What's the deal with the plössl type eyepiece?

[M.]

Is this the all rounder as such?

I've noticed at increasing sizes, they have bigger sight glasses and plenty of eye relief.

Do plössl eyepieces have a more practical range, are they best used at lower or higher magnification and do they make for good planetary viewing?

I've just lost out on my first 20mm tele vue plössl....

[Doc]

A Plossl is basically two achromatic doublet lens placed back to back and has field of view somewhere between  50-60°.  The quality varies greatly as the surfaces of the lenses really need to be polished well to stop internal reflections that is why you do get poor and cheap plossl eyepieces.

 

I consider a good plossl as the best all rounder you can buy, the likes of the Televue and the Meade 4000 range are excellent.

Edited July 7, 2015 by Doc

[Brantuk]

+1 for the Meade 4000's - I have a couple and they are excellent - and so cheap on the used market.

[M.]

Considering getting a tele vue eyepiece, see what all the fuss is about I can't afford the really expensive ones so looking at the plossl 20mm as I don't have any in this range. The eyepiece must be better considering its two to three time more expensive over is counterparts.

[M.]

+1 for the Meade 4000's - I have a couple and they are excellent - and so cheap on the used market.

I have the super plössl 40mm meade, which gives 50x magnification on my scope and it's easy on the eye, was fairly inexpensive too.

Edited July 8, 2015 by M__