Quite enjoyable and it's pretty organized. I like that bino-viewer and its eyepieces, I'm surprised you don't have two Barlows for it. I just buy eyepiece cases and put extra high density foam on the ends and keep them in a 12 pack sized old beach soft side insulated ice chest with a stiff plastic insert and I keep my small filter collection there too. I don't have a lot, but those three 2" eyepieces and cases filled it up. Has an easy carry arm strap and some side pockets I keep tools, flashlight and laser collimator in. My diagonal stays in its original box as does my R.A.C.I. finder scopes since they came packed in nice foam so I keep them in a grocery bag. lol
Thanks Vlad 👍. I keep my eyepieces in two Baader Morpheus fitted cases. I also a smaller fitted case which holds all my filters and plossl's etc. I use the later for the quick grab and go short sessions for cloud gaps.
I just got done with this organization exercise myself. My collection is just 6 eyepieces, but I keep my finder, 2" diagonal and a few other bits in the same case. I got my case from Harbor Freight, not as good I'm sure, but it seems pretty rugged and sealed for my purposes.
Thanks very much for taking the time to make this video!🎉 I have 20 years of just adding EPs, filters, tools, and spare batteries into whatever was cheap and handy. Remembering which bag holds what is a challenge! 😂 Organization by event makes perfect sense. Star party, backyard, alone at my club's dark site. I do keep all tools, spare batteries and power cables in a small case alone. But I'll invest in separate cases for 2" and 1.25" EPs, filters, diagonals, barlows, etc. Question: How do you cut the foam to fit specific items? Many thanks from a not so normal fan!
The foam in my Pelican cases is the pick and pluck type. It's small squares that tear out basicly. If you have just a solid piece of foam the best way to cut it is usualy with a serated knife. A bread knife usualy works well.
Got it. And thanks for showing and naming the different sizes and models. You're right that there's a million ways to organize! Makes me think through my practices and use cases. (pun intended).
So far the pick and pluck is holding up after about 5-6 years of use. Once it starts to go I may just order a custom foam for my EP case that I covered in this video!
It irks me that some explore scientific 100deg actually cost more than the ethos in some focal lengths, and less than $100 less in other cases. They used to be about 50-60% the cost of an ethos. I was also surprised to see that televue prices have not gone up as much as many other eyepieces, and pentax eyepieces cost considerably less than they did back when I was really active 2004-2012, and again 2017-2021. The 82 series was $99 for all of the 1.25" sizes but JOC cut celstron off from the axiom LX and meade from the 5k SWA and UWA. So ES would be the only source for those eyepieces, and then jacked the price up to have a premium market perception. But even then, the prices for the 100deg have never been that close, or even exceeding the price of an ethos. That is just wrong. Also considering that the XWA/HDC 100deg eyepieces offered by apm, stellarvue, lunt, WO etc... perform super close to the ethos, way better than the ES in the case of the 20mm, which I own and have compared to the ethos in scopes as fast as the low/mid f4 range as well as f5 scopes with and without a paracorr. I paid less than 200 for it used and was very happy with it. Back around 2012 I got a used 20mm es100 for iirc $220, to go with my 14mm, which was a gift from Scott Roberts from the first batch since I was a top OPT salesman back then (2006-2011). The 14mm does hold up extremely well compared to the 13mm ethos. In 2012 I had already gotten rid of all my newtonian scopes, as I had become mainly a C11, 8"lx200R OTA, and refractor guy, with a tv101, pronto, and some long achromats c4r, nexstar 80gtl, and a 90mm mak, and solarmax 60. My mounts were G11g, GM8g, cg5 with RA drive, stellervue M3 az, and the little nexstar GT, as well as a manfrotto 3011 for the pronto and solarmax 60 grab and go, as well as my 15x70 and 20x80 binos and 90mak. I was happy with the 20mm es100 until several years later when I was at a star party and got to compare it to the 21 ethos in a 20"f5 obsession. The 20ES just didn't hold up at the edges like the ethos, or the 14mm. And now it costs about the same as the ethos. Shortly after that I had to put everything back into storage, got seen by some tweakers, dropping of gear, and a week later I had nothing left. Now I have a WO 20mm XWA, but no other 100deg eyepieces, I have to make do with the 2" gso Ed barlow, which of course makes it an extremely tall 10mm, or an approx 13mm with the barlow lens threaded on like a filter. I also had a 31 nagler that I replaced with a 28mm megaview (uwan), which is the best 30mm range nagler clone, better than the es30. The es24 is also pretty darn good, I used to have the 23mm axiom LX version, but the 30 didn't hold up when I compared it to my 31. My current "premium" case is an apache 4800, and it is pretty heavy filled up. I used to use the harbor freight cases that came with pluck foam and dividers, so you could use them either way. Alot cheaper than the pluck foam cases orion sold, just like apache is much cheaper than pelican nowadays. I had doskocil cases as well, a seal tight XL housed my pronto along with an entire set of premium 1.25" eyepieces and barlows and filters I had dedicated to that scope, and there was room left over for my solarmax 60 etalon and bf10, since I was planning on using the pronto instead of the gold tube, but the 60 got stolen out of my van in 2013, and the pronto case and my 80gtl and 20x80 with manfrotto were in my car when it got impounded after my axle broke and I had to walk to an appt I was late for, and it was broken into at the yard. A similar thing happened a few years ago where I had my van which was loaded with astronomy and music gear impounded, and I was prevented from getting it out or even my stuff out of it, and that hit me hard and I haven't been out since. Only a small bag of plossl class eyepieces, some orion flat fields, a decent barlow and some filters (that I can remember) was in the van, but my 127mak, omni102, a more recent nexstar GT, xt8 dob, and a vintage vixen 60mmf15 Az, and more importantly, all of my counterweights except for my 4lb, were lost along with thousands worth of music gear. My main eq mount in this budget themed rebuilding of my older lost astro collection, is an orion astroview with 2 upgraded tripod options, and the SVP pier extension from my past that wasn't stolen, tripods being the vixen wooden one from the 60, and a 2" steel cg5 tripod. The cg5 that was stolen was a pre 2000s one, with the aluminum tripod and lesser internals that were improved when the advanced series came out. That mount literally cost me $25 and needed a lot of work so it really wasn't that big of a loss, but the van itself was the biggest loss, since it could haul alot and I could camp 3 2-5 days at a dark site, getting the most out of my gas money. Now I can't even fit any of my scopes in the car I have now and would have to find at least one bigger counterweight to even use my 4"f10 refractor from home. I am considering the $599 costco special ES 10" hybrid truss as an option, I know it has issues with QC, mirror falling out of the cell if you pick up the mirror box by the handle, the focuser in a funny place etc... but even if I could fit my 10" starhopper in my car which isn't likely, the mirror seriously needs a recoat, even though it works it is probably more like an 8" or even a 6" brightness wise, and there are a bunch of spots where it is eaten away totally. It was only $60 from the same friend who sold me the CG5 and astroview for next to nothing, and more importantly my loaded powerstar C8 for $200. Which MIGHT fit in the car, but i really like to have at least a 10 to make the trip worth it, and having that 28mm and 20mm, along with my smaller UWAs and lone 7mm nagler, and a paracorr, I kinda would like that 10" to be a dob. Anyway, that is just the beginning of my return to astro, or not conundrum, since my vehicle is an EV with compromised battery, that auto nation screwed me on my used car warranty for, and the only way I use it is with the 2 gallon tank range extender, since I have no way of charging from home, and haven't sat at a public charger for a few years now. I'm not even sure I could make it to a dark site and back, not counting other issues ... But yeah, I can't stand those new ES prices, and that they are held in the same regard as televue I had the same gripe with all the forum hype about hyperion eyepieces back in the day "I sold all my pentax XWs after buying hyperions " which caused the same orion stratus to lose sales, and let baader to raise the prices. I was shocked to see pentax XW cost less now than back in the day, currently $269 at agena where I noticed the $600-700+ es100s. The 25 and 30 were always in the 1k range, and didn't go up as much as the more common focal lengths did
Perfect timing! I was just surfing Cloudy Nights trying to reassure myself that my eyepiece case has all it needs 😂
Glad I could help! LOL.
Quite enjoyable and it's pretty organized. I like that bino-viewer and its eyepieces, I'm surprised you don't have two Barlows for it.
I just buy eyepiece cases and put extra high density foam on the ends and keep them in a 12 pack sized old beach soft side insulated ice chest with a stiff plastic insert and I keep my small filter collection there too. I don't have a lot, but those three 2" eyepieces and cases filled it up. Has an easy carry arm strap and some side pockets I keep tools, flashlight and laser collimator in. My diagonal stays in its original box as does my R.A.C.I. finder scopes since they came packed in nice foam so I keep them in a grocery bag. lol
Yeah whatever works!
The Baader binoviewer uses GPC's which are either fitted in the diagonal or the binoviewer itself. No Barlow.
@@Astronurd Does that mean if I bought a Baader Binoviewer it only takes their proprietary eyepieces?
You can use any 1.25" eyepieces. You just need the GPC's to reach focus depending on the scope.
Harbor freight apache cases are a good budget option, basically a copy of the pelican
Thanks Vlad 👍. I keep my eyepieces in two Baader Morpheus fitted cases. I also a smaller fitted case which holds all my filters and plossl's etc. I use the later for the quick grab and go short sessions for cloud gaps.
Very cool, sounds like a nice setup!
I just got done with this organization exercise myself. My collection is just 6 eyepieces, but I keep my finder, 2" diagonal and a few other bits in the same case. I got my case from Harbor Freight, not as good I'm sure, but it seems pretty rugged and sealed for my purposes.
I think that that small case I have is from Harbor Freight. It's actually pretty good quality.
Very nice.
Thank you! Cheers!
Thanks very much for taking the time to make this video!🎉
I have 20 years of just adding EPs, filters, tools, and spare batteries into whatever was cheap and handy. Remembering which bag holds what is a challenge! 😂
Organization by event makes perfect sense. Star party, backyard, alone at my club's dark site. I do keep all tools, spare batteries and power cables in a small case alone. But I'll invest in separate cases for 2" and 1.25" EPs, filters, diagonals, barlows, etc.
Question: How do you cut the foam to fit specific items?
Many thanks from a not so normal fan!
The foam in my Pelican cases is the pick and pluck type. It's small squares that tear out basicly. If you have just a solid piece of foam the best way to cut it is usualy with a serated knife. A bread knife usualy works well.
Got it. And thanks for showing and naming the different sizes and models. You're right that there's a million ways to organize! Makes me think through my practices and use cases. (pun intended).
@AVTAstro have you considered kaizen foam? I'm not entirely happy with my pick and pluck foam for my OTA, so I'm thinking about it.
So far the pick and pluck is holding up after about 5-6 years of use. Once it starts to go I may just order a custom foam for my EP case that I covered in this video!
It irks me that some explore scientific 100deg actually cost more than the ethos in some focal lengths, and less than $100 less in other cases. They used to be about 50-60% the cost of an ethos.
I was also surprised to see that televue prices have not gone up as much as many other eyepieces, and pentax eyepieces cost considerably less than they did back when I was really active 2004-2012, and again 2017-2021.
The 82 series was $99 for all of the 1.25" sizes but JOC cut celstron off from the axiom LX and meade from the 5k SWA and UWA. So ES would be the only source for those eyepieces, and then jacked the price up to have a premium market perception. But even then, the prices for the 100deg have never been that close, or even exceeding the price of an ethos. That is just wrong.
Also considering that the XWA/HDC 100deg eyepieces offered by apm, stellarvue, lunt, WO etc... perform super close to the ethos, way better than the ES in the case of the 20mm, which I own and have compared to the ethos in scopes as fast as the low/mid f4 range as well as f5 scopes with and without a paracorr. I paid less than 200 for it used and was very happy with it.
Back around 2012 I got a used 20mm es100 for iirc $220, to go with my 14mm, which was a gift from Scott Roberts from the first batch since I was a top OPT salesman back then (2006-2011). The 14mm does hold up extremely well compared to the 13mm ethos.
In 2012 I had already gotten rid of all my newtonian scopes, as I had become mainly a C11, 8"lx200R OTA, and refractor guy, with a tv101, pronto, and some long achromats c4r, nexstar 80gtl, and a 90mm mak, and solarmax 60.
My mounts were G11g, GM8g, cg5 with RA drive, stellervue M3 az, and the little nexstar GT, as well as a manfrotto 3011 for the pronto and solarmax 60 grab and go, as well as my 15x70 and 20x80 binos and 90mak.
I was happy with the 20mm es100 until several years later when I was at a star party and got to compare it to the 21 ethos in a 20"f5 obsession. The 20ES just didn't hold up at the edges like the ethos, or the 14mm. And now it costs about the same as the ethos.
Shortly after that I had to put everything back into storage, got seen by some tweakers, dropping of gear, and a week later I had nothing left.
Now I have a WO 20mm XWA, but no other 100deg eyepieces, I have to make do with the 2" gso Ed barlow, which of course makes it an extremely tall 10mm, or an approx 13mm with the barlow lens threaded on like a filter.
I also had a 31 nagler that I replaced with a 28mm megaview (uwan), which is the best 30mm range nagler clone, better than the es30. The es24 is also pretty darn good, I used to have the 23mm axiom LX version, but the 30 didn't hold up when I compared it to my 31.
My current "premium" case is an apache 4800, and it is pretty heavy filled up. I used to use the harbor freight cases that came with pluck foam and dividers, so you could use them either way. Alot cheaper than the pluck foam cases orion sold, just like apache is much cheaper than pelican nowadays.
I had doskocil cases as well, a seal tight XL housed my pronto along with an entire set of premium 1.25" eyepieces and barlows and filters I had dedicated to that scope, and there was room left over for my solarmax 60 etalon and bf10, since I was planning on using the pronto instead of the gold tube, but the 60 got stolen out of my van in 2013, and the pronto case and my 80gtl and 20x80 with manfrotto were in my car when it got impounded after my axle broke and I had to walk to an appt I was late for, and it was broken into at the yard.
A similar thing happened a few years ago where I had my van which was loaded with astronomy and music gear impounded, and I was prevented from getting it out or even my stuff out of it, and that hit me hard and I haven't been out since. Only a small bag of plossl class eyepieces, some orion flat fields, a decent barlow and some filters (that I can remember) was in the van, but my 127mak, omni102, a more recent nexstar GT, xt8 dob, and a vintage vixen 60mmf15 Az, and more importantly, all of my counterweights except for my 4lb, were lost along with thousands worth of music gear.
My main eq mount in this budget themed rebuilding of my older lost astro collection, is an orion astroview with 2 upgraded tripod options, and the SVP pier extension from my past that wasn't stolen, tripods being the vixen wooden one from the 60, and a 2" steel cg5 tripod. The cg5 that was stolen was a pre 2000s one, with the aluminum tripod and lesser internals that were improved when the advanced series came out. That mount literally cost me $25 and needed a lot of work so it really wasn't that big of a loss, but the van itself was the biggest loss, since it could haul alot and I could camp 3
2-5 days at a dark site, getting the most out of my gas money.
Now I can't even fit any of my scopes in the car I have now and would have to find at least one bigger counterweight to even use my 4"f10 refractor from home.
I am considering the $599 costco special ES 10" hybrid truss as an option, I know it has issues with QC, mirror falling out of the cell if you pick up the mirror box by the handle, the focuser in a funny place etc... but even if I could fit my 10" starhopper in my car which isn't likely, the mirror seriously needs a recoat, even though it works it is probably more like an 8" or even a 6" brightness wise, and there are a bunch of spots where it is eaten away totally. It was only $60 from the same friend who sold me the CG5 and astroview for next to nothing, and more importantly my loaded powerstar C8 for $200. Which MIGHT fit in the car, but i really like to have at least a 10 to make the trip worth it, and having that 28mm and 20mm, along with my smaller UWAs and lone 7mm nagler, and a paracorr, I kinda would like that 10" to be a dob.
Anyway, that is just the beginning of my return to astro, or not conundrum, since my vehicle is an EV with compromised battery, that auto nation screwed me on my used car warranty for, and the only way I use it is with the 2 gallon tank range extender, since I have no way of charging from home, and haven't sat at a public charger for a few years now. I'm not even sure I could make it to a dark site and back, not counting other issues ...
But yeah, I can't stand those new ES prices, and that they are held in the same regard as televue
I had the same gripe with all the forum hype about hyperion eyepieces back in the day "I sold all my pentax XWs after buying hyperions " which caused the same orion stratus to lose sales, and let baader to raise the prices.
I was shocked to see pentax XW cost less now than back in the day, currently $269 at agena where I noticed the $600-700+ es100s. The 25 and 30 were always in the 1k range, and didn't go up as much as the more common focal lengths did
Thanks!
Thanks a million, I really appreciate it!!!
@@AVTAstro The least I could do is buy you a cup of coffee, your advice has been extremely beneficial!
Well, I won't hide that I do like coffee;) Thanks again and it's good to hear that the content is helpful!
Im slowly in the process of "premium-ifying" my case... im looking into a binoviewer next... but have to figure out the whole focus thing
Binoviewers are amazing especially on the planets and moon!
Fortunately I bought my ES eyepieces before they raised the price.
Yeah I have not been tracking the prices of them, but they sure used to be affordable back when I bought mine.