Pentax 30XW Versus 27 Panoptic

Hi,
I am currently using a 27 Panoptic, and am thinking of trying a Pentax 30 XW. Anyone have any feedback on how these compare?

I currently use XWs from 5mm to 14mm and like them a lot for both optical quality and ergonomics (good eye relief, nice eyecup). On the other hand, I couldn't deal with the field curvature in the 20XW, which is why I have used Panoptics in the longer focal lengths.

Scopes are a 10 inch F6 dob (AstroSky) and an 80mm F7 refractor (Stellarvue NHNG).

Thanks,

Jeff Bennett

The 30mm XW will have less pincushion and be very sharp with very good coatings.
I too sold my 20mm XW because of the field curvature, but the 30mm is much better and there does not appear to be any present. the 14mm has a bit too, but is better than the 20mm for sure.
Now, is it worth the cost of a change? Well, if you sell the 27mm the cost should be reasonable, but it will be more for the 30mm unless you find a great deal. Even used they are not cheap.

I have a 10" F6 AstroSky as well and I've used a 27mm panoptic quite a few times (owned one for a couple years then sold it to buy other stuff). The only reason I don't have one right now is that I mostly observe at higher powers with the dob and I've been using binoviewers a lot with it. Right now I just use one of those ubquitous 30mm 80 deg. eyepieces from china. The 27 pan is a pretty darn good eyepiece and it's also 1/2 pound lighter than the 30mm XW. You would probably need to add counterweight to the back of the dob for the 30mm XW to balance. I know my Astro Sky 10" has a full thickness mirror and still needs cooling fans, a 3.5 AH battery and several pounds of weights in the back just to get it balance with a 1lb eyepiece, Telrad, and Orion 9x50 RA finder.

Joplin