What is Reddit's opinion of Astromania 1.25" 6mm 58-Degree Planetary Eyepiece for Telescope?

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Another consideration

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Astromania-58-Degree-Planetary-Eyepiece-Telescope/dp/B013SBTMFQ/

This is hard to say. There aren't many great budget 6mm eyepieces.

I own the 6mm "gold line" and while it's still a decent eyepiece for the money, I have a hard time recommending it because it has some serious contrast issues on the Moon, and it suffers from kidney beaning. The combination of these two things makes exact eye placement very tricky. It's also not as sharp on-axis as it should be.

So to that end, a good quality barlow paired with the 12mm StarGuider will be better than the 6mm "gold line" by itself. But we're talking like the Baader VIP barlow or Tele Vue 2x Barlow at a minimum. Ideally something like the Baader Zeiss barlow or Tele Vue 2x PowerMate.

Alternatives to this in the 6mm focal length would be:

1. 6mm Vixen SLV (good eye relief, good quality, but narrow field of view)
2. 6.5mm Explore Scientific 52 LER
3. These generic 6mm 58 degree "planetary" eyepieces. Shop around on ebay or AliExpress for a better price.

But between those and the 6mm gold line, that's kind of it as far as 6mm budget/mid-grade eyepieces go. You have to spend big money to get into the 6mm Long Perng LER, 6.5mm Baader Morpheus, 6mm Tele Vue Delos, or 6mm Tele Vue Ethos territory if you want something at 6mm. That's the downside to that focal length, sadly.

Considering planetary season is winding down, I would probably prioritize some nice deep sky wide fields first, and then a few months from now, look at eyepieces in planetary magnification range.

For deep sky, I recommend two focal lengths:

12mm

Produces a general purpose 2mm exit pupil for observing most DSOs. This is the most used exit pupil in my scope by far. It's the right balance of view brightness and magnification for virtually anything your sky conditions will let you see. The only limits would be very big targets like M31, M42, M45, and the Double Cluster). But for everything else, 2mm is a good place to be.

Options that won't break the bank:

1. 12mm Astro-Tech Paradigm at Astronomics
2. 12mm Agena StarGuider Dual ED at Agena Astro (same eyepiece as the Astro-Tech)
3. 12mm Celestron X-Cel LX (sold everywhere)

~30mm

A ~30mm 2" wide angle eyepiece would serve as your low power, wide field eyepiece. It can be used for bigger targets, star-hopping, or used with nebula filters. This would replace the 25mm Plossl that comes with your scope.

Some options:

1. 30mm GSO SuperView
2. 32mm Orion Q70 / Agena SWA (same eyepiece, different brand)
3. 30mm APM Ultra Flat Field / Meade UHD / Celestron Ultima Edge (all same eyepiece)

The 30mm APM Ultra Flat Field and brand siblings is a very comfortable, very high quality eyepiece. It's worth saving up and spending the extra money on it.

When it comes to planetary / lunar eyepieces, I would recommend the following:

8-9mm

This would replace your current 10mm Plossl as a lower power, conservative planetary magnification eyepiece for when the atmosphere is not very steady. A good wide angle with reasonable eye relief will be so much more comfortable to look through.

Some options:

1. 9mm "Gold Line"
2. 9mm Celestron X-Cel LX
3. 8mm Agena StarGuider Dual ED / 8mm Astro-Tech Paradigm

The 9mm "gold line" is a great budget eyepiece and is very sharp on-axis, but does suffer from bad kidney beaning on the Moon, and has some contrast issues.

5-7mm

6mm is a good focal length in this scope, especially if you have an 8mm or 9mm. It gives you a 50-60x bump in magnification for when the atmosphere is not very steady.

The downside is that there are very few options for affordable 6mm eyepieces. The 6mm gold line I no longer recommend unless you have no other choice. I own it, and the contrast issues and kidney beaning are quite obnoxious. It's decent on the planets, but on the Moon it's just not good.

Some alternatives if you wanted to stick close to the 6mm focal length:

1. 6mm 58 degree TMB clone: https://www.amazon.com/Astromania-58-Degree-Planetary-Eyepiece-Telescope/dp/B013SBTMFQ (look around though - you can find these cheaper on Ebay or AliExpress)
2. 6.5mm Explore Scientific 52 series.

Else, I would consider the 5mm and 7mm Celestron X-Cel LXs, or the 5mm Astro-Tech Paradigm / Agena StarGuider.

Don't get the 7mm X-Cel LX if you also get the 8mm Paradigm/StarGuider. Those focal lengths are too close.

Either get the 8mm + 5mm Agena StarGuiders / Astro-Tech Paradigms, or get the 9mm, 7mm, and 5mm Celestron X-Cel LXs to give yourself a nice spread of focal lengths for planetary observing in a variety of atmospheric conditions.

Hello again, is this an example of an HR Planetary that you would recommend? https://www.amazon.com/Astromania-58-Degree-Planetary-Eyepiece-Telescope/dp/B013SBTMFQ/

Don't have to replace, just buy more to add to the collection.

The XT6 maxes out at 300x, which would be a 4mm eyepiece.

Thing is, 300x is a magnification you will use rarely due to needing perfect seeing conditions.

Best to stick with a 6mm eyepiece, 200x, as you will likely be able use that on most good nights. The 10mm is good for average nights, and the 25mm is a good overview/centering eyepiece.

Either the Astromania Planetary or SvBony Goldlines would be good, budget eyepieces. Just pick the 6mm, and maybe the 15mm too to if you want, to fill in the mag gap between the 10mm and 25mm.