What Difference Does Replacing Your Stock 25mm Telescope Eyepiece Make?

In this video I conducted an experiment using real humans. We find out if Will and Steve, who have little to no astronomy experience, could tell the difference between a budget, mid-range and top-end eyepiece in the 25mm widefield range.

At the end of the episode you'll find out if I've decided to buy the TeleVue Panoptic that's on loan from a friend of mine.

[AstralviewsUK]

NB: a TeleVue Dioptrx attachment will not correct for shortsightedness or long-sightedness, only for astigmatism. The eye-relief with a Dioptrx attachment fitted reduces even further.

[Michael.Chapman]

Narrow field of view with Plössls? My first eyepieces were Hughens and Kelners of the 1970s with apparent fields that turned viewing into the experience of looking through a narrow copper pipe :-) Was lucky to replace these with TeleVue Plössls, Naglers, Panoptics and Wide Fields, which are all brilliant…

[bcrocks]

one thing to consider with a plossl, is that a good one can have brightness, contrast, and sharpness equal to high end eyepieces at the cost of FOV, which might not matter depending on your target. 25mm down to 15mm plossls are also very easy to view through.

[davidleary]

The refreshing humor in this video is why I subscribed to this channel! 😅

[k.h.]

The 25mm plausssuhl that comes with those scopes is probably the best plossl out there, short of japanese made premium/vintage plossls

[radod]

With eyepieces, there is Televue and everything else.

[richardvankastle]

I had a 27mm Panoptic and I still own a X-Cel LX 25mm. The X-Cel LX shows true star colors while I didn't find that with the Panoptic, although the Pan had a slightly flatter field at the edge. Bang for buck is wonderful with the X-Cel LX line.

[crankright]

"We become what we think about" 😂😂😂 omfg dude I nearly fell off my chair

[andymiller]

If you get a chance, you should do this test on a 8 to 12 inch f5 reflector.

[AstronomyGarage]

Very entertaining video - well done (great editing and humor). The wide field grows on you quickly - it's almost shocking when you go back to a tiny FOV Plossl. I personally have sold almost all of my Tele Vue's and replaced them with 82 degree Explore Scientifics. Same effect, just much cheaper. I haven't ventured past 82 degrees because the price goes into orbit quickly.

[Colonel_WZ]

Great video, thank you. Particularly the advice on upgrading the star diagonal, I also have a 6SE and 3 of the X-cel LX eyepieces. Will look to upgrade the diagonal ASAP. Would you recommend upgrading to 2" or sticking with the 1.25?

[philipfontaine]

Stellar view, eyepieces are as good as any and better than most. The price is fantastic for the quality, they are second to none.

[ericheidel]

would love to have seen differences between all 3

[patricj]

I always change out the included eyepieces of telescopes.
Higher class eyepieces offer larger FOV and better sharpness especially towards the edges.
But the biggest difference is when you compare short focal length eyepieces. Plössl are comfortable to use with long focal length but sucks at short focal length.
The eye relief of Plössl is opposite proportional to the focal length. A 12 mm has half the eye relief of 24mm. And 6mm half of 12mm.
And are we talking about 4mm plössl it really sucks. The difference is that while a long focal length plössl works great with eyeglasses a short focal ratio(for example 4mm) works badly even without eyeglasses. You need to come so close to the eyepiece so your eye almost touches the lens.
Advanced and expensive eyepieces offer long eye relief even with very short focal length. 30 or 4mm focal length - both work good with eyeglasses!
Therefore the real total difference would be significantly bigger if you compare short focal length eyepieces. I have no problem with 25mm or longer focal length plössl. Narrow FOV but they are comfortable to use. But I cannot stand 6 or 4mm. So tiny lens and I need to hold my eye very close to the lens in order to see the entire field. The eyelashes actually easily come into contact with the lens, which can cause grease marks on the lens.

[paddledogs]

If you can only buy one would you do the mirror or new eyepiece? (I have the same scope).

[geraldmoore]

many thanks for vid, I love wide apparent field! it explained lot to me !

[scottinharwood]

my favorite eyepiece is the televue panoptic 35mm. thats the one I use at star parties for folks who have never looked through a decent, non high end, dobsonian telescope and my SCTs.

[williamshaw]

Really useful video as well as entertaining!

[georgewashington]

Nice work! Can’t find anything you said is wrong.

The ExCelLX is a fantastic eyepiece in my Edge 8/Skywatcher 6 classic dob. I bought that along with Astro-Tech sky-guider/Paradigm 12mm. Anyone looking for the best bang for buck I recommend those two. A great starter set.

I have a TV 32mm Plossl and TV 13mm Nagler-6 that are fantastic quality lifetime eyepieces I do 90% of my viewing with. Panoptic 24s are rare as hens teeth so I’ll pick one of those up when they send out the next shipments!

[gladiatormaximus]

What about upgrading the diagonal for 70400 telescope?