Revelation Eyepiece and Filter Kit Reviewed

A box of eyepieces costing less than a hundred pounds with filters has had some of you wondering about the quality of the contents. The following questions have been asked by potential purchasers when visiting the showroom.

• Why are they so cheap?
• What about the quality?
• What’s the catch?

The above questions are answered simply by comparison to eyepieces of a known quality. To put any doubts you might have to rest I took the box set from the showroom home and tested each one and the filters with my Orion Optics 10” F/6.3 reflector.

The seeing was ok, quite still with more than a fleeting glimpse of surface detail on Mars, and the rings of Saturn were crisp with banding on the disk of the planet easy to observe. The hundreds of hours I have had at the telescope enable me to see details others might not. I judge on an ‘is it better or not’ basis, so the test procedure is quite simple.

The comparison eyepieces are of very good quality, Televue, Vixen, Meade and Celestron were all used, swapping back & forth with each focal length tested.

So how do they compare?

First the price, a comparable set of eyepieces from a well-known brand tested side by side and performing exactly the same would cost £162.00. The filters, a set of 6 based on our own moon filter at £9.00 would cost £54.00. The case is about £25.00.Total £241.00 So £99.00 is amazing value.

Performance at the telescope, field of view, contrast and sharpness were assessed. I observed Mars, Saturn and M42 the Great Nebula in Orion.

To my surprise in one or two areas not only did the Revelation come close, they almost equalled the performance of their more expensive counterparts. The central definition for every Revelation eyepiece was excellent. You will not be disappointed here, contrast was also very good. Mars had good surface detail, 6 and 9mm and at only 12 arc seconds diameter a fantastic result! At the other end of the magnification scale the Orion Nebulae M42 looked amazing with the 32mm; the stars of the Trapezium were well separated at a moderate magnification (15mm); a good result all round.

The filters performed as they should without having any effect on the sharpness of the object observed.

I have to be honest here and say the Revelation eyepieces came second to the ones I chose to test them against, but that should be expected as just one of them cost as much as this entire kit!

This kit is not just good value for money it’s exceptional value. There is room for 3 more eyepieces in the box and 2 extra filters. With this wide range of eyepieces you have the chance to see which ones you like best so you can choose a better eyepiece at a later date.

At £99 this complete kit is a true bargain and excellent value for money.

Ralph Bell

P.S. If you want more information please contact Ralph at the showroom. He is usually available on Mondays, Fridays and Saturdays.