Celestron Ultima 12.5mm

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Celestron Ultima 12.5mm
Excellent medium power eyepiece. Bright, contrasty images, and
sharp to the edge. Outperforms several high-end Plossls I've
compared it to. Eye relief is a tad tight, but has never been
a problem for me. Could be a problem for those who have to
observe with their eyeglasses on.

Overall Rating: 9
Weight: 2 (Unreliable Vote)
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Link to this vote: http://www.excelsis.com/1.0/displayvote.php?voteid=42501

Celestron Ultima 12.5mm
Sharp contrasty images. In a 10" f/4.5 telescope stars are nicely defined points to the edge. Works quite well with Ultima Barlow. Seems well made and priced right.

Overall Rating: 9
Weight: 3 (Unreliable Vote)
Date:
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Link to this vote: http://www.excelsis.com/1.0/displayvote.php?voteid=42505

Celestron Ultima 12.5mm
Excellent sharpness and contrast. The only
thing missing is a wide FOV; but for that
you must pay much more.

Overall Rating: 9
Weight: 1 (Unreliable Vote)
Date:
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Link to this vote: http://www.excelsis.com/1.0/displayvote.php?voteid=42506

Celestron Ultima 12.5mm
If ever there was a universal eyepiece, this is it. I have performed a side-by-side comparisons with a UO 12.5mm Ortho. The images seen were equally breathtaking: sharp across the entire field, bright, great contrast, no false color. The Ultima has a slightly larger fov which gives it an edge over the ortho. A best buy. No eyepiece collection is complete without an Ultima 12.5.

Overall Rating: 10
Weight: 4 (Unreliable Vote)
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Link to this vote: http://www.excelsis.com/1.0/displayvote.php?voteid=42507

Celestron Ultima 12.5mm
Hmm, this ep is just not as sharp as I think it should be. doing binary splits, straight and barlowed, the splits were difficult rather than easy. The ep seems to lack the ability to snap into focus. Compared with the Televue Radian 14mm, and the Celestron plain plossl 17mm, this ep actually comes in third. Somewhat of a dissappointment.

9/5/99

Overall Rating: 7
Weight: 1 (Unreliable Vote)
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Link to this vote: http://www.excelsis.com/1.0/displayvote.php?voteid=42508

Celestron Ultima 12.5mm
Sharp eyepiece out to edge of field. The coatings seem to be excellent. Eye relief is tight but is par for the course for this design in this focal length. My only gripe is that some of the black paint on the inside of the barrel has flaked off and adhered to the inner surfaces of the lenses. I had to get the ep cleaned which fixed the flakes but introduced more dust on the inside of the ep. Try before you buy.

Overall Rating: 8
Weight: 2 (Unreliable Vote)
Date:
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Link to this vote: http://www.excelsis.com/1.0/displayvote.php?voteid=42509

Celestron Ultima 12.5mm
Good edge performance and very sharp. Good contrast and light transmission. Close but comfortable on eye relief.

Overall Rating: 9
Weight: 1 (Unreliable Vote)
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Link to this vote: http://www.excelsis.com/1.0/displayvote.php?voteid=42510

Celestron Ultima 12.5mm
Very sharp, good contrast. Can't give it a 10 after using the Nagler 9. For the price versus performance, I'll keep the Ultima.

Overall Rating: 9
Weight: 1 (Unreliable Vote)
Date:
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Link to this vote: http://www.excelsis.com/1.0/displayvote.php?voteid=42511

Celestron Ultima 12.5mm
I recently purchased a Celestron 12.5 mm Ultima as I was looking for a good lunar eyepiece to use with my G5. I had read very good things about the entire Ultima line and thought it would be an ideal choice. It wasn't. As another commentor stated above, I had several (over 10) flecks of paint between the lens elements of the eyepiece. I used the eyepiece during the day and the flecks did not appear to fall in the focal plane. However, I was very wary that they could move and/or increase in number. I thought about returning it and getting another one but was concerned that even a perfect sample might develop flecks over time. As an aside, I also noticed a stray fleck of paint on the primary of my G5. Perhaps there is problem with Celestron's paint selection?

For the record I have been very happy with nearly all Celestron products I have purchased. I just thought I should post this given the other comments above. Perhaps this is a pattern that needs to be looked into?

In case your curious, I replaced the Ultima with a 12.5mm Takahashi LE eyepiece. Unfortunately, because of weather conditions as of late, I have not had a chance to use it. But I can say this -- no paint flecks. ;-)

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I haven't had any paint fleck problems, or any for that matter with Celestron but honestly I don't doubt you for a second. I'm very skeptical of Celestron lately. A rep for bad cust service and too many bad samples out there (I consider myself lucky). I guess the red flag for me went up when I found out that they are owned by Tasco, CHEAP!THey also went through a reselling of the company. Good? Bad? Who knows. I think its more a country of origin thing mostly. If Celestron makes it in Japan its good stuff. China or Korea? Watch out. USA can go either way. I've got a 12.5, 18 and 30mm Ultima and find them incredible in build quality and performance. I think you got unlucky with yours. I guess my point is, go by country of manufacture as a guide to what you can expect in terms of quality. Some exceptions include the Chinese made StarMax Cass-Maksutovs. They're one of the best kept secrets in astronomy today that I know of.

My advice to you: Its probably too late for you to return you Ultima EP. However, if its in mint condition you can purchase a new one(the chance of that one also having paint flecks is VERY unlikely) and then return the old one. SO, you may get stuck with credit. You're and astronomer so you need stuff anyway, plus, its better than having a defective EP. Don't think of it as dishonest. They'll send the paint fleck EP back to Celestron and justice served.
Celestron Ultima 12.5mm
Nice Eyepiece, sharp but far from a Pentax ou TV.

Overall Rating: 7
Weight: 1 (Unreliable Vote)
Date:
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Link to this vote: http://www.excelsis.com/1.0/displayvote.php?voteid=42515

Celestron Ultima 12.5mm
Sharp, but not as sharp as a good ortho. Good light transmission.

Overall Rating: 9
Weight: 1 (Unreliable Vote)
Date:
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Link to this vote: http://www.excelsis.com/1.0/displayvote.php?voteid=42516

Celestron Ultima 12.5mm
This one gey a 9, eye releif cause a 1 point deduction, but for the price it cant be beat. I not sure about it not being as sharp as pentax, or televue? I have had this eyepiece up against radians, panoptics, naglers, and pentax xl, the only thing it loses on is field of view, expected, and known, and eye relief, compared to the radian, and xl's.

Overall Rating: 9
Weight: 1 (Unreliable Vote)
Date:
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Link to this vote: http://www.excelsis.com/1.0/displayvote.php?voteid=42517

Celestron Ultima 12.5mm
Excellent sharpness and contrast. No paint flecks as mentioned by previous reviewers. Beautiful coating and workmanship. In terms of performance equal to TV Plossls that I also own. Price is 1/2 to 2/3 less than TV though. A solid 10!

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=42518

Celestron Ultima 12.5mm
Excellent eyepiece.

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=42519

Celestron Ultima 12.5mm
This eypiece is a great "all around" eyepiece. I use it on a Meade ETX, it provides very nice images of the moon and the brighter planets at 100X. It has good eye relief, and exellent coatings. It is one of the very best eypiece deals around today. Highly reccomeded

Overall Rating: 9
Weight: 3 (Unreliable Vote)
Date:
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Link to this vote: http://www.excelsis.com/1.0/displayvote.php?voteid=42520

Celestron Ultima 12.5mm
Great views on planets and the Moon when coupled with the Ultima 2X barlow in a 90mm F/11 achromat... I can see more details more easily than with a TV 13mm Plossl (a classic!) or a UO 12.5mm Ortho (an over-achiever!) No flare or ghost image can be seen when observing a full moon with a well-baffled optical system. The quality of workmanship is top-notch, so is the multi-coating! The low cost of this absolutely fine eyepiece makes it a necessary addition to every eyepiece collection.

Overall Rating: 10
Weight: 4 (Unreliable Vote)
Date:
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Link to this vote: http://www.excelsis.com/1.0/displayvote.php?voteid=42521

Celestron Ultima 12.5mm
Comparing this to my Meade 12.5mm 4000 series, I didn't find any difference in contrast or sharpness. However, the Ultima showed less "ovaling" of jupiter at the edge of the field. In fact, it retained its "roundness" significantly better than the Meade. Otherwise, the two EP I feel are the same.

Overall Rating: 9
Weight: 1 (Unreliable Vote)
Date:
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Link to this vote: http://www.excelsis.com/1.0/displayvote.php?voteid=42522

Celestron Ultima 12.5mm
Well, Iv'e got 3 Ultimas: 12.5mm, 18mm and the 30mm. Built like a tank and the sharpness is about as good as things can get. Right at the very edge stars may exhibit some small degree of coma, a tiny bit. To me this takes nothing away from it. You won't notice it unles you're really looking for it. My only gripes? The rubberside guard is bulky and relatively loose fitting. I'd prefer the classic round style thats securely fastened but thats just me. The side guard design does have its advantages but I'd rather replace them and keep them as an option if I change tastes. Also, they just don't seem as bright as my cheap 25mm Taiwanese Celstron plossl that can be found for about 25 bucks. I guess thats the trade off of having a slightly sharper view from the Ultimas extra 1-2 glass elements (5-7 element) as opposed to the plossls 4 element design. Verdict: Yeah, get a trio of Ultimas, definitley. But don't ever dispense of at least a regular plossl or two. Now thats a set lacking nothing (Unless you need a UWA Meade or Spacewalk Nagler with their 84 to 82 degree views) BTW, I wasn't as blown away by those ultra wide angle views as I thought I would form the Meade UWA and Naglers.

Overall Rating: 9
Optics:9 Value:9
Weight: 3 (Unreliable Vote)
Date:
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Link to this vote: http://www.excelsis.com/1.0/displayvote.php?voteid=153985

Celestron Ultima 12.5mm
This is a pretty good eyepiece. I will probably be adding the 18mm and 30mm to my collection...along with the Ultima Barlow. I don't care nearly so much for the Ultima 5mm though. All in all...good values, especially if you can pick them up used.

Overall Rating: 8
Optics:8 Value:8
Weight: 5 (Veritable Vote)
Date:
By:
Link to this vote: http://www.excelsis.com/1.0/displayvote.php?voteid=248105

Celestron Ultima 12.5mm
In addition to the 12.5mm, I have the 18 and 30mm Ultimas. All the Ultimas are great mid-price performance. There's no ghosting when viewing Jupiter with a SCT 9.25 at 189X. And the eye relief is just perfect: not too long as to worry about keeping head steady nor eyeball squishing.

Overall Rating: 9
Optics:9 Value:10
Weight: 5 (Veritable Vote)
Date:
By:
Link to this vote: http://www.excelsis.com/1.0/displayvote.php?voteid=247029

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