TMB 9mm eyepiece

[Massoid]

Hi all

Does anyone here already own or have info about the 1.25" TMB 9mm wide angle eyepiece..

Thanks

[RussL]

Steve, I assume you're speaking of something different than my TMB Planetary? I have the 8mm. It's an amazingly good eyepiece for so little money. I'm very happy with it.

[Massoid]

hmm.. interesting feedback.. thanks Russ.. I'll look into it further

[RussL]

Steve, my planetary has a 60-degree AFOV, so that's not really "wide" in today's market. My only complaints have been on very bright objects where I see some light scatter, like a glow around the object, and once in awhile a ghost image. Jupiter and Venus are the worst culprits for that, as well as any bright star, but that's not what I use it for the most. It's great for my richfield viewing and has about 14mm eye relief. The image is very good, too. Got it for $40 on sale. Mine has the black barrel. I think some of the light scatter comes from a bright retaining ring. But, like I said I love the piece.

[Massoid]

Hi Russ

Thanks for the feedback. Having looked through a gazillion types of eyepieces over the years and seen all the new Chinese builds hitting the market under different names etc... I was curious about this offering. In fact more information at hand talks of a 2.5, 4, 5, 6 7 and 7.5mm designs in the TMB brand. Some strange steps there and are they in fact TMB designs or not. I sometimes wonder in the fast growing chinese opportunist market whether they simply stamp a name on the barrel without concern for recourse. Still though, I've seen internal reflections in a Televue and Baader Hyperion too depending where a bright star may be situated just outside the FOV. Like you say, it can sometimes be causes by an unblackened finish to the inside locking ring and in the William Optics 1.25" dielectric star diags, I have found they too can cause internal reflection in the image that I initially blamed on a Vixen EP.

Cheers
Steve

[RussL]

Steve, now that you mention it, I may need to take a closer look at my diagonal (Astro Tech 2" quartz dielectric) just in case some of the light scatter is coming from it. Otherwise, I'm pleased with that diagonal. But, I bought the TMB Planetary before the diagonal, so I believe it's the eyepiece. What gets me is that other than the light scatter and ghost image the eyepiece is so much better than the run-of-the-mill cheapo eyepieces on the market. I mean, $60 is cheap (and $40 on sale even better). It is a much better eyepiece than the Orion Q70 I recently spent $100 for. (I know the two are quite different designs, but I mean" in general" here). My plans to buy a TV 24 Pan have been set aside for now, but someday I'd like to see just how much better it would be.

Lemme know if you get the eyepiece you're talking about. I'd like to hear your opinion of it.