Eyepiece/ Barlow for Skywatcher Mak80

[caleb]

I have a skywatcher Mak80, F=1000, D=80 and it came with to eyepieces, 10mm and 20mm.
I wanted a bit more magnification though so what should I do. I saw a Collestron 6mm EP on ebay for US$20 and a 2X barlow for around the same price.
Should I get one of these or would it distort the image to much, What can I do to get the absolute best magnification out of it and how much do you think I can.
P.S. I know the rule of thumb. so don't tell me again

[dannat]

I would give it a miss, and get something like a UO orthoscopic or Burgess TMB from frontier, they range from about $90-140.

[caleb]

im not gonna realy prepared to pay that much...
:mad2: :jawdrop:

[dannat]

I have a cheap celestron ep that came with a scope and it really isn't very good. Maybe you could look at a gso plossl or bintel plossl.

[citivolus]

Let me start by saying that if optical quality is not key (and it sounds like it isn't), you can get a cheap 6mm Plossl new for $35-40 plus shipping. However, and please hear me out on this...

I think you will find 8mm to be a practical limit on focal length for an f/12.5 scope, especially with the central obstruction you will have in your mak. The laws of physics just aren't going to give you a special case. A 6mm eyepiece isn't very useful for most applications in a scope of greater than f/8 or so, no matter how much we may want it to be. My 6mm Vixen LV is "muddy" to look through on most scopes due to over magnification, and therefore until recently collected dust and only got used for collimation and the occasional double stars. A waste of money, really, when I could just use a 12mm with barlow for the same role. Now, the 6mm does perform well in my f/7 refractor, due to the lower resulting magnification. It is like sitting too close to the TV screen, the image breaks down around f/10 and only get blurry and dimmer as the focal ratio climbs.

Question: what is your actual budget, and what is the intended viewing target? Those two things would help dramatically in people's ability to make eyepiece suggestions. Also, I suspect that there are plenty of people in the Gosford area that could give you a look through a 6mm vs an 8mm and show you what that extra 2mm does to the image.

Eric