TeleVue Radian 8mm

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TeleVue Radian 8mm
Another winner from Televue. Just as sharp as an Ortho with slightly less contrast but much more comfortable to use. I've used the 3mm, 6mm, and 10mm in addition to the 8mm. The 3mm was too much magnification for my scope but the 6, 8, and 10mm are my favorites for planetary and lunar observing. Once I get comfortable looking through a Radian, I forget sometimes that I'm looking through an eyepiece. In my humble opinion, THAT is a sure sign of excellence in optical design.

Overall Rating: 10
Weight: 1 (Unreliable Vote)
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Link to this vote: http://excelsis.com/1.0/displayvote.php?voteid=43702

TeleVue Radian 8mm
The televue 8mm radian is a FANTASTIC eyepiece, it provides stunning imagages of saturn, jupitar, and the moon. I have looked through alot of eyepieces, (some exellent), but the quality of the televue 8mm radian surpasses them all. From what I have seen, It is by FAR the best around in this focal length. Moderatly surpassing the the performance of my tevevue 7mm nagler, (which is the second best eyepiece in this focal length range) My recommandation: if you can affrord it, BYE IT. You will be EXTREMLELY PLEASED!!!!!

Overall Rating: 10
Weight: 1 (Unreliable Vote)
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Link to this vote: http://excelsis.com/1.0/displayvote.php?voteid=43703

TeleVue Radian 8mm
Small weight and good eyereleif make this a good eyepiece for me since I like to wear glasses, and don't like carrying around grenade sized eyepieces that either unbalance my telescope or have a greater chance of damage if they fall. Barlowing with the Celestron Ultima seems to darken the image a little bit so that if you have enough money, you may consider just getting a smaller radian for maximum light transmission. Probably the best low power eyepiece I've ever used.

Overall Rating: 10
Weight: 1 (Unreliable Vote)
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Link to this vote: http://excelsis.com/1.0/displayvote.php?voteid=43704

TeleVue Radian 8mm
Simply incredible. I don't know how they did it. Views are
very bright, and very sharp to the edge.
I focused on the Trapezium in the center of the eyepiece,
and let it drift out of view without refocusing.
The stars were pinpoint all the way to the edge until they
disappeard. My excellent celeston ultimas could not pass this
test. You forget you are looking through an 8mm eyepiece.
I am spoiled for life.
I will give this eyepiece a 9+. It is not perfect.
The adjustable sleeve is a little loose for my liking,
and there is just a little bit of false color on the very
edge on bright objects. Very little, but I did notice it.
I will slowly accumulate all of the short focal length radians,
and get rid of my barlows. Eye relief is excellent, and the eye lens
on the 8mm is almost 1" across! It is like looking through a 32mm plossl.
Worth every penney.

Overall Rating: 9
Weight: 3 (Unreliable Vote)
Date:
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Link to this vote: http://excelsis.com/1.0/displayvote.php?voteid=43705

TeleVue Radian 8mm
As of this writing, I own the Radian 6, 8, 10, & 14. All perform essentially the same; bright, and sharp to the edge in all scopes I have tried them in. Contrast is excellent. Now that I own the Radian's 6 & 8, I rarely resort to using my Nagler's 7 & 9 anymore. I simply prefer the contrast and sharpness enhancement, as well as the eye relief advantage of the Radians, over the FOV advantage of the Naglers.

Overall Rating: 10
Weight: 1 (Unreliable Vote)
Date:
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Link to this vote: http://excelsis.com/1.0/displayvote.php?voteid=43707

TeleVue Radian 8mm
Superb eyepiece. So much more comfortable to use than my Celestron Ultima 7.5 it's unbelievable. Instadjust helps keep you at the right distance to get rid of kidney beaning from the huge eye relief. Sharp to the edge, great contrast. Haven't noticed any reflections or ghosting that the 6mm seems to have.

I get 150x with this one. I use it a LOT for double stars, the moon, planets, and globular clusters.

Ritesh

Overall Rating: 10
Weight: 3 (Unreliable Vote)
Date:
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Link to this vote: http://excelsis.com/1.0/displayvote.php?voteid=43708

TeleVue Radian 8mm
Excellent design in an eyepiece. Eye relief is outstanding, contrast and sharpness are just a hair below my Pentax Ortho's. The performance and "ease of use" make this eyepiece a certain "keeper" for anyone who uses it. I feel that the 8 Radian is a bit sharper than the 6 Radian (which I also own) perhaps due to the lack of 1 extra element that is in the 6.

Overall Rating: 10
Weight: 3 (Unreliable Vote)
Date:
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Link to this vote: http://excelsis.com/1.0/displayvote.php?voteid=43709

TeleVue Radian 8mm
My favorite Radian - the 8mm. Contrast is a hair less than my wonderful Pentax Ortho's, but everything else is excellent - eye relief, fov, sharpness. In my opinion one of the best eyepieces from TeleVue.

Overall Rating: 10
Weight: 3 (Unreliable Vote)
Date:
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Link to this vote: http://excelsis.com/1.0/displayvote.php?voteid=43710

TeleVue Radian 8mm
I really rate this eyepiece a 9.5 It is a excellent eyepiece. The sharpness and contrast are fantastic! Al Nagler says that the new nagler eyepieces are equal to the radians in contrast. I disgree, the radians, in my opinion have the best contrast of any televue eyepiece ever made. Keep up the good work Al!

Overall Rating: 9
Weight: 3 (Unreliable Vote)
Date:
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Link to this vote: http://excelsis.com/1.0/displayvote.php?voteid=43711

TeleVue Radian 8mm
Purchased an the 8mm Radian to replace my 6mm as the 6mm had a lot of internal reflection problems. I have found the 8mm to be MUCH better in this regrad - no reflections. I use the eyepiece a lot for various deep sky objects. Really works well on small galaxies and planetary nebulae (143X in my 10"). With such high mag on such objects the image is still bright, contrasty, and the eyepiece design makes viewing very user friendly. Contrast was a touch better than the 7mm Nagler, but there are new designs coming out that will update the 7mm's glass and coatings, so this may eliminate the difference.

The eyepiece is very easy to use and I do use the pupil guide to eliminate and reduction in contrast that might be caused by ambient light.

Wonderful eyepiece makes viewing a pleasure.

Highly recommended!

Scopes: 10" f/45. Newt and 5" f/10 SCT.

Overall Rating: No Vote
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TeleVue Radian 8mm
I now have the 8 and 10mm Radians, and all I can say is WOW! I find this 8mm slightly better than the 10mm. I seems to have virtually no off axis color.
Highly recommended.

Overall Rating: 10
Weight: 3 (Unreliable Vote)
Date:
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Link to this vote: http://excelsis.com/1.0/displayvote.php?voteid=43713

TeleVue Radian 8mm
I love this eyepiece. I seem to have had very good results with every Radian I've tried including the 7 element ones that trouble some people with reflections, but this one is the best of the lot I think. Excellent high power views in my C9.25 giving 294x but also works very well in all my other scopes including f/5 achromat. I also have the Takahashi 7.5mm and can't let either go, they are both superb. The additional eye relief and field of view of the Radian makes it a very comfortable eyepiece and the sharpness and contrast are just as good as the Tak IMO.
I would take the Radians over similarly sized Naglers every time as the extra contrast and sharpness are more important to me than an 82ยบ field of view. Don't get me wrong, I do like Naglers, but I think the Radians are the best eyepieces TeleVue have done period.
If you're considering an eyepiece around this focal length, you can't get better than this.

Overall Rating: 10
Weight: 3 (Unreliable Vote)
Date:
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Link to this vote: http://excelsis.com/1.0/displayvote.php?voteid=43714

TeleVue Radian 8mm
Although this lens is more pleasant to use under most conditions than the 5mm Radian, it is not quite as good a lens, but excellent nonetheless. Good contrast and sharpness, but a tad bit behind the 5mm, and the 12mm Radian as well.

Overall Rating: 10
Weight: 1 (Unreliable Vote)
Date:
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Link to this vote: http://excelsis.com/1.0/displayvote.php?voteid=43715

TeleVue Radian 8mm
The relevant question is, how does this EP compare to the 7mm Pentax XL? After extensive comparison I went with the Pentax, because I found it easier to use. The Radian has very slightly better contrast - the Pentax has very slightly more scatter but also more throughput. I liked the Pentax eyecup better and it is easier to hold the view. These are entirely subjective factors - you'd better try them both first, and I'll bet it won't be an easy decision.

Overall Rating: No Vote
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TeleVue Radian 8mm
I can't think of anything else to say that hasn't already been said previously!
Great little eyepiece for eyeglass wearers!

BRAVO AL!

Overall Rating: 10
Weight: 1 (Unreliable Vote)
Date:
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Link to this vote: http://excelsis.com/1.0/displayvote.php?voteid=43717

TeleVue Radian 8mm
Compared this Televue line of Radians to the Pentax Xl's. Sorry Al, the Pentax win hands down. The Radian is a very well corrected eyepiece as is the Pentax. Contrast is the same for both eyepieces. Placing your eye up against the eyecup and trying to keep it perfectly centered spells defeat for the Radians. They are just to hard to use... If I have to use a cardboard centering device - this eyepiece is not for me. The problem became very evident when one night we had a public observing session. I pulled out my new radians, stuck them into my AP refractor - everyone complained they could not " see anything ". I realized what these novices were talking about. I switched to the 13 Nagler - problem solved. Sold all 4 of my Radians.

Overall Rating: 5
Weight: 3 (Unreliable Vote)
Date:
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Link to this vote: http://excelsis.com/1.0/displayvote.php?voteid=43718

TeleVue Radian 8mm
I have my 8mm TV Radian for 6 months now (I also own the 6mm, 4mm and 3mm).
There's not much to be added. It's a superb eyepiece period, sharp to the
edge, contrasty and bright. It's got great eye-relief and nice 60d AFOV.
This is my most-often used eyepiece for viewing globular clusters (110x)
with my TV-102 APO. Of course, the view is great for other DSOs as well.

Highest rating!
Ron B[ee]

Overall Rating: 10
Weight: 3 (Unreliable Vote)
Date:
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Link to this vote: http://excelsis.com/1.0/displayvote.php?voteid=43719

TeleVue Radian 8mm
a fantastic ep,, find it is one of my most used for general observing,,

Overall Rating: 10
Weight: 1 (Unreliable Vote)
Date:
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Link to this vote: http://excelsis.com/1.0/displayvote.php?voteid=43720

TeleVue Radian 8mm
Excellent performance; sharp right out to the edges. Slight amount of lateral color. Contrast as good as my UO 12.5mm but with a significantly wider field and 20 mm of eye relief. Eye positioning is critical or blackout occurs. Personally don't find that to be a major issue.The supplied pupil guide helps.
Most nights the 8 mm Radian on my 8 inch Meade LX50 is my personal favorite for viewing Saturn or Jupiter. Highly reccomended.

Overall Rating: 9
Weight: 4 (Unreliable Vote)
Date:
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Link to this vote: http://excelsis.com/1.0/displayvote.php?voteid=43721

TeleVue Radian 8mm
I had a chance to use an 8mm Radian on a 20" f/5 Obsession the other night. In isolation, it's a very nice eyepiece--sharp across the field, excellent contrast, and a nice wide field of view. Where it falls down, unfortunately, is when it's compared against the Pentax XL.

Relative to the Pentax XL, the Radian has more lateral color, perhaps slightly less contrast, a narrower field, and much more critical eye positioning. The Radian blacks out unless your eye is dead center, whereas the Pentax makes it much easier to get and hold the exit pupil. On that basis, giving the Pentax XL a 10 optically, the Radian deserves an 8. Other than for use in a binoviewer, I can't see any reason to choose a Radian rather than a Pentax XL.

As far as value, the $218 Pentax XL beats the $240 Radian in every respect except for size and weight, which makes it difficult to assign a very high number for value to the Radian. I gave the Radian a 4 for value, but that's kind of arbitrary. For many people, it would deserve a 0 relative to the Pentax XL. Why pay more for an eyepiece that's at best a step behind the Pentax? For others, like those who want to use a binoviewer or have balance problems, the Pentax XL might not be an option and the Radian would therefore deserve a much higher value rating.

Overall, I'll give the Radian a 6. If the Pentax XL didn't exist, the Radian would definitely deserve a 9 or a 10, but the Pentax XL does exist, which puts the Radian in second place.

Overall Rating: 6
Optics:8 Value:4
Weight: 10 (Trustworthy Vote)
Date:
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Link to this vote: http://excelsis.com/1.0/displayvote.php?voteid=68641 

That's right this is about Radians not Naglers which are indeed revolutionary. It is a valid point that the XL beats the Radian. Now both have a challenger in the TMB/BO Planetary. LP kills digital!
Reply...  (again)... This review is about the Radian, not about Pentax eyepieces....  There are a select group of TeleVue haters out there.... Stick to your Pentax.... Anyone with a brain in their head knows that TeleVue is revolutionary in its approach to optics...  People are turned off by the expense, but once you look through an Al Nagler product you're hooked.  The Nagler 9 was my first and it is NOT matched by ANY other design I've ever tried in that focal length..bar none.
Including ORTHOS... This reminds me of audio freaks sticking to LP....Face it.... Digital beat the Analog Star !!

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