30 replies to this topic

[scotsman328i]

I own a Agena 26mm SWA, it's a decent eyepiece,  comparable to the TeleVue 27mm Panoptic (although not as sharp along the edges). It is my most used eyepiece at public star parties. 

Yes. These Agena SWAs are fantastic for outreach events. If you drop it and it breaks, your heart won’t do the same. lol.

[8DobFlorida]

My experience with the Paradigms was 6 or 7 years before the AT UWA's were a thing. I now have a 7mm UWA in my lightweight travel kit between 13, 5 & 3.5T6 Naglers and it plays well there. The Paradigms are unlikely to do that. My experience with the AT eyepiece lines is that they generally outperform their price point and as you move up Paradigms to UWA's to XWA's you get more. When I bought the UWA I was not tempted to get a Paradigm Dual ED instead. I wanted higher performance but didn't really want to spend T6 money for an eyepiece that'll get used a few times a year. If you could get Ethos performance for < $75 a pop, everybody would use whatever did that. But you can't. You can, however, get good value for your $ at different price points.

You have to balance your conditions and needs to make your purchase.

I’ve been thinking about what you said here and noticed the Astro-Tech UWA 7mm is $120 with 12mm of eye relief while the Paradigm 8mm has 13mm. Is the $50 worth the 20 degrees FOV? Is one any clearer than the other? Or do they look similar, just the FOV is bigger?

The 7mm is also a lot more magnified compared to the 8mm with a bigger field of view.

[Oldfracguy]

I’ve been thinking about what you said here and noticed the Astro-Tech UWA 7mm is $120 with 12mm of eye relief while the Paradigm 8mm has 13mm. Is the $50 worth the 20 degrees FOV? Is one any clearer than the other? Or do they look similar, just the FOV is bigger?

The 7mm is also a lot more magnified compared to the 8mm with a bigger field of view.

This is the same KUO-made eyepiece, although Stellarvue lists its focal length as 8 mm just as our resident eyepiece expert Starman1 shows in his 2025 Eyepiece Excel Spreadsheet available in the Eyepiece Forum:

 

https://www.stellarv...piece-euw-08-0/

 

To my eye this eyepiece works exceptionally well.  I've used it in f/6 and f/7 ED refractors, and an f/6 Newtonian.  It is good enough for me that I sold my Nagler 7mm and 9mm Type 6 eyepieces and pocketed the savings to finance future astro stuff purchases.

Edited by Oldfracguy, 14 April 2025 - 09:32 PM.

[SeattleScott]

I’ve been thinking about what you said here and noticed the Astro-Tech UWA 7mm is $120 with 12mm of eye relief while the Paradigm 8mm has 13mm. Is the $50 worth the 20 degrees FOV? Is one any clearer than the other? Or do they look similar, just the FOV is bigger?

The 7mm is also a lot more magnified compared to the 8mm with a bigger field of view.

Apparently the 7 UWA is about 7.7mm so pretty close to 8mm.

These are both AT house brand. Just one is offered at a lower price because it is only 60 AFOV. I would expect the quality to be basically the same. They both have a reputation for being a solid performer in the series. Really, the Paradigm is for people who want an upgrade from a Plossl at a low price, and the UWA is for people willing to spend a bit more (but not Nagler prices) for 80 AFOV. That’s the target market segment. You just have to decide which segment you are in.

[8DobFlorida]

Apparently the 7 UWA is about 7.7mm so pretty close to 8mm.

These are both AT house brand. Just one is offered at a lower price because it is only 60 AFOV. I would expect the quality to be basically the same. They both have a reputation for being a solid performer in the series. Really, the Paradigm is for people who want an upgrade from a Plossl at a low price, and the UWA is for people willing to spend a bit more (but not Nagler prices) for 80 AFOV. That’s the target market segment. You just have to decide which segment you are in.

7.7mm UWA versus the Apertura SWA 10mm SHOULD still be a good upgrade? I have a 6mm Plossl but the eye view is so dang small, I hate it and don’t use it.

I was looking at Jupiter last night and could clearly see multiple bands on Jupiter and the 4 moons, Mars, Praesepe, and Orion.

South Florida sky’s have been really clear the last few days

[SeattleScott]

Yes, should be an upgrade.