TeleVue Delos 12mm & 6mm Review

By: Vlad Fedosov
01/13/2023

Intro:

The Delos eyepieces are a somewhat new revelation for TeleVue. When I had a chance to test out the 12mm and 6mm Delos I jumped at the chance. The Delos are a curious proposition as they offer a somewhat moderate 72° field of view(FOV) and a very generous 20mm eye relief! Let’s jump in and see how these guys came to be and how they perform under the stars!

Testing:

I did the testing of the eyepieces under my simi-dark sky out in Washington. The scope used was a William Optics FLT-132 Triplet APO. The targets I used to evaluate the eyepieces was primarily Mars and Jupiter. Before we get to the optical performance I wanted to talk about the ergonomic aspects of the eyepieces and the comfort factor. The eyepieces are fairly large for a 1.25″ unit and weigh a decent amount at about 16oz. Eye relief is very amble at 20mm and indeed is long enough for me to need to have the eyecup up(most of my eyepieces are used with the eyecup down). 

If the eyecup is not enough for you(it is for me) the eyepieces do include a high adjustable barrel hood that can be extended. Kind of a cool feature, but honestly I would have personally much preferred a slimmer and lighter eyepiece and forgo this feature. After observing for a while with the eyepiece and comparing it to my Baader Orthos as well as the Svbony 8-3mm Zoom I concluded that overall the Delos felt like a VERY premium ride in terms of the comfort factor and the ease at which you get the entire FOV. Eye placement was very forgiving also and I experienced a minimal blackout. The other thing that I wanted to mention is that the top lens on these eyepieces is very large. I honestly do not know what the science behind it is, but I always found the view much more comfortable with a physically smaller lens. 

Getting to the optical performance of the eyepiece I really have nothing but positive things to say!!! Contrast, sharpness, and scatter control are truly first-rate with these eyepieces. During the fairly good seeing(at times) that I tested the eyepieces I really could not nit-pick out any discernible difference even compared to my excellent ortho eyepieces. The only thing that I did notice is that in the outer ~5* FOV of the eyepiece, there is a bit of chromatic aberration if you move a planet out there. This is really a non-issue, honestly me just looking for something somewhat un-positive about the eyepieces. LOL. I did take a look at a few DSO’s to evaluate the overall light transmission and it seemed right in line with my other premium eyepieces(though the more simple designs did show perhaps a few % brighter image). 

Conclusion:

Finishing up the evaluation I wanted to return to where I started and sum up how TeleVue ended up making such an awesome eyepiece line. They essentially worked their way up to the 100° Ethos, then took that design and took a step back to make the ultimate no-compromise eyepiece in regards to both optical performance as well as observing comfort. This is the Delos! All I can say to sum up is that if you’re ok with the 72° FOV(and yes the 100° are very noticeably wider. But if you use the 100° with the eyecup up or wear eyeglasses you will never see the extra FOV anyhow)  this is about the most premium Cadilac ride I have ever experience to the heavens!

Support AVT-ASTRO

If you found this review helpful and are considering purchasing the product that was discusses please consider purchasing this item on Agena Astro using the link here. I get a small commission from Agena Astro and it really helps to pay for running this site!