Product Reviews
- Reviews
- Questions

First Glance
So I'm new to the whole world of telescopes, that being said I purchased this eyepiece along with others, and couldn't be more impressed with how well this eyepiece is. Using it with my 8inch Sct telescope made a world of difference in my opinion. Would highly recommend.
ES 8.8mm 82 deg AFOV
Excellent build quality and amazing value!
Great Budget Eypiece
Was able to test this 8.8mm eyepiece on a Celestron CPC1100 last night under way less than ideal conditions viewing Jupiter and was still able to see IO cast a shadow on Jupiter's surface. Transparency, seeing, and clouds were not good, but enough of a break in clouds to see Venus and Jupiter. If you are on a budget this is a great eyepiece compared to other budget eyepieces. Will try a 6.7mm next.
The best eyepiece in the 82-deg. line of Explore Scientific
The eyepiece provides the best image quality over the 82-deg. ES line. Even in my quite "fast" 1:4.5 Newton I have got crisp image of Moon surface from center of field view till field stop edge. The eyepiece gives pretty view of tiny star clusters. Eye relief could be a bit larger Great eyepiece!
Great for a F/4.6 356mm
After finally unpacking and assembling my telescope I was left with a couple starter eyepieces, 1.25 10mm plossl and 35mm 3 element 2, that lacked in a few departments. They both were in the 50 degreeish apparent field of view and both were tricky to use. I could see coma with the 35mm and the field when scanning around was noticeably deformed. The 10mm plossl was nice in most situations but was nowhere near the 35mm in focus and required that I move the telescope frequently to view. I also had a older Celestron K20mm (Kellner?, which, produced a sharper more contrasty image, albeit reflection city if the image was very bright. So after researching the vast landscape of eyepieces and reading multiple reviews came to the conclusion that Explore Scientific seem to be in the sweet spot when it comes to price and performance. I got in my 8.8mm ES 82 degree at the beginning of a run of many great nights of observing. First inspection revealed the eyepiece is much more weighty than any of my other eyepieces and the finish is superb. The waterproof feature is a nice bonus, this eyepiece will require less maintenance to keep performing because of it. Visually, when compared to my 10mm plossl, there is a difference. Colors are actually toned down a bit (this must be the color correction at work and the images are more contrasty. Globular's are more stunning, distant galaxy's show more, bright stars are literally amazing, the field is flat and sharp from edge to edge, and the extra weight means the eyepiece holds heat better and doesn't fog up so quickly. Most importantly, the 82 degree field means I spend less time moving my telescope and sharing the eyepiece with others is easier when I don't have to keep bringing objects back into view. The only negatives I can see with this eyepiece is that the eyepiece requires that your eye is in a certain spot to see the full field. Otherwise you'll have blackouts. So it takes practice to use, but now that I have put in a number of viewing sessions I have few of those moments and they are not a distraction, occasionally, I purposefully use it to darken objects (Venus and Jupiter before I pull out the filters. This could be because my telescopes low F/4.6 value is making the eyepiece a little more finicky too. I'll see when I get my Powermate 2x if this remains the same. Hardly worth mentioning but I'm laying it all on the table here. Their is a small teardrop reflection when a really bright star is slightly out of the field. This is because of the first ring being a little too reflective. I'll say that it is not a issue with me and the fixes I have read about are easy to implement. I liken this to a lens flare, a neat characteristic of the eyepiece that rarely shows. Ultimately, this eyepiece blows away all my other eyepieces and then some. It has made my viewing sessions move to the next level. I'm undoubtedly a fan, I got the 30mm coming in the mail, the 4.7mm is next, and don't get me started on the 100 degree series (droooool