Delos v Nagler

[FaithJ]

With the popularity of the Ethos and Delos designs, there are probably plenty of bargains to be had with people replacing their Naglers and Panoptics, etc, so I've ended up buying a couple of second-hand Naglers at TSP. I bought Jimi's 9mm Type 1, and a 12mm Type 4 which was for sale at CCTS's stand at TSP. I liked the Delos EPs very much that Alvin lent me but CCTS had sold out of both the 10mm and 6mm (note to self: in future, get to vendors' on Monday and don't leave it until Wednesday afternoon!).

I tried out both Nagler EPs during TSP and am very pleased with them (I've not had a chance to try them out on my 18" here at home yet, thanks to some unseasonably wet weather). I will still get a Delos in future, probably the 6mm or maybe 4.5 and 3.5mm when these two come out in the Fall.

[bearkite]

Sorry Faith... You can blame me for snagging up those Deloi...

I bought both Monday afternoon. The 10 spent A LOT of time in my scope for the remainder of the week. I can't wait to get the 14. As soon as that happens, both my 13 and 9 T6 Naglers are getting sold off. I'll probably end up with the entire line (with the probable exception of the 17.3).

The reason I'm making the change is two-fold. My favorite EP is my 17mm T4 Nagler. I absolutely love the fact that I see the entire FOV as soon as I put my eye to the EP. I've never had the same views with the T6's or Ethoi. I get that view with the Delos. And that comes down to eye relief. The other reason is contrast. And the Delos definitely out performs the Naglers. That was my first reaction when looking through them. Fantastic contrast. I took them up for Bob Kepple to try on Friday and that was his reaction too. Very dark background...

The reason I won't be doing the 17.3 Delos is I love my 17 Nagler and there just isn't enough of a difference to make me jump. I borrowed the 17.3 from Scott Ewart so I could do an A-B comparison. We chose NGC 4565 as the target and had three sets of eyes doing the test. Robert (Doc) Werkman and I thought the 17.3 gave marginally better views of the dark lane. Josh (Skyraider) Wright thought the 17 Nagler was a little better. There you go... Just not enough of a difference to make the jump. I will say that the 17.3 was noticeably lighter. But that's an 1.25" EP being compared to a BIG 2" EP.

Sorry for buying those up before you had the chance.

I'm blaming the vendors... He should have brought more...

[rmollise]

What's an "Ethoi"?.. Sorry I just don't like those plurals...too much for this good old boy, I reckon.
Anyhow...I am always surprised when people say they can't see the whole field of the Ethoses. Never had a problem doing so, nor have any of my buddies. The Delos is a fine eyepiece, but I find it hardly ground breaking. It's an improvment on the Panoptic, which is a fine eyepiece given its restrictive field...but I haven't found much to get excited about.

[Jimi Lowrey]

Rod,

Last year during the TSP I did a A-B comparison of the 13 Ethos and the then new prototype 14 Delos in my 48" F/4. Uncle Al was with me at my observatory at the time of the comparison. What I found out and it was confirmed by several other observers was that you could see fainter stars with the 14 Delos than you could see with the 13 Ethos. From my experience the Delos has better light transmission. But there nothing like the 100 degree field of view of the Ethos. I guess there is no perfect eyepiece for every view. Thats why uncle Al has so much of my money

[Ivan Maly]

Indeed I may be mistaken but I'd think that the Japanese plural for "Honda" would be "Honda". Yet we say "Hondas". So I say "Ethoses".