Antares Speers-Waler WA 18

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Brand and Model:Antares Speers-Waler WA 18
Price ($USD):199
Type:Ultra Wide Angle
Focal Length:18 mm
Barrel Size:1.25
Apparent FOV:80.0 degrees
Field Stop Dia.:0.0 mm
Eye Relief:13 mm
Elements:9
Weight (lbs):.14
Description:

Vote Highlights Vote
Antares Speers-Waler WA 18
-A long eyepiece(13cm), but unespectedly light(280grams).
-Very good construction,huge rubber grip, nicely engraved text instead of paint, comfortable rubber shield.
-Efficient green coating.well blackened inner body
-Good contrast, no flares, no ghosting
-Excellent optical correction in f/15, good in slower ratios
-Good relief (I don't wear glasses), much better than meade swa18 or nagler 9T1 i.e.
-Measuring equatorial transit I found out field to be less than stated ,76° instead of 82°(also NAG,PAN,SWA and UWA shown similar behavior, sometimes due to field -stop size limiting barrel ,sometime due to distortion.For wide angle deep sky, I prefer an astigmatism corrected eyepiece at the detriment of distortion than the opposite).
-Require more in-focus travel (like Swarowsky 15,4 Weit Winkel )than other eyepiece (due to input barlow element , I suppose).I had to slightly reduce my 30cm Dob focuser profile to use it , while I had no problems with Vixen 140(petzval f/5,7)and f/15 refractor.
A very good wide angle!very good value for the money!(135euro in Italy)
Umberto-Firenze

Overall Rating: 9
Optics:9 Value:9
Weight: 10 (Trustworthy Vote)
Date:
By:
Link to this vote: http://www.excelsis.com/1.0/displayvote.php?voteid=575231

Antares Speers-Waler WA 18
Nice big glass with good looking coatings, eyereleif is good but not great. Using in an F5, nice and sharp in the central 2/3rds where stars slowly begin to turn to little arcs, however they are very small arcs. Field is reasonably flat with a little pincushion distortion, but it isn't noticeable when panning. Unlike many budget widefields, it's sharp enough across the entire field that stars at the edge are still stars and not fuzzy DSOs even at F5.
Infocus required that I adjust my mirror and glue a little spacer for the locks to rest on. The machining on the barrels of these seem a bit less precise than required - the tops loosen with use and temperature fluctuation and have to be tightened periodically.
Overall - a very good value. If you want sharper views all the way across the same size field, it will cost triple.

Overall Rating: 8
Optics:8 Value:10
Weight: 3 (Unreliable Vote)
Date:
By:
Link to this vote: http://www.excelsis.com/1.0/displayvote.php?voteid=383210

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