Tele Vue 1.25" Plossl Eyepiece - 8mm

5.0 Televue 8mm Plossl - A "Must Have" in your Eyepiece Collection

Tack sharp, high contrast views across entire FOV; Barlows easily; Colors are true; Excellent coatings.

Tight eye relief; Stiff rubber eyeguard; None which are intolerable.

The 1.25" Televue 8mm Plossl is a very well constructed eyepiece that sports fully multi-coated edge blackened lenses. AFOV is 50 degrees. The top portion of the eyepiece consists of a thin-waisted anodized aluminum cell with the characteristic etched electric green lettering denoting the Televue name, eyepiece type, and focal length. It also has a stiff stubby rubber eyeguard. The barrel is chrome plated brass that has a safety groove, which helps retain the ocular if it is not fully tightened within your focuser. When looking at the eyepiece nearly straight on, you will notice an emerald green hue to the coatings. At shallow angles it reflects a magenta-purplish hue. Compared to the 11mm within the same set, the coatings appear to be applied more heavily. It is parfocal to others in the set except for the 40mm.

Now that I have covered the aesthetics and specs of the eyepiece, let's get to the Televue 8mm Plossl's performance overview:

Though I have owned the Televue 8mm for what may be considered a short period of time, I find that I am using this ocular quite often. Its sharp views of the planets, Moon, and double stars make it a "must have". I used it on both my 90mm f/11.1 modified "Vixen Spec" refractor as well as my 10" f/5.6 Newtonian and was graced with tack sharp, high contrast images very similar to orthoscopics. It reveals true color of objects with no aberrations across the entire FOV. Though the eye relief is a bit tight, it is definitely tolerable.

During one of our astronomy group star parties, a new amateur acquaintance brought out his 12" f/5 Meade Lightbrigde Dobsonian. He was using a 12.4mm Meade 4000 series Plossl. When I peered through this eyepiece at Saturn, I thought there was something wrong with the primary. Saturn's image appeared a pale blue and dull. I mentioned that I had my Televue 8mm Plossl with me and asked if I could try it out. I heard a lot of good reviews regarding the Meade Lightbridge but was being disappointed with its performance using the Meade Series 4000, which I would thought would have been well suited for this instrument. When we installed the TV 8mm on the Lightbridge we were totally knocked off our feet at the view through this telescope. The Televue, yielding a power of 190.5x power on this telescope was breathtaking! Both Cassini and Encke divisions were easily discernible. There was also good detail in the belts. We could make out five Saturnian moons, which appear as distinct disks. Going a bit further, we decided to use a 2x Meade barlow to boost the power to 381x. The view was outstanding. Saturn was still tack sharp revealing even greater detail. I had never seen Saturn with this much detail at 381x. I must say it was unforgettable. My new amateur associate is currently on the hunt for a good deal on a Televue 8mm Plossl. :) It is definitely a "must have". I purchased mine "used" in pristine condition for around $50.00, but it retails for about $85.00, and is well worth it.