Why is it that any newbie stumbling onto this site and asking what he, or she, needs in the way of start-up equipment is almost invariably told that at some stage that they'll want a Barlow?
"Oh yes, a Barlow is a most wonderful accessory. Doubles the range of your eye piece collection, doncher know?"
My brother, Gargoyle Steve, recently gave me a 2.5x Televue Barlow, but warned me that I might be disappointed with it. He owns a few of decent quality and tells me that he's not particularly impressed with any of them and doesn't know why they're held in such regard.
Nevertheless, I excitedly lined up on Omega Centauri with my 15mm ep and admired the view.
"Right," I thought, "15mm in a 1500mm OTA is giving me 100x views. If I pop in my new Barlow, I'll get 250x views but with the same fov. This is gonna be great!"
Popped in the new Barlow and initially thought a mud wasp had built a nest in it! Couldn't see a damn thing! Fiddled with the focus and altered my eye relief somewhat and yes, there was Omega Centauri, bigger but as dull as an old daddy-long-legs spiders year old web. As dim and feeble as I am on a Saturday morning after a big Friday night!
Must admit that I agree with Steve. The Emperor is trouserless.
Tried it with a couple of other ep's, but finally put it away as a bad joke and stuck to Barlowless ep's.
So, my simple question is this - Why
do so many people reccommend them and why are they held in such regard?
(Or in the dim view, does it just
look like the Emperor has his pants on?)
Considred posting this in both the Beginners Start Here and Equipment Discussion forums but decided to split the difference and post it here. If a Mod wants to move it, they can put it where they like.