Takahashi LE-ED 5mm

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Takahashi LE-ED 5mm
Very sharp right to the edge, no pincushion distortion and excellent eyerelief.
Superior in every way to the 4.8 Nagler except fov. Light throughput exceptionally good, great planetary eyepiece.

Overall Rating: 10
Weight: 1 (Unreliable Vote)
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Link to this vote: http://www.excelsis.com/1.0/displayvote.php?voteid=43206

Takahashi LE-ED 5mm
Outstanding! Perfect images over entire field. Jovian moons remain perfect discs right to the field stop. Excellent contrast. Very well finished. Nice eye relief, allows me to take in entire field at a comfortable distance (without glasses). The LE 5 and LE 7.5 are my most used high power eyepieces. Scope: Intes MN-61 6" f/6 Mak-Newt.

Overall Rating: 10
Weight: 1 (Unreliable Vote)
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Link to this vote: http://www.excelsis.com/1.0/displayvote.php?voteid=43207

Takahashi LE-ED 5mm
Wow! Fantastic planetary eyepiece with no false color on Jupiter or the moon out to the field stop. Better contrast than Pentax 5.2XL. Best color saturation on Saturn. Very comfortable for non eyeglass wearer with no blackout areas. 10+

Overall Rating: 10
Weight: 1 (Unreliable Vote)
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Link to this vote: http://www.excelsis.com/1.0/displayvote.php?voteid=43209

Takahashi LE-ED 5mm
Extremely sharp with excellent contrast. No obvious optical aberrations. Eye position critical or image blackout occurs. An excellent choice for a short focal length eyepiece.

Overall Rating: 10
Weight: 1 (Unreliable Vote)
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Link to this vote: http://www.excelsis.com/1.0/displayvote.php?voteid=43211

Takahashi LE-ED 5mm
Agree with all of the above. This is a superb eyepiece with excellent light throughput, contrast and sharpness. I have 2x barlowed this eyepiece with my C-14 on nights of very good seeing and have split some incredibly close double stars cleanly (around 0.34 to 0.35 arc-seconds). My favorite short focal length eyepiece; I'll be buried with this one!

Overall Rating: 10
Weight: 1 (Unreliable Vote)
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Link to this vote: http://www.excelsis.com/1.0/displayvote.php?voteid=43212

Takahashi LE-ED 5mm
I agree with the others. I've tried it against all teleview and find it superior except for one aspect, field of view.

Overall Rating: 9
Weight: 1 (Unreliable Vote)
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Link to this vote: http://www.excelsis.com/1.0/displayvote.php?voteid=43213

Takahashi LE-ED 5mm
I wanted to wait until Jupiter and Saturn came back up in the evenings to test out this eyepiece, but I've already confirmed it's excellent performance on Uranus, Neptune, the moon, and close double stars!

I get 244x on my 8" f/6 with the Tak LE 5mm. Both Uranus and Neptune had perfectly circular disks against the inky blackness of space. Uranus was a beautiful pale green color and Neptune a stunningly deep blue. The moon is jaw-droppingly awesome along the terminator with this eyepiece! No false color was seen.

Stars are pinpoints to the edge of the field, which is a bit wider than a Plossl. The Double Double is beautiful, totally black between the components of each one, and at 244x they're pretty far apart. I haven't tried splitting Antares yet with this one, but that's next!

Just by holding this eyepiece you can feel the quality workmanship. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED, ONE OF THE BEST PLANETARY EYEPIECES AROUND! Just wait for good seeing and make sure your scope's cooled down, then get prepared to be stunned.

Overall Rating: 10
Weight: 3 (Unreliable Vote)
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Link to this vote: http://www.excelsis.com/1.0/displayvote.php?voteid=43214

Takahashi LE-ED 5mm
image sharp and light yellow

Overall Rating: 9
Weight: 3 (Unreliable Vote)
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Link to this vote: http://www.excelsis.com/1.0/displayvote.php?voteid=43215

Takahashi LE-ED 5mm
I recently tried this eyepiece against my 5mm Radian. I ended up selling the Radian and bought the 5mm Takahashi (also sold my 8mm Radian for the 7.5mm Tak). Other than losing a bit of eye relief and field of view I gained sharpness and contrast. No false color at the edge of the fov like with the Radian either, nor is eye placement as critical.
Jupiters disk was much whiter with the Takahashi than the Radian, and I have never seen so much detail in and around the GRS. I am convinced that these are some of the finest planetary eyepieces currently available. In spite of having "only" 10mm of eye relief, I still find this an extremely comfortable eyepiece to use, but I do not need glasses when observing.
I still think the Radians are outstanding eyepieces, I just think the Taks are a notch above.

Overall Rating: 10
Weight: 3 (Unreliable Vote)
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Link to this vote: http://www.excelsis.com/1.0/displayvote.php?voteid=43216

Takahashi LE-ED 5mm
Wow! Clear, sharp, unbelievably contrasty in my Tak FS 102. Best eyepiece I own or have looked through. A solid 10.

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Takahashi LE-ED 5mm
very good and very SHARP.

Overall Rating: 10
Weight: 1 (Unreliable Vote)
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Link to this vote: http://www.excelsis.com/1.0/displayvote.php?voteid=43218

Takahashi LE-ED 5mm
This is a superb planetary eyepiece. I use it in a Mak-Newt and when the atmosphere allows it, the views of Jupiter are large, crisp and clear and it essentially brings the observing session to a halt because I stop and stare.

This is the one eyepiece I don't even consider replacing....it's that satisfactory.

Overall Rating: 10
Weight: 1 (Unreliable Vote)
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Link to this vote: http://www.excelsis.com/1.0/displayvote.php?voteid=43219

Takahashi LE-ED 5mm
Very nice eyepiece. Comfortable eye relief, very good build quality, and superb images. Performs as well as my 5mm Pentax XL but far smaller and lighter.

Overall Rating: 10
Weight: 1 (Unreliable Vote)
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Link to this vote: http://www.excelsis.com/1.0/displayvote.php?voteid=43220

Takahashi LE-ED 5mm
Couldn't agree more with all the other comments made about this gem. One important factor for glasses wearers. Although the FOV may not be as wide as a 4.8mm Nagler and it may not have quite the eye-relief of a 5mm Radian, you CAN see the entire field without too much weaving and bobbing. Only the Pentax XL 5.2mm is better in this respect, and the Takahashi definitely displays both a better image and higher contrast than that particular eyepiece, as good as it is. What's more, it's size makes it far easier to use with the positive projection accessories currently available. It's 18mm brother is equally as good if you're on the lookout for something in that range.

Overall Rating: 10
Weight: 1 (Unreliable Vote)
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Link to this vote: http://www.excelsis.com/1.0/displayvote.php?voteid=43221

Takahashi LE-ED 5mm
Agree with all the above.
The LE5mm is my first, what I would term "quality" eyepiece.(Previous lenses mid-priced orthos and plossls)Build quality,multi-coated glass and looks are excellent.Quality oozes from this e/p compared to all my other e/ps.
Saw first light with it through my homemade 250mm dob on double stars Castor and Algeiba and a 3/4 moon at x250.Excellent contrast and easily outperformed my Vixen 6mm ortho.at x208.Eyerelief at 10mm making viewing a pleasure with this size focal length.AFOV very good at 52 deg.
Castor beautifully split,inky black sky in between, seen as two bright white circles/dots with no flare.
Algeiba in Leo beautifully split,seen as twin gold coloured circles/dots again no flare or other niggles with this e/p.
Moon craters along terminator clear and contrasty.
Seeing conditions were good at the time 7/10 and I'm sure on nights of excellent seeing this eyepiece will not come out of the scope if its high power you're after.
Waiting to examine Mars and high power views of suitable galaxies and planetary nebula at my earliest opportunity with great expectations.My main reason for choosing this eyepiece.Will also be barlowing at x2 with a Televue.
Will certainly be considering the LE 7.5 in the future and possibly others in this range.

Overall Rating: 10
Weight: 1 (Unreliable Vote)
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Link to this vote: http://www.excelsis.com/1.0/displayvote.php?voteid=43222

Takahashi LE-ED 5mm
Perfect lunar views. Sharp to the very edge on stars.
No overall color tint, hardly any lateral color at the
edge. And extremely comfortable to look through - no
strain at all; a relief to return to it after squinting
into higher-mag barlowed contraptions. (Scope: 8" f/5
Dobsonian, where it yields a fine 1mm exit pupil.)

Its one weak point is the box it came in (when lifting
the box, take great care not to drop the bottom part and
its precious contents...)

Overall Rating: 10
Weight: 1 (Unreliable Vote)
Date:
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Link to this vote: http://www.excelsis.com/1.0/displayvote.php?voteid=43223

Takahashi LE-ED 5mm
I've had TAK 5 mm EL eyepiece for 10 months in my TV 102.
I like the small size and light weight, and performance,
sold my Radians (which had larger FOV).

Overall Rating: 10
Weight: 1 (Unreliable Vote)
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Link to this vote: http://www.excelsis.com/1.0/displayvote.php?voteid=44269

Takahashi LE-ED 5mm
This is a must-have planetary eyepiece. Bright, contrasty, sharp, and big glass for a 5mm. Field of view equal to a Plossl. If you can't afford this, get a UO Ortho, although that has less eye relief. The Tak 5mm LE beats it down though. I've used both.

This eyepiece is also nice-looking and lightweight.

I have a 9.25 SCT so this provides 470x power, a little too much for city skies, but I can guarantee this would be the "p-e-r-f-e-c-t" eyepiece if you had steady skies...or for a scope with a shorter focal length (e.g. 6" maksutov!!!)

Overall Rating: 10
Weight: 1 (Unreliable Vote)
Date:
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Link to this vote: http://www.excelsis.com/1.0/displayvote.php?voteid=43224

Takahashi LE-ED 5mm
Superb contrast, sharp to the edge. Better than a Radian on contrast, brightness, and color (with absolutely none to be seen in an f6.3 refractor, vs. a Radian's noticable edge color), but slightly less sharp, with a bit less eye relief and FOV. Contrast and sharpness are comparable to a 5mm Pentax ortho; maybe just slightly less. I prefer the Tak over the Radian, but it's a close call.

Overall Rating: 10
Weight: 1 (Unreliable Vote)
Date:
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Link to this vote: http://www.excelsis.com/1.0/displayvote.php?voteid=43225

Takahashi LE-ED 5mm
This past Friday (11/9/2001) was a night of exceptionally good seeing, and I had the best view of Saturn that I have ever seen, in my Orion SkyQuest 8" dob (1200 mm f.l.), using this eyepiece. The Cassini division was razor sharp and unwavering, I saw some banding on the globe of the planet (without a filter), and even saw the dark inner ring system (I think it's called the crepe ring?).

Seeing this good is unusual in my area (the Maryland suburbs of Washington, DC), and in fact I've never experienced it before. But this excellent view of Saturn at 240X would not have been possible without an excellent eyepiece. I recommend it!

Overall Rating: 10
Weight: 1 (Unreliable Vote)
Date:
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Link to this vote: http://www.excelsis.com/1.0/displayvote.php?voteid=43226

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