I was hunting around the internet and came across these EP's for only $60 and the place offers free shipping.  Looks like a pretty good deal to me, but what do you think about these EP's?

Thanks for your replies!!

EDIT:  Apparently these have been offered for $60 for a while.  It's just now that I'm interested in getting a couple or three planetary EP's.  Ergo, it is just now that I have came across the offer. 

 

I have either contracted leprosy and no one wants to touch this or absolutely no one on this particular forum that deals with ALL things astronomical has ANY kind of experience with and/or opinion on this line of eyepieces.

Oh well!!!

It seems as of late the forums have been slow.

 At any rate, I think they are the same or similar to the orion edge on planetary. I had planned to order a 5mm, but I ended up getting a TMB planetary instead. From my understanding, the zhumells are pretty good.

 

Dj

Thanks, Dj

Same as the Orion Edge-On except for cost and shipping!!!  I do believe I've talked myself into trying one or two...heck, maybe three, of these EP's.

 I just ordered the 5MM to use with my Zhumell 10" DOB. All I can say is this is a fantastic EP for that price. The image is razor sharp with great contrast. Saturn looked amazing! With my 10" the 5MM gives me around 250X. The field of view is flat with no distortion at the edge of the field of view. The eye relief is great! it doesn't have a little peep hole like the lower MM sizes have. I'm going to get a couple more of these. It's a great buy, and Worth every cent.

Thanks G.Lyell,

I think next week I'm going to order a 21mm Hyperion to go with the 13mm and 8mm I bought a couple of weeks ago.  And, if my funds work out the way I have it figured, I'm going to order the 9mm Zhumell at the same time.  Then later I'll get the 12.5 and 5.

Thanks for the review!!!

Just came across this thread! I, too, am interested in these eyepieces. How did you end up liking them? How well do you think they'll work in an f/5.4 scope? How about an Astroscan, at f/4.2? How do they compare to Televue's Radians or Celestron's X-cels? (To name too eyepieces at different ends of the spectrum that I'm familiar with!)

 i just recieved one of these 6mm thursday  and am using it with my orion XT8i and i like the eyepiece. sharp views of jupiter and it's moons.it looks  identical to the one on orion's website for a lot less money.but i  could be wrong on that..i am thinking about purchasing another one .it cost me 65.00 and some change after paying tn sales tax from tele scopes dot com. i think u will like them. just my opinion so.......just wanted to let u know someone has purchased one  :)

goodluck and may u have clear skies

 

That's helpful! Sounds like winner. My scope's f/5.4, so I should be OK. If you end up getting a lower power one, chime back in, too! I'm considering these for some DSO observing. I'm looking at the 12mm one for 80x in one scope and, for my Astroscan (f/4.2 !!), a low 37x! Of course, at those prices, it's worth a gamble even!

 Hello Everyone.

Since my last post on these Zhumell Planetary Eyepieces, I have purchased 2 more. I now have the 3MM / 5MM / 9MM to use with my Zhumell 10 inch dob scope.

These are the exact same EPs that Orion sells for 100+ dollors. The lenses are the same and they are made at the same place. I have compared the views with the Zhumell Planetary and the Orions and their is no diffrence ( Except the price and the name ).

Zhumell is a good company, I have a lot of Zhumell brands and not one bad thing to say. Anyway, As I said in my last post, the views I get are fantastic with the Zhumell Planetary eyepieces. You may have read in other posts that they don't work that good with Deep Sky targets, well that's WRONG!

With my 9MM, I have had just breathtaking views of the Hercules Cluster, Ring Nebula, double stars and galaxys. Put the 9MM in and scan the Milky Way it's amazing! I have been observing now for over 20 years, I have used lots of equiptment, and looked through lots of diffrent EPs. These EPs so far are some of my favorite to use.

The field is flat all the way across and around the FOV, The contrast is great and the planets are spectacular. With my 3MM on saturn and Jupiter I could very easly see fine detal and color. I saw the comet impact on Jupiter last week very clear and detailed. 

So, don't be afraid or hesitant to purchase one or more of these. They are the same as Orion ecept you can get 2 for what Orion wants for just one. You won't be dissipointed. They are made very well and are a bit on the heavy side, but I like that because they feel solid and tough.

Also, if you want to make the deep sky stand out more, grab a Zhumell Sky Glow or UHC filter. Telescopes dot com has a all four in a set or separately Sky Glow / UHC / O-III / variable moon filter for 100 bucks, or 39 separate with free shipping.

 

Gordo

 

Gordo, nice update and commentary. What's the f ratio of that Zhumell 10"? If it's about f/5, then you're talking pretty high power on M13! 130x or so? I'm particularly interested in whether the long focal length ones in the series, that is, for low power, do well on nebula (to gauge transmission) and star clusters (to gauge wide filed sharpness). Anyone used an 18mm? Or a 14.5mm? How do you think they'd compare to the Radians?

The F Ratio on my Zhumell 10 inch DOB is F4.7 and the focal length is 1250.  I haven't had the chance of trying Deep Sky with the Zhumell Planetarys in the upper Ratios ( 12MM and up ) so I can't honestly say how they would do. But I would think that they should perform very well, because the 9MM and 5MM does well.

For most of my deep sky viewing, when I'm not using the Zhumell's the eyepieces that I also like ( Wish Zhumell made their version of these) are the Orion Expanse Wide Field Eyepieces. These come in 4 focal lengths. They are 6MM / 9MM / 15MM / 20MM these are Oculars they have big eye lenses and an eye relief of 13 to 17MM and a 66 degree apparent field of view.

The price on these are not bad $59.95 each or the complete set for $215.00 just the shipping is high as always with Orion almost 12.00 just to ship an Eyepiece, so it turns into 70 bucks for each one. But as I said, with the 15MM I can get the whole Double Cluster in the eyepiece. The Andr galaxy and companion in the same FOV with the 20MM.

I can't afford all those High dollar EPs, and I wouldn't get any if I could. Sorry to say but I'm very satisfied with what I do have and the views it gives me. The human eye is only capable of so much. I would like to have a Celestron CPC 11" SCT one day, but I'm not holding my breath

Anyway, I wish zhumell would come out with these same Eyepieces and the free shipping would be nice. Of course Orion is a good buy if you can catch one of their free shipping specials.

Clear skys to all

 

Gordo

Great stuff! Appreciate the detailed reply. I have a couple of the Expanses, 6mm and 9mm, which have enormous fields of view, well in excess of their advertised 66 degrees (74-75 degrees). They do pretty well, too, in terms of sharpness across the fov, even in fast scopes. The eye relief of those two, however, while workable for eyeglass wearers, is a bit a tight, and the eyepiece suffers from some odd kidney beaning effects. At one point, I owned the 20mm Expanse and really liked it, very comfortable with glasses, but it didn't do well in my Astroscan (f/4.2) (lots of astigmatism), so I switched to a 22mm Orion Epic. That's why I'm intrigued by this edge-on series. I picked up a used 12mm Radian at one point (lots of $$), so it'd be great to discover that I could replace it with a less expensive eyepiece! I also succumbed to the Pentax XLs... really wonderful eyepieces. But still, I share your sense that too much can be spent on (invested in?) eyepieces and that less expensive oculars can be quite satisfying. (Sometimes, I think I enjoyed the hobby even more when I was using a low-end 26mm Celestron Plossl and no-name barlow!) For anyone else following this thread, I did find some informative and helpful reviews on line-- at the Orion site and telescopes.com about the eyepieces. The 18mm was flagged as being different (and it's the only Zhumell one that doesn't have a corresponding Orion f.l.!). I'll probably start with a 12.5 and, once I get it, I'll post back here with my impressions! Thanks again, Gordo!

 It's nice to get some good EPs if you can find some at a very good price. Like I posted in my reply, I'm very satisfied with the views I get with the EPs I have.

In the hobby of Amateur Astronomy, it's very easy to get off track where the hobby becomes more about the equipment buying this and that, than the pleasure of observing itself. Some people just keep buying and buying stuff and it becomes necessary for them just to keep spending money on this and that. It's a cycle that never stops because it's a constant upgrade process, and all the wonderful sights of the cosmos gets lost.

Well, I don't make alot of money to begin with. So, I decided that I would get the best quality EPs that was within the limit of my budget. I feel I have that now, so while everyone around me is talking I have to get this and that, did you see the new so and so, I'm over in the dark part enjoying the sights I see through the eyepiece.

That's why I have gotten so much satisfaction out of this for over 20 years now. I'm happy and content with what I have, and what it allows me to do. I do hope someday to get a Celestron CPC 11" SCT because I would like to have the tracking feature. But then again, I can find anything I want to see and tracking manually is no big deal. Been doing it for years, and that's how it used to have to be done.

 This is why I decided that my first "serious" eyepiece (by that I only mean not the Plössls that came with my scope, though truth to tell, the image quality of those Plössls really wasn't all that bad, and I was only really annoyed at their short eye relief) was going to be a BO/TMB Planetary 7 mm.

I got to like it so much that I got the 9 mm.  Then, the prices dropped for a time (and a few are still available at this low price) to $40 USD and I got the entire line of TMB Planetaries.  My only other eyepiece is a 21 mm Orion Stratus.  As you might surmise, I originally only wanted to replace my Orion Sirius Plössls with something with more eye relief, as the images in the Plössls were acceptably sharp, at least in the very center of the field.  I have found this one Stratus and the whole line of (BO/)TMBs to be quite satisfactory and suspect I will not go or even just hanker after any more expensive "premium" eyepiece.  My next astronomy purchases will probably go to other equipment, as filters (I have none yet) or whatever may seem to greatly enhance my viewing without costing me too much.

Gordo, your post was wonderful! It should be read by all amateurs, especially those on the eyepieces forums of the two big astro net forums! And taken to heart. The hobby is about the wonders of seeing the universe and even modest equipment--and inexpensive eyepieces--can open up the delights of the heavens. Too often, in too many cases, and I'm guilty of this myself, the quest becomes the equipment; seeking out the supposedly better views but for much more money--and spending more time contemplating purchases or comparing gear than simply enjoying the views and the night sky! Well, we have to add daytime views, too, as one can do solar observing and nature watching also! Thanks for the well expressed reminder of why we got into this hobby in the first place!

 Thanks everyone for the comments. As I said I have been doing home based Astronomy for a long time now. I used a small refractor for the longest time. Then I moved up to a reflector when the prices started coming down ( as you can tell by my other questions I posted ).

I really like my Zhumell 10" DOB. I've gotten good at collimation and all that goes with being the owner of a reflector. But, a couple of years ago, I was at a small Astronomy get together and some one came up to me and asked me what it was that keeps me interested in this.

After all standing outside in the dark, all kinds of weather and bugs. I just don't get it they said. Well, this is what I told them.

 Astronomy is for a special kind of person. We are people that have a strong desire to understand the world around us and above us. To look for answers and to see how beautiful this universe we live in really is. Yes, it's easy and convenient to just look up nebula, stars and galaxy's on the net or in books, but the feeling you get when you take your telescope out and you find that distant galaxy, the star cluster and see it for your self through the telescope looking at it with your own eyes. it's a feeling that never leaves you no matter how long or how many times you see them.

The Universe is so big, it's so exciting and it's just so amazing to think how small we really are, but at the same time we are all a part of this magnificent wonder, and it fills you with a feeling that's hard to describe. It's such a peaceful feeling to be out there at night with you're telescope standing under a beautiful sky. The stars are a comfort, their is something about it that can't be put into words.

Just go outside on a clear night, look up and you will understand.

Gordo

Hello All,

A week ago I got Zhumell 14,5 and 18mm EPs to pair with my Celestron CPC800. So far I’ve used only Plossls that I inherited from my old 6" Discovery Newtonian and had no experience with any better EP. Putting Zhumells to work I looked for some improvement but must say that difference was amazing and WOW factor was there. These EPs are worth every penny spent on them. Comparing to Plossls the AFOV with 55 deg (as according to specs) is much, much improved. The same when it comes to brightness and color. I wish I could compare them to Naglers but well, does not have one. On a low end there is small view distortion at the edges but this is minor and difficult to notice if not particularly looking for. On first night I used Zhumells to observe Jupiter. Even though with the Moon at its best I had a good view of the red spot and many details of clouds in nice color. Then I reached deeper and I got Uranus with its greenish surface and then fantastic view of bluish Neptune. My appetite grew and I turned my scope towards M57 that appeared faint but clearly visible. The Moon was taking its tall. Next target was M13 and again I got it with many details. I was really satisfied and must say that I got more than expected from $60 EP. Surely, it was good investment. Fact is that I noticed difference between 18 and 14,5 EPs. First gives me 113x and I thought it would be brighter than 14,5 with 140x. Wrong. Though decent, the 18mm has lower transparency and brightness. Next day after my session I ordered 9mm without doubt. I have not put it through its paces yet due to heavy clouds that surrounded my area.

 

jerr

Great post! Appreciated the details of the observing session. That CPC800 is an SCT right? With a very long focal length, which makes it much more forgiving of eyepiece flaws. That's good for you, but not good for me with very fast f ratio scopes. It sounds as if the 18mm didn't do that well and is the odd man out here! Which fits my observation that the Orion line up lacks the 18mm, whereas the Zhumell "clones" have it. I found with the X-cel vs. Epic something similar... the Orion Epics added a 14mm, but that wasn't up to the standards of the others in the line (3 different samples!).

 I just ordered the 3mm, thanks for the info everyone!