A 20mm eyepiece with a 100° field for only $300 seems too good to be true!
In eyepieces, models with the extreme apparent field of 100° rank at the top for performance – but also price! Some models sell for as much as $700 to $1,000 each. When I saw that Astronomics, under their Astro-Tech house brand, was now offering a series of 100° eyepieces for $300 or less each, I was curious enough to buy one.
I selected the 20mm XWA (for eXtreme Wide-Angle) which, at the time I purchased it, was on sale for $50 off the regular price of $299.95, making it even more of a bargain. It is the longest focal length in the series of six XWAs, which extends to a 4.7mm 110° model.
XWA OPTICS
Having used top-of-the-line 100° eyepieces from Explore Scientific, Stellarvue (their Optimus series) and Tele Vue (their Ethos series), I knew what to expect from such an extreme-field eyepiece. I was fully expecting the XWA to provide performance commensurate with its low price, with stars not really sharp over the entire field but instead begin to fuzz out perhaps halfway toward the edge, making the wide field less than impressive.
I was pleasantly surprised to discover otherwise. Sharpness across the field came very close to matching the best. I did not have a Tele Vue 21mm Ethos to compare the XWA to, but I did do A-B tests against a 17mm Ethos. I used them on a 94mm f/5.5 Sharpstar apo refractor, a 105mm f/6 Astro-Physics apo refractor, and a Sky-Watcher 8-inch f/6 Newtonian reflector telescope.
In the Newtonian, stars in the XWA remained pinpoint across the central 75 percent of the field, softening only slightly in the outer 25 percent, though without growing noticeable “wings” from astigmatism or coma. This was only slightly worse than the much more costly Ethos, where stars also softened in the outer 25 percent, but remained a little tighter at the edge.
In the refractors, the XWA also performed almost as well as the 17mm Ethos for edge-of-field sharpness, with the XWA showing only slightly more star bloating at the very edge. I was impressed!
The XWA showed a trace of lateral chromatic aberration at the edge of the field, adding false-color fringes to star images. The field stop was sharply defined but had a blue tint to it. But that was also true of the Ethos.
When panning across the sky, the XWA exhibited only minimal pincushion distortion. When present to a large degree, this can make the sky look as if it is on the inside of a bowl, a disconcerting effect when scanning around. There was also very little “kidney-bean” darkening of the field as I moved my eye around, again similar to the Ethos.
I saw no ghost images or errant reflections in the field when the Moon was near the edge of the field or just outside it. The multi-coatings and internal blackening did their jobs well. I also saw no imperfections such as scratches, paint flecks or dust on the interior lens elements.
Eye relief is stated as 15mm, a figure I confirmed, as measured from the top of the rolled-down rubber eyecup. This is on par with other 100° eyepieces of this focal length, and was more than sufficient for a comfortable view of the entire field without glasses on.
But with glasses on, even with the eyecup rolled down, the whole field was not visible, which isn’t surprising with such a wide field of view.
XWA Mechanics
While the eyecup just clips into a groove around the top of the eyepiece, it remained secure and did not pop off with normal use. Even so, there’s nothing as fancy as a click-stop eyecup, as with some long-eye-relief eyepieces.
The upper barrel is wrapped in a ribbed rubber grip ring which can slide around the barrel. Perhaps with frequent use and exposure to the elements it might break and fall off, but I found no problems with it in the short time that I used the XWA.
As expected, the bottom of the barrel is threaded for standard 2-inch filters.
The eyepiece is said to be sealed and waterproof, but that’s a claim I’m never willing to put to the test. My test nights were not dewy enough to get the eyepiece soaking wet to see if any moisture penetrated into the eyepiece.
The labeling at the top of the barrel appears to just be painted on, so could wear off with time, unlike premium eyepieces where all markings are engraved for lasting use. There’s also nothing as luxurious as the large glow-in-the-dark labels some brands offer.
Recommendations
The bottom line is that the 20mm XWA eyepiece offers very good construction and gives spectacular views.
It provided an actual field in the 8-inch Newtonian of 1.7° at 60 power, ideal for good definition of deep-sky targets, while maintaining a “spacewalk” style field. In the 94mm refractor, the field was an even more impressive 3.9° at 26 power, great for sweeping along the Milky Way.
While I did not test the XWA on a Schmidt-Cassegrain, I know from experience that a 20mm eyepiece was my most used eyepiece on my 8-inch f/10 SCT. While the XWA would require the use of a 2-inch star diagonal, on an 8-inch SCT it would still provide an impressive 1° field even at 100 power, making the XWA a superb choice for most deep-sky viewing.
I can highly recommend the 20mm XWA for any telescope able to accept 2-inch eyepieces. At $300, the Astro-Tech XWA provides an astounding value in a 100° eyepiece.
PLUS
Excellent image sharpness across the field
Good eye relief
Reasonably light for the design
Low price for a 100° eyepiece
MINUS
Plain cosmetics and finish
Lacks the prestige of costly brands!
MSRP: $299.95
Website: www.astronomics.com
