GSO 1.25" Plossl Eyepiece - 40mm

5.0 Flawless

On time, well packed, fair price, case for free. What else?

This review was provided courtesy of AgenaAstro.com

5.0 Excellent Eyepiece!

This is an excellent eyepiece. The build quality is surprisingly good and the optical performance is nice too. I'm happy with it.

This review was provided courtesy of AgenaAstro.com

5.0 Very nice eyepiece. The moon

Very nice eyepiece. The moon is crystal clear and pops almost like 3D. I use it as a finder because it has a wide FOV. Agena AstroProducts is very quick to ship and has a large selection. I will shop there again.

This review was provided courtesy of AgenaAstro.com

5.0 A lot of bang for the buck!

Quality Lenses,Strong Construction,Lightweight

I am a avid amateur astronomer who is on a budget. Besides my backyard viewing I like to do street astronomy outreach. I recently acquired this eyepiece to use in my 127mm F12 Mak which is a outreach/public scope. First things first.....Agena is a wonderful business to work with. Fast fast delivery....oh this eyepiece delivers! Super sharp, bright images. Nice eye relief! On a recent outreach I had many first timers looking thru the scope......No one had trouble viewing with this eyepiece. Awesome! If you have a long focal length scope you will enjoy the views! Thank you Agena for a quality product, fair pricing, prompt service!

This review was provided courtesy of AgenaAstro.com

5.0 Large lens and wide views

Quality Lenses

This is the first eyepiece I place in my telescope when starting a viewing session. It provides low power wide views that let me scan the sky area I'm interested in before going into more powerful magnifications. At first I was concern with the 45 degrees thinking it was not wide enough. However that was not the case. I have a Mak 127mm with a long focal length of 1540mm, so this eyepiece give me 38.5x with a 1.17 degrees which does not seem much, but in my telescope it is. It also provides me with 3.30mm of exit pupil which is in the perfect range for everyone. In a faster telescope with a shorter focal length this eye piece should provide even better low power views at at even wider field of view. For instance, in an ES AR102 will provide 16x with 2.7 degrees of view. You can always use a barlow lens to increase the magnification and narrow the field of view. But keep in mind this eyepiece is for low power views. I'm very happy I added it to my collection.

This review was provided courtesy of AgenaAstro.com

5.0 Fantastic experience

Quality Lenses,Strong Construction,Easy to Use

Comments from a beginner (Celestron 127SLT 127mn x 1500mm)
What is a telescope without a 40mm wide angle eyepiece? None of the eyepieces provided in the startup pack allows to take a wide open eyes walk in the milky way and see soooo many stars around you. Highly recommended to me by an experienced friend, and now highly recommended by a beginner to all beginners!

This review was provided courtesy of AgenaAstro.com

5.0 Perfect quality for its price.

Quality Lenses,Lightweight,Easy to Use

Very good eyepiece for its price. Good quality lenses. Average FOV for a 40 mm. Reccomended.

This review was provided courtesy of AgenaAstro.com

4.0 Good value for price range

Good Color,Accurate,Massive Eye Relief

Slow Scope Dependant

Call this GSO EP whatever you want, Agena, GSO, GTO, Meade ... it makes a fine "scan/finder" EP for the price.
Drawbacks are the barrel effect with only a 45 degree view, but the colors to the edge are good despite being 4 elements.
I've seen two types of this EP, I'll call Mk1 and Mk2; this Mk1 has a coating that reflects green with a slight purple secondary reflection, the Mk2 has a prominent purple reflection with the secondary being green. The Mk2 does better with fewer reflections and better contrast.
You can not use this EP in a 4.5" f/8 reflector due to barreling, vignetting, but it works fine in a f/6 8" dob.
I have not tried the 32mm version of this brand but it might be a better choice giving more light gathering and better field of view. Being such a low power the colors are fine giving a bright view, good for public gazing under light polution

This review was provided courtesy of AgenaAstro.com

5.0 Just what I needed

Quality Lenses,Strong Construction,Easy to Use

I needed a wide-field medium power eyepiece of high quality, delivered in less than a week, to observe and photograph the June 2012 Transit of Venus. The GSO Plossl came in a few days and performed flawlessly.

This review was provided courtesy of AgenaAstro.com

4.0 Good match

Quality Lenses,Accurate

It is low cost. It was a good match for my travel 80mm achromat scope. I did not need a "high-dollar" ocular.

This review was provided courtesy of AgenaAstro.com

5.0 Excellent!

Quality Lenses,Strong Construction,Accurate

The build quality of this lens is excellent, as is the optical performance. It represents amazing value for money, I am more than pleased with the lens and have no hesitation in recommending it.

This review was provided courtesy of AgenaAstro.com

4.0 Very good affordable eyepiece

Easy to Use,Quality Lenses

Heavy

Just the eyepiece I was looking for, for my C8, next to my 20, 10 and 5mm ones. Thank you Agena!

This review was provided courtesy of AgenaAstro.com

4.0 GSO 40mm Plossl

Accurate,Compact,Strong Construction,Quality Lenses

None

I needed a low power plossl with a reasonable FOV, I already had some others that came with scopes I purchased but found them to be limited. The GSO was an eye-opener, great FOV and eye-relief, the heavens appeared to open up, better views than my Celestron Omni 40mm which I use most of the time. Easy on the eyes and a joy to view with.

This review was provided courtesy of AgenaAstro.com

5.0 Works great!

Quality Lenses,Accurate

I used this on my Meade refracting telescope and it works very well. I had a different 40mm eyepiece but the aperture was so narrow it was hard to see anything through it. This one works a lot better and is sturdy in construction with a very wide field of view for viewing enjoyment. It is a little heavy, but if you have a good telescope that is well-built, this shouldbn't be an issue. I give this my approval!

This review was provided courtesy of AgenaAstro.com

4.0 Cheap and good!

Quality Lenses,Strong Construction

Hi! I use it for digiscoping, for me it's important quality+saving money...this piece was my target. If you don't believe me, please believe them.....I'll buy it again!

This review was provided courtesy of AgenaAstro.com

5.0 Does what it should

Accurate,Strong Construction,Quality Lenses

I bought this 40mm Plossl to use for DSOs in my long focal length, 3 inch refractor. At F/15.7 the 40mm generates a greate than 2mm exit pupil, just right for many deep sky objects.

As with all 40mm Plossls I've had in the past (TV, Sirius and Meade) eyeplacement is critical, but once found is not so hard to maintain.

I've used this eyepiece as a finder with my recently acquired 6" F/10 reflector with excellent results. On very bright objects such as Jupiter I've seen some eyeball reflections, but this seems common in many of the plossl's I've used in the past. Since I primarly use this as either a DSO observing eyepiece or a finder I do not find the occasional eyeball reflection objectionable.

This review was provided courtesy of AgenaAstro.com

4.0 I am happy I got this one

Accurate,Quality Lenses

I do not have a comparison for 40mm, but I am quite happy with it's performance. I use it with my Celestron C5 when birdwatching on stationary birds. The Celestron C5 comes with a 25mm eyepiece but I find the larger eyering of the 40mm an advantage.

I have three different GSO eyepieces and I find them all of good performance, and the come at a very reasonable price.

I can recommend the GSO product and Agena Astro.

This review was provided courtesy of AgenaAstro.com

4.0 40mm GSO Super Plossl

Great Price to Performanc,Well built,Good eye relief

Some edge aberration

This eyepiece is a pleasant surprise. While a 40mm Plossl in a 1.25" format will naturally be restricted by the 27mm field stop, this eyepiece provides an excellent wide field view with minimal aberrations. The eyepiece was purchased as a 'Finder EP' for an 80mm f/7 achromatic used by a youth camp. Several of us were very surprised at the eyepieces performance when we started using it. It is not only a great 'Finder EP' it provides very good performance as a wide field eyepiece. There is some spherical aberration at the edge and with a Newtonian it does somewhat emphasize coma at the very edge. Still, the on-axis viewing is excellent and even in a fast scope the central 65-70% of the AFOV is sharp with good detail and contrast. The eyepiece has good light transmission although we did experience minor flare when a bright Moon is just at the edge of the FOV.

This eyepiece won't compete with 2” EPs or other 1 ¼” costing several times more but if you're looking for a well built, good quality 40mm eyepiece this one is an excellent choice.

This review was provided courtesy of AgenaAstro.com

4.0 40mm GSO 1 ¼” Super Plössl

> Well Built
> Good eye relief
> Great Price to Performance

> Edge Aberration especially in fast scopes

40mm GSO 1 ¼” Super Plössl

This eyepiece is a pleasant surprise. While a 40mm Plössl in a 1.25" format will naturally be restricted by the 27mm filed stop, this eyepiece provides an excellent wide field view with minimal aberrations. The eyepiece was purchased as a 'Finder EP' for an 80mm f/7 achromatic used by a youth camp. Several of us were very surprised at the eyepieces performance when we started using it. It is not only a great 'Finder EP' it provides very good performance as a wide field eyepiece. There is some spherical aberration at the edge and with a Newtonian it does somewhat emphasize coma at the very edge. Still, the on-axis viewing is excellent and even in a fast scope the central 65-70% of the AFOV is sharp with good detail and contrast. The eyepiece has good light transmission although we did experience minor flare when a bright Moon is just at the edge of the FOV.

This eyepiece won't compete with 2” EPs or other 1 ¼” costing several times more but if you're looking for a well built, good quality 40mm eyepiece this one is an excellent choice.