Scanning4Comets
Markus
Reged: 12/26/04
Loc: Deep Space!
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Re: Pentax XW's Toast?
[Re: mkothe]
#5692098 - 02/21/13 01:41 AM
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Hahaha, that reply was hilarious Mike. 
Yes Hernando, I love it. I know from selling 2 before that I will never sell this one !!!
Cheers,
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Sarkikos
Postmaster
Reged: 12/18/07
Loc: Suburban Maryland, USA
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Re: Pentax XW's Toast?
[Re: t.r.]
#5692273 - 02/21/13 07:17 AM
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t.r.,
Quote:
My oh my...  Here's the route I took if someone is looking for a short set (half) to save money...get a high quality 2" 2x barlow, pick up the 40, 30, 10 and 7...barlowed they provide 20, 15, 5 and 3.5 whilst avoiding the field curvature of the 20 and 14!  You end up with a complete virtual set! The 5 and 3.5 use barlow lenses in their native design anyways, so no harm using a quality barlow with these critical sizes.
Recently I've gone the opposite route. I've sold off all my Barlows except for a 1.9x Burgess OCA, the lens cell from a 1.25" 2x Barlow that I use as a 3x OCA, the lens cell from a 2" 2x Barlow that I screw onto 2" eyepieces for 1.5x, and a 2x shorty that I will put up for sale soon. Mostly I use Barlows -actually their lens cells - as OCAs so my binoviewer will come to focus in my Newts.
Otherwise Barlows are a bother to me. I'd rather switch among eyepieces without a Barlow or just keep the Baader Zoom in the focuser.
But this is going a bit OT. A separate thread could be started on the advantages/disadvantages of Barlows, separate eyepieces or Zooms as the basis for an eyepiece set.
Mike
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Sarkikos
Postmaster
Reged: 12/18/07
Loc: Suburban Maryland, USA
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Re: Pentax XW's Toast?
[Re: Sarkikos]
#5692395 - 02/21/13 09:26 AM
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B&H says that the XW 5 is "no longer available."
Pentax SMC XW 5mm Eyepiece (1.25")
Mike
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MikeBOKC
Post Laureate
Reged: 05/10/10
Loc: Oklahoma City, OK
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Re: Pentax XW's Toast?
[Re: Sarkikos]
#5692480 - 02/21/13 10:26 AM
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The 2oXW is on the Fed Ex truck to my house this morninig. It appears I got the last XW in any focal length in stock at Astronomics. It will slot in nicely with my 7XW, 10 Delos, 11ES, 13 Ethos, 16 Brandon and 24 Panoptic lineup with the 30ES and 48 Brandon for lower powers..
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Starman1
Vendor (EyepiecesEtc.com)
Reged: 06/24/03
Loc: Los Angeles
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Re: Pentax XW's Toast?
[Re: GeneT]
#5692491 - 02/21/13 10:35 AM
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As of today, Pentax's own website lists only 4 focal lengths of XW as available:
http://www.pentax.jp/english/products/binoculars/scope/xw/index.html
Those are the 4 focal lengths usable in the Pentax spotting scopes.
The 40, 30, 5, and 3.5 were outside the normal range for spotting scope use.
It may mean they are planning to confine XW availability to only those four focal lengths from now on.
Or it may mean those are the four focal lengths left.
It would be good to get an official statement, somehow.
It's also interesting the spotting scopes are not noted as coming with a Zoom, and the XL 8-24 zoom is not listed on the site. Likewise it's interesting the PF-100ED spotting scope, long-discontinued, is listed.
So I am not certain whether the website is up-to-date.
Their on-line Buy Now website shows more choices:
http://www.pentaxwebstore.com/category/sportoptics/eyepieces
But only the 5mm is "in stock". All the others are listed as out of stock.
Edited by Starman1 (02/21/13 10:53 AM)
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MDavid
member
Reged: 11/15/11
Loc: 29°N (Texas)
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Re: Pentax XW's Toast?
[Re: mkothe]
#5692595 - 02/21/13 11:56 AM
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Here is the price history for the 7mm on Amazon (you can also display their 3rd party vendors):
http://camelcamelcamel.com/Pentax-70513-1-25-Inch-Eyepiece-Telescopes/product...
I bought mine used for $225 right before that creep to $200 started in February of 2012. 
Cool Website! Now, I can rationalize purchases to my wife... "Look honey the price history PROVES is was a good decision!"
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sniperpride
super member
Reged: 01/04/12
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Re: Pentax XW's Toast?
[Re: MDavid]
#5692638 - 02/21/13 12:21 PM
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I'll stick with my Delos'
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Mike B
Starstruck
Reged: 04/06/05
Loc: shake, rattle, & roll, CA
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Re: Pentax XW's Toast?
[Re: Sarkikos]
#5692673 - 02/21/13 12:42 PM
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Devaluing an eyepiece because it is "too much power" is at least a little silly. Maybe some observers don't know about such things as exit pupil, power per inch, best magnification for the object and the seeing range for their area?
Silly or not, my guess is that these would be SCT users... a very numerous (astronomical proportions?  ) population! When i dwelt among them, 9mm was about as low as i'd typically go- in a 10" F10 (~F11.2 with a diagonal ) that'd clock in at ~316x & 0.8mm ExP... about the limits of the atmo most nites, and probably the optics as well.
OTOH, a 7mm XW would crank out ~325x in the average 8" SCT, similarly outfitted... yet at an ExP of ~0.6mm!
Now, i wonder if the FC in the XW-14 & 20 is of the same value as that of the SCT optical system, or opposite sign? If same, the 14-XW might be nearly intolerable to most... yet if of opposite sign, might make a sweet arrangement, indeed!
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Starman81
scholastic sledgehammer
Reged: 03/06/08
Loc: Metro Detroit, MI, USA
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Re: Pentax XW's Toast?
[Re: Starman1]
#5692811 - 02/21/13 01:52 PM
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Quote:
As of today, Pentax's own website lists only 4 focal lengths of XW as available:
http://www.pentax.jp/english/products/binoculars/scope/xw/index.html
Those are the 4 focal lengths usable in the Pentax spotting scopes.
The 40, 30, 5, and 3.5 were outside the normal range for spotting scope use.
It may mean they are planning to confine XW availability to only those four focal lengths from now on.
Or it may mean those are the four focal lengths left.
It would be good to get an official statement, somehow.
It's also interesting the spotting scopes are not noted as coming with a Zoom, and the XL 8-24 zoom is not listed on the site. Likewise it's interesting the PF-100ED spotting scope, long-discontinued, is listed.
So I am not certain whether the website is up-to-date.
Their on-line Buy Now website shows more choices:
http://www.pentaxwebstore.com/category/sportoptics/eyepieces
But only the 5mm is "in stock". All the others are listed as out of stock.
Running that first link with only 4 XW's listed through the Internet Archive, shows that there have only been those 4 XW's listed since as far back as April 8th of 2012 (oldest listing archived), so I don't think that page is being updated. But the fact that all the 1.25" XW's are still listed on the webstore and available from backorder is a good sign.
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Starman1
Vendor (EyepiecesEtc.com)
Reged: 06/24/03
Loc: Los Angeles
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Re: Pentax XW's Toast?
[Re: Starman81]
#5692964 - 02/21/13 03:38 PM
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All I get is a status that says "Availability: Out of Stock".
Where do you see they are back-orderable?
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BillP
Postmaster
Reged: 11/26/06
Loc: Vienna, VA
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Re: Pentax XW's Toast?
[Re: Sarkikos]
#5692967 - 02/21/13 03:40 PM
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I want a used 30mm 
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Starman81
scholastic sledgehammer
Reged: 03/06/08
Loc: Metro Detroit, MI, USA
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Re: Pentax XW's Toast?
[Re: Starman1]
#5693001 - 02/21/13 03:57 PM
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Quote:
All I get is a status that says "Availability: Out of Stock".
Where do you see they are back-orderable?
I do see that when you add to your cart, it does say 'Out of stock'. But on the individual product page for each EP, like here, it says:
Available for backorder
Ships within 10 business days
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BillP
Postmaster
Reged: 11/26/06
Loc: Vienna, VA
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Re: Pentax XW's Toast?
[Re: Starman81]
#5693012 - 02/21/13 04:03 PM
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I just got off the line with Pentax USA (chat). They also said the XW line is being discontinued. No word from Japan HQ if a new line will be produced to replace. ...luckily I've got them all excepting the 30mm. 
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Lance1234
member
Reged: 11/01/12
Loc: Santa Clarita, CA
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Re: Pentax XW's Toast?
[Re: BillP]
#5693151 - 02/21/13 05:10 PM
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Well if the elusive used 30mm XW doesn't materialize, That last new XW 30mm may still be available in the UK (see my earlier post). Ya gotta pay to play but even at about $600, it's still cheaper than the 31 Terminagler. Ya don't want to be feelin ya missed it later 
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BillP
Postmaster
Reged: 11/26/06
Loc: Vienna, VA
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Re: Pentax XW's Toast?
[Re: Lance1234]
#5693160 - 02/21/13 05:13 PM
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That price is outside of my comfort zone unfortunately.
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Lance1234
member
Reged: 11/01/12
Loc: Santa Clarita, CA
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Re: Pentax XW's Toast?
[Re: BillP]
#5693200 - 02/21/13 05:38 PM
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A couple of drinks and it really didn't seem so bad...  Selling my ES 30mm helped too...
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johnnyha
Postmaster
Reged: 11/12/06
Loc: Sherman Oaks, CA
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Re: Pentax XW's Toast?
[Re: Lance1234]
#5693225 - 02/21/13 05:52 PM
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I had a 30mm XW and my old eyes were unable to dial out the field curvature unfortunately, I prefer the 31T5 Nagler which is sharp to the edge.
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Lane
Post Laureate
Reged: 11/19/07
Loc: Frisco, Texas
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Re: Pentax XW's Toast?
[Re: BillP]
#5693239 - 02/21/13 05:58 PM
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Quote:
I just got off the line with Pentax USA (chat). They also said the XW line is being discontinued. No word from Japan HQ if a new line will be produced to replace. ...luckily I've got them all excepting the 30mm.
Based on the eyepieces they discontinued previously it sure looks like they are getting out of the eyepiece business.
I always wished they would create a high quality true abbe ortho set with matching barlow, like Zeiss does from time to time. Only with a price that mere mortals could afford. No chance of that happening now.
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csrlice12
Post Laureate
Reged: 05/22/12
Loc: Denver, CO
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Re: Pentax XW's Toast?
[Re: Lane]
#5693247 - 02/21/13 06:02 PM
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they discontinued those too, their XO series are some of the finest orthos on the planet.....
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Sarkikos
Postmaster
Reged: 12/18/07
Loc: Suburban Maryland, USA
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Re: Pentax XW's Toast?
[Re: johnnyha]
#5693260 - 02/21/13 06:06 PM
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A 30mm XW for $600? Too rich for my blood ... and my bank account. I'll have to make do with my ES 82 30mm. Not too bad at all.
Likewise for all the Ethos and the Terminagler. 
The only XW I'd like that I don't have is the XW 5, but I really don't want to pay $299 for a new one. My ES 82 4.7 will have to take an XW 5's slot in the eyepiece case. 
Mike
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