I started out viewing with the supplied Meade 25mm eye piece. Viewing
Saturn with just the 25mm Eyepiece was nice, but when I coupled it with
my Orion "Shorty-Plus 2x 3-Element Barlow", the Cassini division stood
right out. This would have made it 160x. My wife, who doesn't have all
that much interest in Astronomy, could see it right away. I then got
greedy and tried my 10mm(supplied with my XT10) + 2x Barlow for 400x on
Saturn, but despite being larger it was much more blurry.

I don't know enough about Eyepieces to comment on the Epic, but I think
I will pick up a 17mm Highlight Plossel from Orion. I have the 32mm
Highlight that I enjoy in the XT10.

Having never used a wedge, I really liked it. Compared to a normal
equatorial mount, I found the wedge on this scope very easy to
lock/unlock and maneuver.

If you have the same trouble with the finder mount, don't attempt to
bend it. It doesn't bend, in hindsight I should have redrilled it.

Clear Skies,
Mark


John Damico wrote:
Very cool Mark. I'm hoping mine arrives Mon or Tues, was shipped by Woodland
Hills last Monday. Today I am ordering a few eyepieces for ir from Orion,
nothing extravagant, but will increase my magnification choices beyond just
the one eyepiece. Tell me what you think, I am considering the Orion Epic
ED-2 series in 12.3 and 5.1 mm, and a shorty 2X Barlow. Anyone have an
opinion, is there another eyepiece moderately priced from Orion that they
feeel would be a better choice?