Best eyepieces for Pronto.

Hello,

I have acquired a Pronto telescope(second hand) and I like know your opinion on which is the best eyepieces for this refractor.

Thank you,

Paul

Paul,
I have had a Pronto for 9 years and despite the larger and better color corrected scope that I own, I will never let this one get away. This little scope got me back into astronomy. My most used eyepieces with this scope were the 20mm TeleVue Plossl for low power(24x) and the 4.8mm Nagler (100x). I rarely pushed this little scope past 100 power. The newer 5mm Nagler has a much wider eyelense for easier viewing. With the wide field of view it makes a great eyepiece to use at a star party. Additionally to frame the Moon in it's entirety I use an 11mm Plossl, a 32mm 1.25" Plossl for the widest posible field of view with the Pronto's 1.25" diagonal, and alternately 7-8mm Plossls, Orthos and Naglers. I have not had any luck with Kellners on the Pronto due to the short focal length.
Enjoy that Pronto!
Cliff

Hello,

Thank you very much for all opinions, ..also, I like know what magnification are best for this telescope, for wide angle and for high magnification,and medium range.

Again, thank you.

Paul

Hi Paolo,

I have owned a Pronto for five years, and it has been a wonderful scope.

I have a 35mm Panoptic which provides an immense 5-degree field. It is also the most comfortable eyepiece I have used.

I also use a 13mm Nagler Type 6 and a 7mm Nagler Type 1. The 7mm is an ideal mid-magnification eyepiece (69x). It is very sharp. Planets appear small at this power, but very sharp. This is also a good eyepiece to observe deep sky objects with.

Like Clyde, I also use a 4mm Radian for higher magnification.

Hope this is helpful.

Aaron McNeely

Paulo: I have sent you this response on another site but perhaps other recipients of this site might be able to use this information too.

--I would highly recommend the excellent Televue website's section on eyepiece selection. They recommend selecting eyepieces based on Exit Pupil, and their eyepiece calculator pop-up can give you many suggestions (this also works for competitor's eyepieces, and for any other scopes you have, too). A power of 150 is recommended for high pwoer viewing (the Pronto can often handle higher powers, but focus travel and mount stability can become issues). I find that if more power is needed it might be time to bring out a bigger scope.
--I have found a super wide angle (we have had a Meade 32 mm for many years) is good, although for general night and terrestrial wider-angle viewing an Edmund RKE 28 mm is actually my favorite because the wide lens and narrow housing make for enjoyable viewing. A TV 20 Plossl is hard to beat for contrast and sharpness. I'm glad to see other members like the old TV 9mm Nagler (we also enjoy the contrast on our 7 mm Brandon). A Barlow is good for the scope. Siebert makes some outstanding eyepieces at higher powers, including the Starsplitter series.
--I recently purchased a Denk binoviewer and find it is ideal on the Pronto. A binoviewer seems best for brighter objects, which often makes quick setup a more desirable factor than power -- hence the Pronto's advantage.
--Some accesories to consider are polarizing filters for the moon, a camel's hair brush to lift dust off the glass, and the balance bar. For this scope, a slo-mo drift control (like on the Vixen Icarus) is hard to beat too. Stability with a lightweight mount is one of the advantages of the size.
--Congratulations on your purchase. The Pronto is a decent, forgiving scope and we have yet to find a "bad" eyepiece, so this makes your selection easier. We have owned one for several years and decided to kep it even after our TV-60 (its intended replacement) arrived. Hope you enjoy yours as much as we have ours. What a decent scope.