Antares Speers-Waler 10mm

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Antares Speers-Waler 10mm
An outstanding eyepiece for the price. The performance of the 10mm Speers
-Waler (Wide Angle Long Eye Relief) equals or exceeds anything costing 2 or 3 times as much. It is indeed what I'd call a well kept secret.
Images are pinpoint sharp right to the edge, even on F5 scopes. Only visible
defect is a tiny bit of lateral color. Has no distortion (pincushion) like Nagler and Panoptics. Light transmission may suffer slightly because it has 8 elements, but overall, I think it is the BEST buy for a wide-angle eyepiece in the 10mm range.
FOV is noticeable wider than a Panoptic, but not as wide as a Nagler. Very good eye relief for a 10mm eyepiece - better than a 9mm Nagler.
To bad the other Speers-Walers aren't like this one.

Overall Rating: 10
Weight: 1 (Unreliable Vote)
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Antares Speers-Waler 10mm
Extensive side by side comparison to Nagler 9mm: slightly better eye relief,
on-axis and edge sharpness equal to if not greater than Nagler, very slight
lateral color distortion. Slightly better contrast on lunar and planetary detail. No indication of the residual dust some users have noted in the ep. At one-half the price of Nagler, certainly a "Best Buy" candidate.

Overall Rating: 9
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Antares Speers-Waler 10mm
EXCELLENT VALUE FOR YOUR MONEY! The images are sharp to the edge and brightness is very good. A little bit of kidney-beaning when you look around to take in the whole view but I got around this by moving my eyes closer.

Overall Rating: 9
Weight: 1 (Unreliable Vote)
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Antares Speers-Waler 10mm
An excellent eyepiece. The field of view is not as wide as a nagler (70mm vs 82), but the images are sharp and bright. My eyepiece has none of the dust mentioned by some others on the net. It comes with a winged eyeguard which I replaced with a full eyeguard immediately. My only real complaint is that the eyepiece is just wierd. Its quite long (about 5") which results in the eyepiece needing a lot of inward focuser travel to come to focus (probably 1/4" to 1/2" more than any other eyepiece I've used). Overall a very good value considering the price ($165 new). I rated the eyepiece an 8 (it lost 1 point for the focuser travel and another for the little things (AFOV, eyeguard, size, etc)).

Overall Rating: 8
Weight: 1 (Unreliable Vote)
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Antares Speers-Waler 10mm
I'm fairly new to all this, but I tried the 10mm Speers Waler and the 10mm Nagler Radian, both in Meade ETX and a Meade 10"LX. I decided to go with the Nagler Radian, but the ONLY reason was eye relief. I couldn't tell the difference between the two eyepieces, no matterhow many times I checked. I would suggest to anyone that they buy the Speers Waler, and save the difference in price, which is considerable.
George Charpentier
Saskatoon , Canada

Overall Rating: 10
Weight: 1 (Unreliable Vote)
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Antares Speers-Waler 10mm
Wow!! Great all around piece. A little long/heavy. Nice and sharp in my f/5 Newt. I hear Al Nagler doesn't like to comment on this eyepiece- the SW 10mm is as good if not better in all but FOV(hardly noticeable) when compared to the 9mm Nagler- AND far LESS expensive!

Overall Rating: 10
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Antares Speers-Waler 10mm
Excellent eyepiece. Sharp to edge in both f4.5 Dob and f12 Mak (MK-67). I don't wear glasses so the eye relief is very comfortable. Because of additional elements the view is not as bright as a comparable plossl. I've only really noticed this on dim galaxies. Focuses in farther than any of my other eyepieces, but this has not been a problem on any of my scopes including the MK-67 (which has about another 3/8" in travel with a 2" diagonal and this eyepiece).

Overall Rating: 9
Weight: 1 (Unreliable Vote)
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Antares Speers-Waler 10mm
My first really big and heavy 8 element superwide ep.
Testscope: Small and slow achromat of absolutely superb quality.

Good: Razor sharp to the edge, no smearing of stars, whopper value!

Bad: The built-in barlow has a rattle sound when shaken, there was dust inside the ep(really noticeable when viewing the moon and daylight obs.) mostly on the bottom lensgroup, I need to rebalance scope switching SW with orthos, eyerelief is in my opinion only just large enough, Kidneybean effect is quite prominent especially when barlowed 2x and scope mounted on nondriven alt-az.

Moon is slightly dimmer and yellowish when compared to my orthos, but the wider field makes up for it. I love widefield lunar views.
Stars seem dimmer than expected but it`s not really that bad. Darken sky just enough for faint fuzzy hunting in city.





Overall Rating: 9
Weight: 3 (Unreliable Vote)
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Antares Speers-Waler 10mm
Great eyepiece especially for the price! Just remember that although the 10mm is a great eyepiece the other sizes are not all that impressive and I suggest avoiding them. As for the 10mm though I think it is an eyepiece secret treaure! I haven't yet used any of the HIGH dollar EP's (Nagler, etc) but I've read many reviews stating that the Speers-Waler 10mm compares to them and it's a whole lot cheaper.

Overall Rating: 9
Weight: 1 (Unreliable Vote)
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Antares Speers-Waler 10mm
A great eyepiece for a reasonable price. Sharp to the edges (all 70+ degrees) with my Parks 6". The eye relief is good too. The only negative thing (if there is one) is the size. It's huge! This can sometimes make it difficult to view through it without a stepping stool.

Overall Rating: 10
Weight: 1 (Unreliable Vote)
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Antares Speers-Waler 10mm
Just tried this eyepiece last night and was very impressed with the results. Great eye relief. Was able to use this eyepiece with ease while wearing my glasses. (Something that can't be done with my Meade 18mm SW). Nice crisp views that came into focus well within the travel on my 8" Meade Dob's focuser.
Highly Recommended eyepiece and at a great price.

Overall Rating: 10
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Antares Speers-Waler 10mm
I've compared this EP to a variety of Meade and TV EP's, and I'm certain that this is the best buy. I wear glasses and can't make good use of the entire field of a Nagler, anyway--so I'll gladly trade FOV for eye relief and the $$$ savings, too. Views are as sharp to the edge as any other similar EP. Brightness may be a bit off, but in my 8" F/6 Dob, it is no problem. Only problem I've noted is that on a friend's homebuilt 16" truss tube Dob, there was not enough in-focus to use it.

Overall Rating: 9
Weight: 1 (Unreliable Vote)
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Antares Speers-Waler 10mm
Very very good deal for the money. I picked mine up in Canada for about $115 US. This eyepiece has just the right eyerelief and provides crisp images in a wide field. These attributes make it a pleasure to use in my 8" F6 reflector. Only downside is the size. The length (6") may be a benifit to ETX owners wanting to view objects close to the zenith.

Overall Rating: 9
Weight: 1 (Unreliable Vote)
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Antares Speers-Waler 10mm
How does it compare to the Nagler 9? Well let me put it this way. I have a Nagler 4.8, Nagler 7, and Nagler 13 t6. I have this instead of a Nagler 9. This is quite possibly one of the best sleeper values in ep's going. My only complaints are w/ quality control, and the fact its just such a weird size and shape. Optics are wonderfull - sharp and flat with an extremely generous field of view. Very little lateral color for a wf eyepiece. And the best part? Its 1/3 to 1/2 the cost of the Nagler.

Overall Rating: 10
Optics:9 Value:10
Weight: 10 (Trustworthy Vote)
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Antares Speers-Waler 10mm
This ranks as one the best eyepieces
I've ever seen. My only gripe is the weight and size. I also own a 7mm Nagler. I believe this eyepiece is in same class for about half the price.

Overall Rating: 10
Optics:10 Value:10
Weight: 1 (Unreliable Vote)
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Link to this vote: http://www.excelsis.com/1.0/displayvote.php?voteid=53995

Antares Speers-Waler 10mm
Very very good deal for the money. I picked mine up in Canada for about $115 US. This eyepiece has just the right eyerelief and provides crisp images in a wide field. These attributes make it a pleasure to use in my 8" F6 reflector. Only downside is the size. The length (6") may be a benifit to ETX owners wanting to view objects close to the zenith.

Overall Rating: 9
Optics:10 Value:10
Weight: 10 (Trustworthy Vote)
Date:
By:
Link to this vote: http://www.excelsis.com/1.0/displayvote.php?voteid=82831

Antares Speers-Waler 10mm
Outstanding eyepiece! I don't own one yet, but got the chance to borrow one recently and compare it to a Nagler 13mm . (I know, not quite the same focal length - but close enough to compare quality of views.) In a 16" f/4.5 scope this eyepiece was every bit the equal of the Nagler. Apart from the slight difference in magnification, it was very hard to tell the two apart.

Really a weird looking eyepiece, though! Very long.

I am putting in an order for one.

Overall Rating: 10
Optics:10 Value:10
Weight: 8 (Veritable Vote)
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Link to this vote: http://www.excelsis.com/1.0/displayvote.php?voteid=242104

Antares Speers-Waler 10mm
I bought two of those for use with my bino-viewer. Contrast and sharpness are excellent, much better than expected with widefield (80 deg) eyepieces. The view through them is really a great experience. Nevertheless they are let down by poor quality control (as of April 2004). I got very bright reflections arount the exit pupil in one eyepiece and a less marked reflection in the other one. At Antares they simply forgot to blacken the highly polished surface of the 1,25-inch barrel and on the second one the blackening was at least attempted. After using some really matte paint on the barrels the reflections vanished.
Using the SW in a bino-viewer is somewhat of a challenge, because it is much more difficult to place ones eyes correctly and have a clear image in both eyepieces at the same time. There is an annoying tendency for kidney beaning. This is no problem, if you use just one single eyepiece.
Conclusion: Excellent eyepieces - and fo the price I will happily help myself with a bit of paint...

Overall Rating: 7
Optics:8 Value:8
Weight: 1 (Unreliable Vote)
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Antares Speers-Waler 10mm
Quite a good eyepiece on my C8.

Sharp and relatively comfortable to use. Assuming you can get over the motorcycle grip form factor, the only thing I noticed was some field curvature. If I critically focus on a star in the center of field and move the star to the edge, I have to refocus slightly to get it perfectly sharp again, but it it <i>is</i> sharp! In any case is hardly objectionable. I'm looking at my notes and recall that when using on the moon, some blue haloing at the field stop. But as I remember very minor. Excellent value in any case.

I have the TV 10.5 Plossl, Meade 14mm UWA, Meade 6.7 UWA for comparison.

I'd conservatively give it a 8.5-9. I'd rate the Meade 14mm UWA as 9.0-9.5 (love it!). I don't know what EP would get a 10.

Overall Rating: 8
Optics:8 Value:10
Weight: 1 (Unreliable Vote)
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Link to this vote: http://www.excelsis.com/1.0/displayvote.php?voteid=386834 

&gt;Quite a good eyepiece on my C8.  
&gt;
&gt;... the only thing I noticed was some field curvature.  If I critically focus on a star in the center of field and move the star to the edge, I have to refocus slightly to get it perfectly sharp again, but it it &amp;lt;i&amp;gt;is&amp;lt;/i&amp;gt; sharp!  

I think you are doing this eyepiece an injustice with that statement. Most or all of the field curvature is in your C8, not in the eyepiece! It is well known among astrophotographers that standard Meade/Celestron SCTs suffer from field curvature. In fact the manufacturers even admit it themselves. This is why the f6.3 adapters they sell are called &quot;reducer-correctors&quot; and not just &quot;reducers&quot;.
Antares Speers-Waler 10mm
Great eyepiece. Kills everything I have owned in this focal length except for my Pentax 10mm XL, and even then the difference is not great. The Pentax has better transmission. This is the best value in terms of cost/performance out there.

Overall Rating: 9
Optics:9 Value:10
Weight: 7 (Veritable Vote)
Date:
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Link to this vote: http://www.excelsis.com/1.0/displayvote.php?voteid=419918

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