Nagler 31mm - first impressions. Old favourite but new to me

This entry would be a lot more interesting if the digits were reversed and I was replacing "Nagler" with "Ethos" but you can't have everything.
First a bit of history - I first thought about buying one after "COSMOS" in Tullamore last March (coming up again soon and all welcome). I have an Lx90 and get great enjoyment from it but maximum TFOV with a 56mm Meade SPis about 0.9 degrees which does limit deep sky observations. In addition the Plossl shows distortion around much of the field edge. In conversation at COSMOS a received some sensible suggestions including trying out a shorter focal length/ratio dobs, investing in a Parracor and perhaps buying a Nagler 31mm or Panoptic 41mm.
I bought a 12" f4 dobs in late September but the focuser couldn't travel far enough to accomadate the 56mm or a 32mm 2"SWA. In any case I was working nights at the time so stargazing had to be shelved fof a while.
Next stop early January. I decided to buy the Nagler 31mm from a supplier in New York. The weak dollar meant a big discount:- sure it took 7 weeks to get here but a UK based supplier would have taken as long. Finally arrived 4 days ago and even after taxes was 130 cheaper than Telescope House.
Opening the parcel
I wanted to rip it open but managed to contain myself. It really is big and beautiful. Weighs in at 1.2Kg - or slightly more than a litre of milk. I checked it over. No external marks and a quick look through by eye revealed no defects. In hand it feels like a paperweight and it seems almost too much of a risk to actually use it for its' intended purpose. I reboxed it and tried not to think about until skies cleared.
Last night
Got home from work at 21:00 and skies were clear. I live in town but my garden is really very dark and north facing. Re balanced the dobs to accomadate the Nagler (with Parracorr) indoors first. Setup of Orion optics f4 12" only takes about 90 seconds. Skies weren't perfect so time was an issue. To facilitate speed I setup where I knew M42 would be c. 10 degrees above the roof apex and c. 5 degrees from the Sky dish. Found M42 in about 10 - 15 seconds without need for finder. After focusing, REVELATION. A quick check revealed sharp stars across 95% af the field. Great definition and extension in the nebula . Tinge of blue around the field edge coupled with a little distortion but I haven't collimated in weeks. Trapezium clear and sharp. It's exceeded all my expectations. TFOV about 1.7 degrees and sharp for nearly all of that field. A 56mm super plossl is in truth nowhere close even if the parracor or extenders allowed focus.
I noticed no internal reflections and the wide field stop creates a beautiful effect in the 82 degree AFOV.
Andromeda was low and hiding behind some Yew trees in any case but the brief first impression of this rank ameteur (me) is that this eyepiece is unbelieveable. I'm looking forward to trying it further.
p.s. If anyone's wondering why I bought such a relatively short tube it's because it just fits across the back seat of my car.

Nice report - enjoy the new toy
Hope we get some more clear nights soon.

Hi William,
you're now the proud owner of what's known as"the holy hand grenade", a beast of an eyepiece,
I also got one last summer and like you, it made a massive impression on me, so much so that I'll never buy non nagler eyepieces again, 6 and counting.
If this thing fell out of the scope onto you during observing, it would give you a concussion and then a heart attack as it hits the ground !
They are a safe investment and will last forever such is their build quality, one of my naglers is a 15 year old 20mm type2 I got second hand on astromart.
It's over 1 kg in weight, either Al Nagler is really small or this eyepiece is really big :lol:


The 31mm makes this thing look average!!

Al is really that small - how else could he make such precise eyepieces?

I recently purchased a couple of Celestron Excel eyepieces (big compared to regular plossls 10 & 25mm) and although never comparable to Naglers I can understand the excitement at the difference a good eyepice can make.

I can't see myself purchasing a different brand either. Will be watching ebay for a discount.. Speaking of large eyepieces I recently read about a very good eyepiece "the best meade have ever produced" (cloudynights.com), the 32mm Meade 4000 UWAN, a 2" eyepiece which apparently weighed in at nearly 3 kilos. Just out of curiosity I'd like a look if anyone can find a photo to post

As it happens I got 14mm series4000 UWA eyepiece and it is right up there with the naglers, a superb eyepiece!, apparently one of meade's best and this is why
www.bpccs.com/lcas/Articles/moreeye.htm
I must look up this 32mm.