyepieces.

So, you bought yourself a good eyepiece but the salesman wasn't telling you the whole story...

jon

Ben,

Televue's reputation is well deserved. I would hardly characterize it's competitors as "OK at best." There are many who swear by them. More than a few people list the Meade's as their favorties, and you will find adherents to almost all eyepieces.

I would not personally rate Parks in the top tier, but it is an established and well respected name.

And one of the problems you have with the "Meade and Celestron" statement is like saying--"Hey how does Ford and GM compare with BMW? Ford and GM represent an extremely wide range of products. You can get about the cheapest of the cheap or the premium. If your impression of Ford is the Escort, and of GM is the Escalade, then you haven't really compared the products fairly. I mean, how many BMW pickup trucks do you see on a construction site?

There are lots of good eyepieces in the world. You have to decide what is best for you and your scope and your eyes, and your wallet...

Alex

I second the vote for University Optics. The UO Konigs and Orthos are some of the sharpest eyepieces I've used and in the $50-$100 range offer a good balance of high quality and affordability. The konigs offer impressive fields (60-65 deg) with some sacrifice of edge sharpness. The orthos are razor-sharp but with narrower fields (45 deg). Orion Ultrascopics are an excellent combination of field (52 deg) and sharpness, contrast and price.