HI all,
I've been inactive in the hobby for a while. Coming back into it now, and looking around for something to add to my very nice trio of Pentax XLs (7, 10.5, 14) where the 10.5 is the only one I would really not give up. But also not necessarily wanting to continue the habbint of paying absolute top dollar for the last 10% performance.
So now I look around and see claims of 90% the performance of a nagler for $100 in the 2" 30mm ish range. With several... gee, lets see if I remember them all.
Orion Q70 2" EPs claiming 70° at 32mm for $100
And I believe the exact same EP from Eclipse SWA2 for $90
Meade QX 2" 30mm is also 70° selling for around $90
and finally, this kind of blows my mind:
Agena UWA 30mm 80° AFOV $80
In short, are there any suprises now adays for WIDE field of views in the 30mm range? Or does the addage you get what you pay for still apply? Or does the 80/20 rule apply: 20% of the cost will get you 80% of the performance of the premium EPs (of which I have half a set as mentioned above, but nor am I a EP snob who could not stoop to have a cheap good bang for your buck wide field ep for binocular like feeling through a scope...)
Thanks for catching me up and offering any suggestions. Even if your suggestion is bite the bullet and add another pentax in that range, well, so be it.
TomL.
I've been inactive in the hobby for a while. Coming back into it now, and looking around for something to add to my very nice trio of Pentax XLs (7, 10.5, 14) where the 10.5 is the only one I would really not give up. But also not necessarily wanting to continue the habbint of paying absolute top dollar for the last 10% performance.
So now I look around and see claims of 90% the performance of a nagler for $100 in the 2" 30mm ish range. With several... gee, lets see if I remember them all.
Orion Q70 2" EPs claiming 70° at 32mm for $100
And I believe the exact same EP from Eclipse SWA2 for $90
Meade QX 2" 30mm is also 70° selling for around $90
and finally, this kind of blows my mind:
Agena UWA 30mm 80° AFOV $80
In short, are there any suprises now adays for WIDE field of views in the 30mm range? Or does the addage you get what you pay for still apply? Or does the 80/20 rule apply: 20% of the cost will get you 80% of the performance of the premium EPs (of which I have half a set as mentioned above, but nor am I a EP snob who could not stoop to have a cheap good bang for your buck wide field ep for binocular like feeling through a scope...)
Thanks for catching me up and offering any suggestions. Even if your suggestion is bite the bullet and add another pentax in that range, well, so be it.
TomL.
