Which eyepiece should I purchase?

I know this question or issue comes more from my excited anticipation than a real need to know right away, but... I hope to take delivery soon of a 22” NightSky goto dobsonian (approx. 2500mm focal length).

I live in central Maine, so the skies can get fairly dark, but not super steady. I have a 26 Nagler and a 14 Meade UWA (Series 4000). I was thinking of getting a 10 Pentax XW, a 9 Nagler, or a 10 Radian. The 10 will give me about 250x and the 9 about 277x. I think these are the upper limits for most nights. I remember I could not go above 235x with my Meade 12” LX200 before the view became too soft (and the view already was a bit soft).

Does anyone in the Northeast have a large dobsonian with which they can regularly go above 250x? I will do general viewing of all objects (planets, deep sky, doubles).

Any recommendations as to which eyepiece to get?

Thanx so much.

Gregg

I have rarely been able to go above 250 in Southern VT. 150 to 230 is usually it. That's with a quality 8 inch DOB, but I don't remember my times with the 16 inch doing any better on power. It's generaqlly atmosphere limited.

The Pentax XL or XW would be quite nice and so would the 10mm Radian. I like the Pentax EPs and it is a hard choice between them and the Radians. I own both types and use them both, hard to say which I use more, but the XLs do get a bit of use, probably because the focal length of 5mm, 7mm and 10.5mm are all usable on most nights.
Here is an interesting review that just happens to cover all these EPs, the Pentax is an XL, but still it is imformative.
http://66.102.7.104/search?q=cache:l1bkwDaOYC8J:www.cloudynights.com/item.php%3Fitem_id%3D256+10.5mm+Pentax+XL&hl=en&client=firefox-a

Gregg --

I know I'm in the minority here (for non-eyeglass wearers, anyway), but the Nagler T6's don't have enough eyerelief for me. Everytime my eyelashes even brush the glass, it sets off my blink reflex and it's a couple of seconds before I can concentrate on the view again.

I'd go with the Pentax. The Radian would be OK, but I prefer more FoV if I can get it.

-- Jeff.