Agena Astro/Starguider/Zhumell 8-24mm zoom eyepiece

For Father's Day I received an 8-24mm zoom eyepiece from Agena Astro.  I asked for this eyepiece to complement the 30mm SuperView and 9mm Plossl that came with my Apertura AD10 Dobsonian telescope.  As I'm fairly new to astronomy, I figured a zoom would be a good way to have a range of focal lengths, I'm not sure what focal lengths I will use the most.  I also wanted one that would have a comfortable eye relief for use while wearing my glasses, which my 9mm Plossl doesn't.

Before asking for this specific eyepiece, I did some research online.  Many people recommended the Meade zoom, which I considered, but I also found the Zhumell zoom, which appears to be the same as the one Agena Astro sells.  The one from Agena Astro is labelled Starguider.  It has markings for 8, 12, 16, and 24mm, but there are no stops, so you can't tell exactly where you are set.  That doesn't matter much though, as long as the view is good, I don't care about the exact focal length.

Most of the zoom lenses on the market have specs similar to the Agena Astro zoom:

• 8-24mm focal length
• 40-60 degree apparent field of view
• 15-18mm eye relief

One feature that the Agena zoom has that I didn't see listed on other brands (although they have have it as well) is that you can pull off the rubber eye cup and there are T threads underneath.  You can get a T adapter for a DSLR camera and mount it directly to the eyepiece for projection astrophotography, which I will try at some point.

They eyepiece comes with covers on both ends, which I read some other brands don't.  It also comes in a nice bolt case, which protects the eyepiece quite nicely.

One thing to be aware of is that the filter threads at the bottom of the eyepiece are obstructed by the inner workings of the zoom.  I found I could only screw my moon filter on about half way.

So, how does it work?  Quite nicely!  The field of view at 24mm isn't quite as wide as my 30mm SuperView, but it still covers a good area.  The image was crisp and bright at 24mm.  Zooming is done by twisting the textured barrel, which rotates smoothly.  As some reviews noted with the Zhumell zoom, it isn't parfocal.  As you zoom in and out, you need to refocus a bit.  

When zooming in, the image dims significantly, as expected.  Switching to a smaller focal length fixed eyepiece has the same effect.  For bright objects, like planets, zooming all the way in might work well.  I found I wasn't going further than about 12mm most of the time.  I haven't tried it Barlowed yet, but I expect it to work well at 2x.

I found it comfortable to view with the eyepiece with my glasses at all focal lengths.  The rubber eye cup folds down, so it's easy to get closer.  I didn't have to move around to see the full field of view like with my 9mm Plossl.

Overall, I'm quite happy with this eyepiece.  Eventually I will probably buy some fixed focal length eyepieces with wider fields of view, but this zoom should keep me happy for quite a while.  The price is quite reasonable too.