Orion Epic 9.5 concern

Hello knowledgable forum!
I have a new Epic eyepiece that has turned out to have minor image problems. Last night at a local star party, I found that both Saturn and Jupiter were impossible to come to crisp focus on the lower right edge of the image. Thinking that it might be collimation problems with my Meade 10" SN, I tried in out on a couple other neighboring scopes....same thing. I tried my 30-year-old Edscorp 20mm Erfle in my scope and everything was crisp. Anyone else find problems with the Orion Epic series or did I just get a 'bad apple'?
Thanks - Terry

Terry,

Assuming the eyepiece is clean, it's a defect whether other people have it or not. If your scope is collimated, you should get the same softness as you approach the edge of field from any direction. Assymetrical performance is a smoking gun indicating a problem somewhere. An easier way to rule out the OTA is to rotate the eyepiece. If the bad portion of the edge rotates with the eyepiece, then you have it: there's a defect in the eyepiece. It may be fixable if a lens element is tilted, or cleanable, if a lens element is dirty, but I'd probably just return it for a replacement.
--
Mike