( 1 reviews )
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Posted: May 18 2009
I was really hopeful that I'd find a Nagler that actually blew me away, and this one had promise. Sporting their famous 82 degree field, excellent contrast and sharpness, and doing so with only 6 elements piqued my interest. However, the ultra-high price tag was a huge bar from ever getting this eyepiece. Still, I was sorely tempted to buy one if the performance was exceptional. Unfortunately, that was not the case here. I finally got to try one the other night. Admittedly the viewing conditions were not ideal. Despite being at an altitude of 7400 feet, an icy wind and glowing sky did not make for a spectacular night. I first tried it on the Leo Trio. With my cheap old Orion 26mm Q-70, I could get all three galaxies in the field, though the distortion at the edges was noticeable. However, the sweet spot in the middle provided plenty of detail as I centered each galaxy. Then I switched to the 20mm Nagler. With its 82 degree field, even at the higher power, I was able to squeeze all three galaxies in the field, and they were not distorted at the edges. That is a nice plus, and one of the things these eyepieces are known for. However, the contrast and sharpness, no matter where I had each galaxy in the field, was no better than that sweet spot in my Q-70. I also didn't see any more detail than I did at the lower power of the 26mm Orion. Even given the less than ideal viewing conditions, I was expecting something more. Then I tried M-13. For all the talk of their sharpness and contrast, I expected the Nagler to reveal the propeller, a dark area within the cluster, but alas, I could not see it. When I added a Barlow, the propeller flashed in and out of focus and looked almost identical to the view when I switched to the lower power Q-70. The feature actually showed up better when I dropped an 18mm Russian made Bertele into the Barlow. Given the crummy seeing, I still did not see enough of a boost in performance, the wide flat field notwithstanding, to warrant the ridiculous price. There is no doubt that this eyepiece has excellent optics, however, the overall performance does not warrant the high cost. I can live with the fishbowl edges of my $90 Q-70, as the sweet spot in the middle is what I'm really after, and it performs just as well as the Nagler in that respect. I still wouldn't mind having one of these eyepieces, and if it were say $150, I would probably get one. But $450? No way. Unfortunately, I have to classify the Nagler 20mm Type 5 as another rich man's toy. Don't let anyone fool you. You can be just as serious of an amateur astronomer without breaking your bank on one of these. If you are planning to buy a new telescope and eyepieces, my advice is to spend those extra dollars on telescope aperture. You can do just fine with a cheaper eyepiece.
