Pentax SMC-XW Series 16.5mm Wide Angle Eyepiece with 85 Degree Field of View

2023-03-07T04:21:10

Very sharp eyepiece for Mars and the moon. Looking forward to Saturn coming around again. Will be using this a lot for planetary observing.

VINCENT C.

2022-08-15T05:19:03

Outstanding all the way!

Sanders L.

2022-07-21T09:12:56

Another top notch product from Adorama!

SANDERS L.

2020-12-25T09:23:37

The Pentax XW 10mm is a premiere medium power eyepiece. It’s wide 70 degree field is free of any aberrations, no field curvature, no astigmatism. The images are sharp and of the highest contrast of any eyepiece known. Eye relief is a very comfortable 20mm. Eyeglass wearers will love this eyepiece. Adding a good 2X barlow will yield one of the best high power 5mm eyepiece possible. I highly recommend the Pentax XW 10mm whether you own a Cassigrain, refractor or a fast Dobsonian relector.

JAMES M.

2020-09-26T22:18:32

Based on about 7 years of owning this eyepiece: I have about 25 eyepieces in a range of focal lengths and designs, used in 5 different scopes. If I had to keep only 3 eyepieces, this would be one of them. (The other two would be Ethoses). It's equal to or better than low glass count EPs like orthos and Plossls in terms of contrast, transmission, and sharpness on solar system objects and galaxies. But it is more comfortable to use and has a much wider AFOV/TFOV which, all else being equal, is never a bad thing. Physically it's significantly larger than an ortho or Plossl of similar FL, but no where near hand-grenade dimensions. In any case, a 5mm ortho or Plossl has such a tiny eye lens and is such a PITA to use, I would much rather have the PXW's moderate extra bulk and enjoy its other assets. If I were buying new right now, I would also seriously consider Delos. But I don't think the difference between PXW and Delos is large enough to lose any sleep over. I would just get whatever has the best price at the moment, or whichever has the optimum FL for your purposes.

THOMAS S.

2020-09-22T13:13:39

Great eyepiece. There is a reason it has such a great reputation. No complaints.

ANDREW W.

2020-02-05T09:10:37

OK, its a Pentax XW, what more needs to be said. It works beautifully...

RAYMOND R.

2018-07-18T01:22:22

7mm Pentax A Quality Eyepiece!

WARREN M.

2018-01-22T05:55:56

I bought this very recently, so these are initial observations only. I am both a birder and an astro enthusiast and as such used the eyepiece with different equipment. Before I compare the two, one of the main reasons I don’t rate it 5 stars is because, whichever angle I tried to look through the eyepiece, I kept getting blackout areas (and even if had a full view any slight movement will disrupt that). Beside this, my experience has been positive: 1. Attached to the Pentax 65 EDII for birding: Sharp, clear, views with no obvious loss of quality centre to edge. If any criticism of the combo, it would have to be a little lack of contrast (and associated somewhat dull colors - the image appears a little washed out) and a noticeable purple fringing in high contrast situations. Perhaps the eyepeice not optimised for nature viewing? 2. Attached to GSO 8inch Dobsonian: THis was a humongous step up from the manufacturer supplied kit eyepieces! The sharpness was superb centre to edge, with fantastic resolution (double star of Rigel with no effort, nice details on the Great Nebula against a very averagle night sky, fuzzy with high clouds and highly light polluted and so many low contrast features on the moon just popped out). Very satisfactory combination!

Ravi K.

2017-07-03T14:12:02

I wish I had spent the extra money on a set of these before spending money on cheaper items that are now never used. Excellent quality and optics.

CHRIS D.

2017-01-05T08:16:41

Good eye relief and sharp to the edges. Highly recommended.

DAVID P.

2015-05-26T21:00:00

This high power eyepiece offers excellent, bright, detailed and crisp views of the Moon and planets with either a fast newtonian/Dob or a slow refractor and SCT. I was blown away by the improvement over the 4.7mm planatary eyepiece I have been using for a couple years now. Highly recommended!

GREG W.

2013-11-06T19:00:00

Very useful for planets and deep sky objects. Extremely sharp images from edge to edge. Higher contrast than other similarly sharp eyepieces, which I especially like when viewing faint galaxies and nebulae. Very high contrast is what sold me on Pentax SMC-XW eyepieces. I also use the SMC-XW 20 mm eyepiece for the same purposes. Thank you Pentax!!

JOHN F.

2013-11-05T19:00:00

Actually, there was a pun intended. But being serious, this eyepiece is excellent. Outstanding build quality, and the views are spectacular. I have the 5mm as well and where I am that EP is not great. I'm sure in cleaner atmosphere area it too is awesome. I have an 8SE, and find the this 20mm EP is used way more often than my other 5 EP's. I highly recommend it, and it is easy for glass wearers or not.

jalesi

2013-06-10T21:00:00

I use this with my 14 inch dob with a Zambuto mirror. I also use it with my Explore Scientific AR102 refractor. In the dob which is 14 inches at f 4.6 with a Type 1 Paracorr and I have no issue with coma or field curvature. Stars are sharp to the edge and this eyepiece as a wonderful contrast. If you wear glasses the eye relief is wonderful Overall a great eyepiece and I am enjoying using it.

JayinUtah

2013-05-27T21:00:00

I really like the Pentax XW and I own many but I have also had to return a few because of black specs between the lenses. I didn't take a star off for this but considered it because quality control may not be best. The specs are very noticeable when viewing the moon or sun but not when viewing DSO. Otherwise, it is a very comfortable eyepiece to use and the view is 1st rate. I use them in my Mark V binoviewer as well and they are very comfortable with my 65mm IPD.

KENT M.

2013-05-07T21:00:00

A great eyepiece in my Pentax 65mm spotting scope! I evaluated it against the XW 10mm when deciding which to buy and settled on this one. It's noticeably brighter and and not significantly less magnification; I feel it's the sweet spot between magnification and brightness. I find it is usable just after sunset (which I didn't feel the 10mm was), though colors are cooler and less vibrant than in full-light viewing. This XW 14mm is very sharp, but really needs a lot of light for best performance. In average conditions, my TeleVue 24mm Panoptic appears sharper to my eye. Initially, I experienced a lot of black outs and some kidney bean effects, but after using it more, I've found it much more comfortable. I view with and without glasses and have found the eyecup adjustment and eye relief to be top-notch.

NATHAN P.

2013-03-25T21:00:00

Great eye piece at a great price!

mshell8

2013-03-06T19:00:00

Unmatched contrast, excellent sharpness, great ergonomics, very high quality build

LANCE M.

2013-03-06T19:00:00

I use this in a variety of apochromatic and achromatic refractors ranging from 70mm to 152mm. Used for both astronomy and terrestrial viewing. It is simply the best 5mm eyepiece I ever put into any of those scopes. Even in an F/5.5 scope it still provides a flat field of view with excellent sharpness across the entire field. On planets the level of contrast and lack of reflections and ghosting is astonishing, especially considering the number of glass elements involved. Light transmission is extremely high and easily a match to any minimal glass eyepiece like an orthoscopic.

Astronomy A.

2013-02-11T19:00:00

Use with my Orion XT8i telescope. 20mm of usable eye relief, great for viewing with eyeglasses on, if you need to correct for astigmatism. Great contrast and build quality. Though it suffers from some slight field curvature.

Tharja

2013-02-04T19:00:00

Did a head to head comparison with an ES 6.7 82* and the Pentax was not just better but a long way ahead. Looking at the Trapezium in the Orion Nebula on a below average night and could see the e and f stars with the Pentax. The ES showed the e but the f was missing. I used to think the ES was a nice eyepiece, it is...the Pentax is better.

Matty

2012-12-16T19:00:00

Bought this eyepiece for high power planetary and lunar views. While a little heavy, it has given me some great views of Jupiter!! I always enjoy watching Jupiter's moon transits. This a very high quality eyepiece, very comfortable to use, with great eye relief and a wide field of view. I've only had it a short while but am very pleased.

Dennis

2012-12-15T19:00:00

I am very happy with this purchase.The twist up eyeguard is a big improvement over the traditional rubber type.All six of the 1 1/4 eyepieces are parfocal(almost no refocusing).There is a generous 20mm of eye relief.The optics produce excellent views, even in a short focal length scope.

DOUGLAS C.

2012-06-24T21:00:00

Great power coming with a generos visual angle that make easy to target planets without being out of visual field every 5 seconds. Using the finder and change position to look in eyepieces take this few seconds between and you can loose the object you just target in finder....

Felix

2007-02-04T19:00:00

I use them in my Pentax PF-80ED Spotting Scope and a pair of them in my binoviewer with all my telescopes.

Joseph O.