Excelsis - Display Vote

Harry Siebert 2" 36mm Observatory Class

In search of a 2-inch wide-field EP in the 30-35mm range for my 17.5-inch f/5 truss scope, i called Harry to see if he could help (the megabuck megaweight jobs are not a consideration for me)
On his advice I decided to purchase one of the new Siebert 36mm Observatory EP's. This EP looks good, weighs well under one pound, has an approx 1.5-inch eye lens, a set-screw recess, and comes in one of Harry's neat belt-pouches. It also has Harry's incredible internal blackening - man it is *black*, way more so than my TV/UO/Celestron EP's.
He also supplied a press-fit eyecup to keep eyelash crud off the eye-lens - not sure if this comes standard.

Performance-wise i am very pleased - this eyepiece is a keeper. Stars are in focus across the field (70deg I think), it is not fussy regarding eye-position, and has good eye-relief without blackout. It is very easy to focus, unlike some EP's which require the focus to be 'spot on'. At f/5 it performs way better than my UO 32mm Koenig (too much black-out, too fussy re eye-position, and too many seagulls). It is also more user-friendly than my 40mm Axiom, due to smaller size and less out-travel.
In all this looks like being a great general purpose EP for a big f/5 scope.

I do not have any 2-inch Nagler/Panoptics to A-B it with, but based on reviews and comments i have seen on the web i have no reason to believe they would perform noticably better than the Siebert.
As a combination of fine performance and reasonable price i give this baby a 10.

Bob Bennett, Maple Vly WA

Overall Rating: 10
Optics:10 Value:10
Weight: 12 (Trustworthy Vote)
Date: 12/04/2002 12:13:10 am PST
By: rjb
Link to this vote: http://www.excelsis.com/1.0/displayvote.php?voteid=160859

fussy re eye-position, and too many seagulls). It is also more user-friendly than my 40mm Axiom, due to smaller size and less out-travel.

How does the sharpness/brightness/contrast/color compare to the Axiom?

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