Well, it arrived this morning by Fedex.
I put it in my NS8GPS and pointed it at a neighbors TV antenna that I use to check FOV and crispness of field during day testing.
I will post first impressions based solely upon this limited use. I will post my real review on first real light when weather permits.
1) The packaging is good with a nice box fully padded with foam. It has a pouch included for placing it in you case I presume. Good fitting caps.
2) The EP looks quite nice being all black, even the barrel. Good fit and finish.
3) The barrel fits loosely in the diagonal. but not so sloppy as to be a problem.
4) Sidewalk test of the coatings shows it to not be as good as the 40mm Orion Optiluxe, 10.5mm Pentax XL or 17mm Nagler. Green in color like the Optiluxe, but it shows more reflection by 50% or more. Not any worse than the Meade UWA EPS.
5) Eye relief is almost identical to the 17mm Nagler T-4 and more than a 20mm Nagler T-2. Eye placement sensitivity is also about the same. It shows the total FOV without having to be as close to the EP as the 17mm Nagler or 20mm Nagler. Works best with the eye cup raised to avoid blackouts from eye placement. With cup down you have to place your eye right or it blacks out, this is just like the 17mm Nagler, no worse or better. I was able to use it without the cup being up without any real difficulty.
6) FOV is great with crisp image edge to edge with a f/10 scope in daytime. No problems in daytime with any off color or rings like the 31mm Nagler. Seems to have a pretty large FOV compared to the 20mm Nagler. It should be the same as a 22mm Nagler in FOV and what I saw seems to confirm this.
Now to get a chance to use it at night.
I would like to point out that though the sidewalk test showed the coatings to be not the best, I have to say the Meade UWA EP are also like this and they perform very well at night. So, I will hope that they do as well as the UWA despite the test. I am not totally convinced the test is that important or indicative of the performance of the EP at night.
I put it in my NS8GPS and pointed it at a neighbors TV antenna that I use to check FOV and crispness of field during day testing.
I will post first impressions based solely upon this limited use. I will post my real review on first real light when weather permits.
1) The packaging is good with a nice box fully padded with foam. It has a pouch included for placing it in you case I presume. Good fitting caps.
2) The EP looks quite nice being all black, even the barrel. Good fit and finish.
3) The barrel fits loosely in the diagonal. but not so sloppy as to be a problem.
4) Sidewalk test of the coatings shows it to not be as good as the 40mm Orion Optiluxe, 10.5mm Pentax XL or 17mm Nagler. Green in color like the Optiluxe, but it shows more reflection by 50% or more. Not any worse than the Meade UWA EPS.
5) Eye relief is almost identical to the 17mm Nagler T-4 and more than a 20mm Nagler T-2. Eye placement sensitivity is also about the same. It shows the total FOV without having to be as close to the EP as the 17mm Nagler or 20mm Nagler. Works best with the eye cup raised to avoid blackouts from eye placement. With cup down you have to place your eye right or it blacks out, this is just like the 17mm Nagler, no worse or better. I was able to use it without the cup being up without any real difficulty.
6) FOV is great with crisp image edge to edge with a f/10 scope in daytime. No problems in daytime with any off color or rings like the 31mm Nagler. Seems to have a pretty large FOV compared to the 20mm Nagler. It should be the same as a 22mm Nagler in FOV and what I saw seems to confirm this.
Now to get a chance to use it at night.
I would like to point out that though the sidewalk test showed the coatings to be not the best, I have to say the Meade UWA EP are also like this and they perform very well at night. So, I will hope that they do as well as the UWA despite the test. I am not totally convinced the test is that important or indicative of the performance of the EP at night.
[SIZE="Large"][/SIZE][COLOR="Blue"][/COLOR] Floyd Blue
Amateur Imager
