I won a 31mm Proxima (2-inch, 5-element, 71-degree field) eyepiece from Hands-On Optics a few years back at RTMC. It has been a great eyepiece for my longer-focal length telescopes, an 8-inch SCT and a 5-inch refractor. It is especially well-suited for public use. You might try his website for low-cost alternatives to the Televue, Pentax and even University Optics eyepieces. The 31mm Proxima sells for only $149.00. If you're intersted, the website is: http://www.handsonoptics.com/ep_gto.html. I have a large collection of older Meade ultra-wide-field and super-wide-field eyepieces. I find that I use these mostly for personal observing and the cheaper plossls (like the Proxima) for public use. Years ago some of us compared the Meade optics to the (then) relatively new Naglers. Meade's ultra-wide-angle design was sharper, but either not baffled or not coated as well as the Naglers. Internal reflections in the Meades were noticeable, but not too objectionable for me. Even with the high-cost boys there seem to be tradeoffs to consider. Bottom line: For public viewing, don't spend too much money - no one else will appreciate it. For personal use, invest in two or three very good eyepieces but shop a lot first. I don't know of any SLASers who would object to sharing their opinions or let you test drive an eyepiece at a star party. Kim -----Original Message----- From: utah-astronomy-bounces+kimharch=cut.net@mailman.xmission.com [mailto:utah-astronomy-bounces+kimharch=cut.net@mailman.xmission.com] On Behalf Of Seth Jarvis Sent: Tuesday, August 29, 2006 12:52 PM To: Utah Astronomy Subject: [Utah-astronomy] Eyepiece recommendations? Last weekend's star party at Capitol Reef was fantastic. Many heartfelt thanks to the SLASers who got it organized and for extending the invitation to join the event. Susie and I took our C11 to the star party and we were amazed by what that ultra-dark sky did for the telescope's views. I'm so used to doing star parties under so-so seeing conditions along the Wasatch Front that I'd forgotten what can be accomplished under a truly dark sky. I played around with the few relatively inexpensive eyepieces I own and found that by far the best views of the evening were achieved with a 1.25" 30mm Ultrascopic. Looking through Lowell's 10" Meade with his amazing Pentax eyepiece got me to thinking that perhaps I need to look into optimizing my C11's performance by getting better quality eyepieces. My problem is that there are a zillion eyepiece choices and I don't know what types of eyepieces are best-suited for a C11 and the sort of general-public viewing that dominates my use of that telescope. Anyone care to offer wisdom and/or opinions on the subject? (Any chance I can do this without going broke?) Thanks, Seth Jarvis _______________________________________________ Utah-Astronomy mailing list Utah-Astronomy@mailman.xmission.com http://mailman.xmission.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/utah-astronomy Visit the Photo Gallery: http://www.utahastronomy.com ______________________________________________________________________ This e-mail has been scanned by Cut.Net Managed Email Content Service, using Skeptic(tm) technology powered by MessageLabs. For more information on Cut.Nets Content Service, visit http://www.cut.net ______________________________________________________________________