Astromania 1.25" 4mm 58-Degree Planetary Eyepiece for Telescope

I bought this EP on an advertised Clearance over inventory sale for $30 dollars and wow its a keeper, great quality and excellent performance even for its regular price of $60. Yes these are copies of the Original Tomas Black Planetary EP's and there is all kinds of scuttle but going around the internet with all kinds of astronomy forums saying all these copies ate fake original but from someone who is now 72 and I have ben observing since I was 13 this series by Astromania if a great value. Far better than the Plossls that come with most scopes, detailed views not only of the planets but everything else like star clusters, DSO's, lunar and much more. They compare with many EP's costing much more. There eye relief is very good, I would say there is a good comfort factor, there built well not cheap, the FOV is 58 degrees and easily compare with the Meade HD series and also Celestrons X Cel LX ep's which sell for around the $100 dollar mark. These EP's are an excellent buy!

i had no idea who Astromania was but the specs of the eyepiece made me curious. they looked very similar to the Celestion X-cels which ive owned before and really liked but half the cost. i wanted an eyepiece with a twist cup and larger field than standard so this seemed to be what i was looking for.upon receiving it i could tell right away this is a very good affordable eyepiece before it went into my scope, it was heavy and had a nice thick rubber eye guard, and rubber grip around the eyepiece itself.my first target was Jupiter and knew about 15 seconds after i focused it i had found a winner. the image was nice and sharp right to the edges which a lot of the cheaper eyepieces could not do. it had a nice field of view and let in lots of light. the bands and storm eye of Jupiter were visible along with its 4 brighter moons. a real nice treat overall.2nd stop Saturn. While Saturn doesnt show us the goodies Jupiter has it still quite an impressive sight to see with its rings clearly visible around the planet. everything was nice and sharp and did not disappoint.last stop the moon. you can see craters galore with this, the moon usually isnt exciting for me but when you can see it up close it really is something impressive. the only downside is the moon feels like you are going blind its so bright.i am more than satisfied with this eyepiece and will more than likely purchase a few more to have a nice spread of useful magnification.this 7.5mm eyepiece was used in a Orion Spaceprobe 130ST

Performs perfectly, very clear, crisp, and heavy optics.

I'll start with the eyepiece for those who are interested in my thoughts on it. I reassembled the eyepiece after removing it from it's box (see photo) and waited for dark. Given I received an obviously returned item I don't know if it has any defects or not with regards to visuals. Viewing Saturn and Jupiter through my f/8 Orion XT6 yielded very good detail from a light polluted house with flood lights that were on and a street light at the end of my driveway AND on a hot muggy summer Alabama night. Mars is way too bright without a filter but I was able to see some faint detail. Venus as usual is nothing but a nuclear explosion of scorching light and still just looks like a half moon. :) Can't wait to try it out in my Meade F/5 Schmidt Newtonian when Orion is up and the cool nights begin. The field of view is nice and eye relief pleasant and comfortable. The view isn't perfectly flat from edge to edge but certainly flat enough. You notice it more when you look at an object out of focus. I don't really notice it otherwise. I look at everything in the middle 3/4 of the eyepiece anyway. The build quality is very good and while I don't wear prescription glasses and need the adjustable cup, that mechanism is very smooth. I've looked through several expensive eyepieces and this is one that unless you can A/B right next to a TelVue.....you won't know the difference or at least you won't care. This is a ton of eyepiece for $50 bucks. I returned it due to the crappy way I received it. I hope no one else receives the first one I got. The second one just arrived and is new, bubble wrapped and eyepiece bagged inside the wrap. IOW....I got a new, unused, unreturned item finally. Get one and enjoy the view!

I am a BIG fan of these oculars, originally designed by the late American optical genius Thomas M. Back. They were fabricated for him by oriental factories, and after his death and the closing of his business selling TMB scopes and oculars, these have appeared under several different rubrics. I'm told by one authoritative distributor that they're all made by Back's original excellent design. I have 2.5, 4, 5, and 6 mm models and use them constantly with complete satisfaction. Apparent field is a hair under 60 degrees, a little wider than a standard Ploessl; and eye relief is spacious. Very easy to "approach" and to find the exit pupil; and high contrast. Sharp images when seeing and scope optics stand up to the challenge. No complaints--only happy recommendations from this 50+ year experienced observer! - S. Waldee, Ivins UT

The lense is a cheaply made low end product that gives dim views. I get better viewing thru my 26 mm.

I was very happy with the TMB planetary series of eyepieces, I thought the larger mm were just as good, but the 15 mm I got was no where close. The outer 20% of view has terrible chromatic aberration. The green and purple colors were very pronounced. Disappointing indeed.

Ordered this because I read that the lens was decent and at a good price but that there maybe quality control issues. The eyepiece came fairly quickly and upon opening the box and inspecting the eyepiece I noticed a rattle, one or more lens were loose inside the barrel. Not impressed and had to return.

I didn't know enough when I bought this, point is, you will probably never use it. Too little light gets through and there is too high a magnification, few telescopes can deliver the light needed. Look to their other eyepieces between 10 and 20 mm focal length.

I didn't know enough when I bought this, point is, you will hardly ever use it. Too little light gets through and there is too high a magnification, few telescopes can deliver the light needed.

Livraison en date prévusEt pour le prix très bonne oculaire !