Antares Speers-Waler WA 14


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Antares Speers-Waler WA 14
I tried a friends 10mm 72 degree Speers Waler and bought the 10mm 82 degree version. He then aquired a 14mm 72 degree older version Speers Waler and I didn't fall in love with the OLD 14 like I did with the old 10, the edge was soft and out of focus and it needed too much in travel then most scopes can provide. But when I saw a dealer ad for the new 14mm 82 degree for only $160 CDN shipping included I snatched it up. This was a totally different eyepiece then the old 14, it does require more in-focus then the 10mm 82* but came to focus in the 80mm f5, 8-inch f6, 17.5 f4.5 and another observers 8-inch f7.5. I often detect that this eyepiece is slightly inferrior to the 10mm 82* but it;s hard to put my finger on what it is exactly. It has a stated 12mm eyerelief but it feels more comfortable then the 10mm and I can often leave my glasses on. It's very sharp and has great contrast as well and I was surprised that in the clubs 17.5 f4.5 it was still just as sharp on edge as in an f6 reflector.

One evening the owner of a stellarvue 4-inch f6.x showed up with a Pentax 14mm XL. We spend the better part of an hour comparing his XL to my Speers 14 on Saturn, Mars, M36,37,38, 45. We noted that the XL had an edge over the Speers but it was very minor, a tad better light throughput and better eyerelief. The edge was a bit better in the XL but the Speers softness began past the 65 degree AFOV of the XL so it wasn't a fair critique since the Speers is 17 degree larger in AFOV.

The Pentax won but not by much and we both agreed that at $230 USD for the Pentax and $119 for the Speers 14, that it was a tough call once you factor in price. The neat thing about this comparison is that you can compare the Speers Walers to the really high end eyepieces, I thought that after looking at the XL we might throw the Speers in and take one look and laugh. but though we could tell there were differences but we had to observe several objects over an hour or so to flush them out.

I recommend this eyepiece but place it just slightly behind the 10mm Speers Waler 82* WA. I also now own the Speers 5-8 Zoom.

-Chris

Overall Rating: 8
Optics:8 Value:9
Weight: 5 (Veritable Vote)
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Link to this vote: http://www.excelsis.com/1.0/displayvote.php?voteid=341749


Antares Speers-Waler WA 14
Nice Eyepiece! Works well on my 12" f4 newton but coma and astigmatism is visible at the end of the field
Very very sharp at the edge and eccellent contrast

Overall Rating: 9
Optics:9 Value:10
Weight: 1 (Unreliable Vote)
Date:
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Link to this vote: http://www.excelsis.com/1.0/displayvote.php?voteid=365505


Antares Speers-Waler WA 14
Huge field of view and almost all of it quite sharp with good contrast. Much closer in performance to much higher priced eyepieces than the budget widefields and better fast scope performance than the ERFLs and many of the plossls I've tried. Good value for your money. It came with some dust, sent it to Sky Inst. and they cleaned it for me, and were very nice to deal with.

Overall Rating: 8
Optics:8 Value:9
Weight: 1 (Unreliable Vote)
Date:
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Link to this vote: http://www.excelsis.com/1.0/displayvote.php?voteid=408678

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