If you look through the Barsta eyepieces you will find the 70 degree one that is sold by Astro-Tech and also the "new" Celestron "chunky" 70 degree eyepiece. Have to admit I prefer the Explorer branding then the Starguider, and I suppose the TS branding of EDII is simpler and possibly, to me, nicer. So enough items to account for several grams difference. Never checked if all the chrome inserts are the same or not. Spacers will likely be fractionally different, if they are weighted then different scales and what was weighed - the end caps can be on of off. Weight? Well the glass inside is fractionally different, if nothing else to get the different focal lengths. So if you want the "correct" colouring I suggest all Starguiders at this time.įor me it means I do not want to lose/damage one of the Explorers.Īlan was at IAS last year so if I go I will ask if he is there again. I know I have 2 with anodised silver rings and they are different focal lengths. No idea why this is, but it wasn't what I expected. On mine I think the 5mm Starguider has the same ring colour as the 12mm Explorer. The Starguider and the Explorer of the same focal length have different coloured rings. Not 100% sure about the "cosmetics", for the simple reason i have a set (all 6) of Explorers with the different coloured rings and I have a Starguider. There again, one pentax new will buy a whole set of BST starguiders. Considering the 8mm should be the sharpest, most crisp with lower mag, a pentax does do noticeably better in my scope in clarity/sharpness and fine contrast features in a planet like Jupiter when I used them side by side. I will say that with the caveat, it is not easy to compare different focal lengths, but coming from how easy is to get details and fine contrast features from the views. When you start looking for fine details on planets though the difference become more apparent with the 8mm I have, but again, still very respectable performance, and to be fair that is in in fast scope at f4.7. Only the other night I was looking at a glob for a good while, and used a 6,7,8mm eyepieces, a TV and pentax being the 6 and 7 ( premium eyepieces, 200+ pounds new), but the BST did look to much out of place in performance on that target at all to me, though it was the least preferred view to me overall ( without honestly trying to be biased ), but not by much at all, certainly not in proportion to the price tag. Great bang for the buck.Ī mini review based on my experiences with the 8mm: If you stretch to the prices of the paradigms another heap of options open up too for similar money but at 49 pounds the BST have a good spot right now seems to me. Personally I'd buy from him, unless you can find out to the contrary that the other brands do indeed use a higher level of QA, coatings or something else. I could not find that info. Alan has more info when selling his goods and is the only one that gives exact weights for each one, design used etc. Where available they do tend to show the same arrangement of a 6/4 design. There may be some errors/inconsistencies in the info on some sites.Įxactly the same including coatings ? who knows, always a bit of a mystery to me the eyepiece world and what vendors are up to with some of these things. The 18mm BST starguider at 181 grams on STL. Now for a little comparison, the 18mm paradigm is stated at 159 grams here Though interestingly it has some small indentations which I can also spot on the astrotech paradigms. Just one last question, are the explorers and starguider identical both optically and cosmetically? As if I were to collect the set it would be nice for them all to be the same And interesting to see that there is a brand behind it all, I take it you've used the BST'S and I've heard nothing but good about them so maybe I will buy one and see what there all about. Thanks for the great response it's nice to clear it up. If the cost bothers you by being low then there are several that get their own name on them and then ask twice the price, but you get the same eyepiece. No idea who designed the Starguiders/Explorers but they did a good job and got it right for the price of the items. If Alan bought them in big enough numbers they would put StL on the side at no cost - I asked Alan this once. BST eyepieces are produced by BARSTA, Barsta Eyepieces.īasically Barsta = Bar STa, BST is simply a nice easy roll-off-the-tongue abbreviation.Īs best I am aware noone else makesthe ones we call BST Expolorer/Starguiders.īST do brand them for other people, Astro-Tech, Orion, TS and others, but other then the name on the outside they all come from the one place.
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