Explore Scientific 100° Series Nitrogen-Purged Waterproof Eyepiece 14mm

4.0 Incredible eyepiece!

Quality Lenses,Strong Construction,Accurate

Heavy

The 14mm ES 100 is an excellent eyepiece in its own right. However, a few things would make this the perfect eyepiece:

1. If it was lighter in weight.
2. If it was not so bulky.
3. If it had longer eye relief and not have a recessed top lens.

Otherwise, everything about this eyepiece is top notch. If you have a large scope and need that 100 degree field, this is it. The apparent field alone is so huge, you feel like you are falling in the view! Great for capturing really wide open clusters, or a number of galaxies in one view. It is also excellent on The Veil Nebula with a UHC filter or an O-III to see detail with.

This review was provided courtesy of AgenaAstro.com

5.0 Excellent Eyepiece

Quality Lenses,Nice Construction,Sharp,Sharp To The Edges

Heavy

I've used this in a 150mm f5 refractor, a 102mm f6.5 refractor, a 120mm f7.5 refractor, a 203mm f7 Newt, and an 8" SCT. It provides pinpoint stars right out to the edges in each of these scopes and I have not detected any CA in the scopes that wouldn't have any inherent CA. It is heavy so if you're already pushing the limits of your mount and you don't already use any accessories as heavy as this you're going to need a sturdier mount! This is a world class EP by any definition and I don't regret the purchase.

This review was provided courtesy of AgenaAstro.com

5.0 Explore Scientific 14mm 100 degree FOV waterproof

Awesome space walk effect, sharp to outer 10% of FOV. Comfortable eye relief

Heavy, you will need to re-balance your smaller scope.

The ES 14mm is taller and slightly heavier then my Meade series 4000 UWA (82 degree AFOV). I have always felt that this was the best eyepiece Meade ever produced, and it would have to take one heck of an eyepiece to dethrone it. WELL One heck of an eyepiece has dethroned it.

Through my SkyWatcher 120ED Pro refractor, the ES 14mm had substantially more FOV, stars were sharp TO the edge in the scope which is F7.5. The eye relief was comfortable for me as I do not wear eyeglasses, it gave everything I looked at a walk in the space effect!! I noticed no false color at all caused by the eyepiece. Looking at M57 through the ED scope with a myriad of pinpoint stars across that huge field, made M57 look 3D. The Meade was no slouch either, it showed pinpoint stars almost to the very edge like the ES, but the FOV was not as dramatic. Now the test would be a fast optical system. Enter my son's 6" F5 home made dob. Since last night the skies were not as pristine and forecasts of thunder showers, I did not take out the 22.6" to test the ES 14mm.

I did use my sons homemade 6"f5 dob for a brief comparison of both eyepieces. I looked at two objects with this scope M13 and M57. First with the Meade 14mm UWA. A very impressive FOV and I saw some resolution in M13. The stars in the 6"F5 scope were sharp until the outer 10% of the FOV then I did notice some seagull formation. I now placed my new ES 14mm. Wow, the FOV now really looks immense, the globular is floating in 3D amongst the field stars. Moving the scope so I can see how the brighter stars react, I notice the very outer edge had loss of sharpness, I estimate it was less then the Meade UWA so less then 10%. Moving to M57, with the ES 14mm I had a very similar view as i did the evening before with the 120 ED APO refractor, but of course not to that extent. The image through the little DOB, none the less was breathtaking. This new eyepiece is very impressive. Using a lower quality eyepiece a Meade 32mm SWA series 4000, the outer 20% of the FOV was affected. This definitely is a fine eyepiece. I am thrilled I added this eyepiece to my collection.

The specs. weight = 1 lb 14 oz, eye relief is 14.5mm, the eyepiece has 9 Elements; Combination of: Dense Crown, Light Crown, Dense Flint, and Lanthanum Optical Glasses, the barrel is Stainless-Steel, 2-inch, Double Taper, Accepts Standard 2-inch Filters