Hyperion 8-24 zoom

I am thinking of buying one of the new Hyperion 8-24 zoom eyepieces and would mostly use it on a Vixen 130 f/5 reflector. The magnfication range seems like a good match for this scope. I do have a 24 Panoptic and a GTO zoom (22-7mm) but the convenience of leaving one eyepiece in place and the Hyperion being parfocal seems like a nice advantage to fine tune the magnification. The Vixen's short focal length means I will still be able to get nearly 2 deg. with the 50 deg apfov with the hyperion at 24 mm. I really don't like the GTO at low power with it's narrow 38 deg apfov at 22mm and am wondering if I will miss the Panoptics wider field? Any opinions will be appreciated.

Dave Adams

Dave,
I think the 8-24mm Baader zoom eyepiece is a good idea, IMO. Yes, it won't have the nice spacewalk view of the Panoptic, but at this low power I don't notice much difference on most targets. I have the Vixen brand. It is not as well corrected as the Panotpics but is sharp enough to give a really nice view. If you put one in a Powermate or Meade TeleXtender you'll have one heck of a star-splitter!

David E

Hi Dave,I've owned the Hyperion zoom since xmas and have also owned the 24 Pan as well. The 24 pan is a nice ep but the ER is just to tight for my taste. The zoom does not have as wide of field of vue but on my 12" F5 it works great and once you go to the 20mm position or lower the fov opens real nice. I have owned both the TV 8-24mm zoom and the Vixen one as well but they just dont come close to the Hyperion. It works great for planets,lunar and deep sky and does compare very well against even some higher priced ep's as well. Works well on my ED 80(F7.5) and Intes Micro 603(f10) as well. There is only some slight field curvature found at the 24mm position on my F5 dob but that really some slight coma found on fast dobs anyway and once you rotate to past say 22 or lower its gone. Its a steal and the coating are excellent. Good Luck, James.

I assume you saw the threat on this eyepiece last 12/5/2006
Eyepieces > Message #491045
http://www.astromart.com/forums/viewpost.asp?forum_post_id=491045&poll_id=&news_id=&page=

Clear Skies, Bill

Thanks to everyone for their posts and I am will get the Baader zoom when more become available. I had read the earlier threads in the forums and they were all very positive. It will also be a nice match for my TV-76 which I use now for daytime use, and my 8" f/5 Starbucket.

Dave