$500? Seriously? I reckon that's for the astronomer who has (and can afford) everything. My goodness. Well, they are Argon purged. BTW, that's 1,068 bottles of San Miguel Beer in case you're wondering.

 

I had not been wondering about the San Miguel, but this is good to know. I think this eyepiece is for glasses wearers who wish they could have the hyper-wide experience but have been stuck with the ~70° offerings. I don't need glasses to observe, but I could almost be tempted by an EP like this were it not for the size and weight. I'm sure there are more than a few bespectacled stargazers who will appreciate this option. And maybe even abstain long enough to be able to afford it.

 

By golly, I never considered that. That is indeed a bargain. But, you can still buy two ST80's for this price; one for each eye. Doesn't looking at 2 different objects at the same time sound cooler than having an extra one or two tenths of a degree in your FOV?

 

I love the way you equate items to their beer-equivalent So when I look at my relatively new 152mm Apo, I have to remember that it could have gone towards 8,117 bottles of San Miguel Beer!

 

Sad, but true. Astronomers, like most hobbyists are collectors, albeit a tad more fanatical. Then you get to a point where you can no longer see the forest for the trees. But that's OK, as long as you can afford it. Personally, if could afford it, I would have 7 telescopes (one for each major star in the Pleiades), 12 motorcycles, 50 guitars and 8,117 bottles of San Miguel Beer.

 

These eyepieces will be unique in that they will be the widest apparent field eyepieces usable by glasses wearers who wish to see the entire field.

 

I am definitely in the wrong business. I should have marketed either diet pills or Astronomy gear.
Also, I really don't think you can see the entire field at the same time. Even when I am using averted vision, I seldom wander to the edge of the field. But that's just me. If you want to enjoy a wide FOV, buy 2 of those sweet Vixen SG2.1 x 42 binocs for the same price! One for you and one for your significant other.

 

Well, there is "view sharply" which is confined to about a 5° field of vision.
Then there is "view with direct vision" which is about a 30° field.
And there is "view with peripheral vision" which extends to 140° to 180° depending on the person.
When using any eyepiece, you can look directly at the center and see the edge of the field in peripheral vision.
If you want to look at the edge in 60° or less, you merely look sideways to see the edge of the field with direct vision.
That won't work if the eyepiece is wider because moving the eye to look at the edge moves the pupil of the eye right off the exit pupil of the eyepiece.
So, on 65-70° and wider, some rolling of the head, keeping the pupil aligned with the exit pupil, is necessary.
On 65-70°, so little rolling of the head is necessary that most people don't even realize they're doing it. Plus, it's only to look at the edge of the field with direct vision.
At 80-100+°, though, a fair amount of head rolling is necessary to look at the edge.
How that will play out with glasses wearers, I don't know.
What I do know is that glasses wearers have not been able, on the whole, to even see the edges of the field, even with peripheral vision, on 100+° eyepieces because their eye reliefs are not long enough to do so.
And designing the 100° eyepieces to have longer eye relief would have added appreciable cost and weight.
Thus, the long eye relief 92° eyepieces.

The thing about the truly hyper-wide fields is not whether or not you look at the edge--it's the unbounded nature to the field. If you were in space and had a helmet that allowed unlimited lateral vision, you probably could see 180 degrees of field. But you'd turn your head to look at something directly. It wouldn't bother you that there was still field of view in your peripheral vision. Why should that bother you in an eyepiece?
Some people say they need a smaller field to make sure they've moved the target to the center. But if the entire field is sharp, what difference would it make what part of the field the object was in when viewed?

A lot of people out there like the 100° field of view but, having to wear glasses, they simply cannot see the effect of such a wide field because their eyes are too far back to see that much field. Now, all of us retailers hope, they will see the entire field.