to try a zoom

Bing. A new thought entered my old brain.

What about a zoom eyepiece?! 

It occurred to me that using a zoom eyepiece in the telescope while observing double stars might be helpful, handy, and a big time-saver. Often a double star observer is up and down through the eyepiece case.

I always try to start at low power, assess, and magnify up as needed. But currently that means swapping eyepieces. That's OK, by itself, a little fiddly in the dark but not a big deal. 

More importantly, I find myself often detaching and reattaching heating straps. That's a big deal. I don't like all the stress and strain going into the wraps.

If I can find out then I could shake it down, see if it is truly efficient and less fiddly, and see if I like the views. And keep the dew fighting heat in the same glass. Historically, zoom oculars got a bad rap in terms of optical quality. But they sound much better these days. 

If a zoom eyepiece had a poorer view than my existing eyepieces, say it was soft at really high power and I was trying to split a tight pair, I could still flip to a regular one. It's not that I'm using top-drawer eyepieces...

Neat idea.

Wonder if I can borrow one...