Excelsis Ratings/Reviews - Votes:Edmund Scientific RKE 12mm

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Edmund Scientific RKE 12mm

I've owned the complete set of RKEs for over a decade. They are well made and threaded for filters. They are sharp edge to edge, no noticable distortion and bright. These are not kelner type eyepieces, I have two kelners and the RKEs are far superior. They are nearly identical to the plossels I have, a bit brighter and a little more eye relief, but a slighty narrower field of view. All said, I think these are the cheapest good quality eyepieces available and a good value.

Overall Rating: 8
Optics:8 Value:9
Weight: 5 (Veritable Vote)
Date: 08/10/2002 07:46:24 am PST
By: mhpdfp
Link to this vote: http://excelsis.com/1.0/displayvote.php?voteid=123693

Reply Replies: 0

Edmund Scientific RKE 12mm

I love Al Nagler's wide-fields, but for lunar and planetary work at high power I found a nice surprise in the Edmund's Reversed KEllner (RKE). Even when you barlow them in PowerMates 2.5x (or 5x) they show me greater detail. I use them in my Portaball 12.5" (with legendary Zambutto mirror) and my Tak SKY90.
I wish they were supplied with rubber eye cups, I prefer my eye to touch the soft rubber rather than the metal. But I will try to buy them somewhere.

Overall Rating: 10
Optics:10 Value:10
Weight: 20 (Notable Vote)
Date: 08/31/2002 01:26:48 pm PST
By: 4rBetter
Link to this vote: http://excelsis.com/1.0/displayvote.php?voteid=130488

Reply Replies: 0

Edmund Scientific RKE 12mm

These eyepieces give very good clear views but are not well corrected for fast scopes--that's why some reviewers seem them as not corrected at the edge and some do.

I have compared the RKE 8 and RKE 12 to Pentax XW7, XW10, and TMB monocentric 10mm. (Sorry can't get exact match ups of focal length).

It is a fully comparable eyepiece to these higher end alternatives delivering crisp detail and lovely color saturation.

The XW28--even though perhaps not ideal for a fast scope--does very well on a Star Blast to my taste and gives a better view than the typical cheap 32mm plossl.

I would definitely consider RKEs for binoviewing.

My one reservation about them is what they share with all 1.25 inch eyepieces: on a big SCT like a c11 or c14 you're going to bang your head unless very careful about standing off to one side. You won't have this problem with a two inch eyepiece!

These are superior to the Chinese junk plossls and fully comparable to UO orthos. Regrettably the RKE series stops at 8mm which means that, without a barlow, you can't get into "planet magnifications" on scopes with short focal lengths.

If the world had not invented wide fields of 65, 70 degrees and more this would be the eyeiece series that I would own.

Overall Rating: 9
Optics:10 Value:10
Weight: 5 (Veritable Vote)
Date: 05/27/2008 12:59:31 am PST
By: gnowell
Link to this vote: http://excelsis.com/1.0/displayvote.php?voteid=577397

Reply Replies: 0

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