@Mak the Night
I bet it would compare well to the 24mm Panoptic yes, perhaps we will know someday (I hope). My 12mm Starguider is not bad with astigmatism, for my only Starguider, but the focus is not has sharp has my 9mm Xcel LX. which is 28x stronger.

The 12mm will be the only Starguider l'll ever own probably... but I think it's a keeper with my current 1000mm telescope.

@jgroub
Thanks for your interesting review, I read it already and read it a second time today. I am happy for you with the 24mm ES and it's motivating for me too. This one will be a good asset in my case, an eyepiece that should last a lifetime.

 

Ahh the wonderful 66° AFOV eyepiece.
An eyepiece that is either loved or loathed...
I had a Skywatchers set years ago that I had to debate on just returning them or throwing them at someone I did not like.

Nebula, do you have astigmatism or are you seeing it in the eyepiece?

 

On the eyepiece layout I would think more a modified Konig than a Bertele.
The Bertele is actually a very good eyepiece which started life as a binocular eyepiece.

 

Nebula, do you have astigmatism or are you seeing it in the eyepiece?

Oh eh I am sorry the aberration i am experiencing at a low level from the Starguider is this, curvature of field, not astigmatism.



It's not possible to exactly focus the entire FOV while my other eyepieces Xcel LX, otrhoscopic and explore scientific can do it very well.

Note: My Q70 32mm eyepiece had the exact same problem at a much higher level WITH astigmatism. Not good with F5.

My view should be normal.

 

@Mak the Night I'll be there to watch if you wish to disassemble an Orion Expanse or other clone of it For the sake of common knowledge.

 

The Q70 is a Erfle design which does not play well with fast focal ratios. You need to stay slower than f/7 to appreciate them.
In my f/10 - f/15 refractors an Erfle is outstanding

 

The Bertele has very thick/ angled glass elements to help “straighten” the view through the binocular prisms.
Though the exact glass types would have to be known for certainty.

Nebula: pick a point 1/2 way to the edge and see if you can get it to focus there. Sometimes you can get a more usable view this way.

 

Yes, the two lens elements at the bottom of the StarGuiders/Paradigms are referred to as a Smythe lens. They perform the same function as a Barlow, but achieve it differently optically. How they do it is beyond my optical pay grade, sorry.

Does it cause you to run? To run so far away?

 

Nebula: pick a point 1/2 way to the edge and see if you can get it to focus there. Sometimes you can get a more usable view this way.

I will try that, but it's not a very annoying thing with the 12mm because it's providing me 83x of power for small objects. At that power, 95% of the time, it's to examine a small cluster, planetary nebula or a group of close stars which will usually fit well in the middle of the FOV Starguider is safe.

On the other hand, my 25mm Xcel LX has some aberration off axis close to the edge, but at low power I am far less tolerant. For that reason, it's for sale now on the Craigslist, it was replaced with the ES 24mm of course which I should arrive Monday.

My birthday gift.

 

Ok, don't hold your breath though lol. The 9mm is supposedly the best of the four. I quite like mine even with its quirky eye placement. The 15 and 20mm are generally despised but I don't dislike the 15mm in the ST80. You have a good sixty degrees before it gets prehistoric flying dinosaur. It's nice and light and Barlows well. Did I mention it was cheap? lol

Lol

I keep the faith I'll see the dissection of an Expanse someday.