I work for a camera store that sells Celestron & Meade. The Meade 8-24mm
zoom (220.00) and the Celestron Vixen Lanthanum 8-24mm zoom (185.00) and the
TeleVue Lanthanum 8-24mm zoom (210.00) are all exactly the same eyepieces
made by Vixen of Japan. Vixen just puts the different names on them. The
only exception is the TeleVue click stop version which is about 25.00 more
expensive. I took home the Celestron version, tried it for a weekend, and
fell in love with it as a high power eyepiece. Yes the FOV is only about 55
degrees but when you're using med to high power, you're only looking at the
center of the eyepiece anyway. You only need a large FOV with your low
power 2" eyepieces. BTW, I "bought" the TeleVue click stop zoom as I think
it's a real help to know in the dark what power you're using. I replaced
three high power Pentax eyepieces with this one zoom and haven't looked
back. To be viewing the moon and zoom in on a crater is a sight to behold.
Same with a double star. There is very little focus touch up you have to do
from 24mm to 8mm. I also use this eyepiece exclusively on my little red
Edmund Astroscan. On that scope, it provides powers of 28, 26, 35, & 55 at
the click stops. On my 10" LX200, the powers are 105, 155, 210 & 310.

Hope this helps,

--Jack Estes--



Now I have a new one. I was looking to order some more eyepieces when I
order my scope. I noticed that the Meade series 4000 8mm-24mm Zoom Eyepiece
was $220 and if I purchased all the 4000 series eyepieces that fell within
this range it would cost me over $300.

Do I loose some quality by buying the zoom instead of each one individually?

Thanks,

Mike

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