Orion Stratus 13mm

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Orion Stratus 13mm
I don't own one of these eyepieces, but this series has been getting a good "buzz" and I got a chance to look through one at a star party recently. I came away very impressed. The scope was a 12 inch f/4.9 dobsonian, and several open clusters were observed. I was struck by how sharp stars were across the entire field of view. From what I have heard the 13mm may be one of the best in the series. I thought that it was excellent, and it was very close in quality to the 2 Vixen LVW series eyepieces that I do own. If I were in the market for an ep in this range at a really great price, I'd give this serious consideration.

Overall Rating: 10
Optics:9 Value:10
Weight: 20 (Notable Vote)
Date:
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Link to this vote: http://www.excelsis.com/1.0/displayvote.php?voteid=522805

Orion Stratus 13mm
I sold my 17mm Nagler . . . it's the "subjective thing" and substituted this eyepiece, because of the price/value.

I like it and with my 8 sct, it provides me views that are more enjoyable than the Nagler.

Overall Rating: 10
Optics:9 Value:10
Weight: 10 (Trustworthy Vote)
Date:
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Link to this vote: http://www.excelsis.com/1.0/displayvote.php?voteid=541299

Orion Stratus 13mm
This piece has a 68° FOV and 20mm eye relief. It can fit both 1.25 and 2" focusers. Costs about 120$. Freakin big piece, weighs in about 15 oz. I tested it in my Orion XT10i. Visually it's nicely crafted. Very solid, no lose pieces. Good paint job all over with a handy rubber knurled grip. Has a relief on the 1.25 barrel for extra security. Kind of looks like a grenade. Oddly it came not in a box holder, or a threaded plastic container, but a leather pouch with a string tie…!? On 9/10/05 I checked out the ½ moon. Operating at F4.72 the moon easily took up 90% of the 68° FOV. The craters and valleys were razor sharp, far crisper than the other eyepieces of similar F.L. that I own. But the edges of the moon needed just a slight re-focusing to get them as sharp as the middle. I felt that it wasn't enough aberration on the edges to spoil the experience, darn good views of an object taking up 90% of the viewing though. I moved over to Antares after that. At prime focus it was ultra sharp, like a crystal orange laser beam shining into my eye. My other pieces show stars fairly clean, but nowhere near as much as this Stratus. But moving from edge to edge, it did produce a little field curvature on the outer edges of the FOV. But like the moon view above, not enough for a bother. 9/11/05 I scanned M13, and 2xe'd up M57 with the Shorty Plus. Real nice sharp views, the M13 cluster was clearer and more defined compared with my other pieces. My conclusion is, compared to what I own, is that this is a mighty fine piece and the favorite of my collection, far better than the other ones of similar FL's that I own. It has a lot sharper, high contrast views. It does have a little field curvature in my type of a scope though, I would guess starting past 60°. Would I recommend one? Certainly. It's probably no where near the quality of a Panoptic, but taking a guess here, what ever a Panoptic offers in its views that a Stratus doesn't, probably isn't worth spending a 100$ extra for one. I think I will add a few more of these Statuses to my collection.

Overall Rating: 10
Optics:10 Value:10
Weight: 5 (Veritable Vote)
Date:
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Link to this vote: http://www.excelsis.com/1.0/displayvote.php?voteid=549455

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