To Barlow or not to Barlow

[Renato1 (Renato)]

I have a 1.8X Televue Barlow, a 2X Televue Barlow, a 2X Celestron Delux Barlow, a Meade shorty Barlow, a 2" 2X University Optics Barlow and another 2" Barlow.

Yes, they all work excellently - though the shorty Barlow can be problematic with some eyepieces (but very convenient in star diagonals).

That said, since getting a 1.25" 2.5X Powermate, I haven't used any of the other 1.25" Barlows. Hard to put your finger on it, but when using a barlow, you know you are using a Barlow. When using a Powermate, it feels like you are using a single eyepiece.

I don't use my 2" eyepieces enough to warrant getting a 2" Powermate, otherwise I would.
Regards,
Renato

[Varangian (John)]

Apologies erroneous post.

[OzStarGazer]

Originally Posted by julianh72

I maintain that a reasonable quality 2x Barlow is a good investment for such new telescope users, because it effectively expands their eyepiece selection for a very modest outlay. If / when they have worked out that a 5 mm (or whatever) eyepiece would be "just right" for their favourite targets, THAT would be the "right" time to outlay a few more dollars on one or two really good eyepieces.

I agree with you. Actually after using my 10mm eyepiece with a Barlow for the moon I did decide that a high quality 5mm would be a good choice, so it is on my eBay watch list.
I took the attached photo with a cheap standard 10mm EP and a Barlow in afocal mode for example, and I know it is not high quality and that it could be MUCH better (that's why I want to buy a premium 5mm eyepiece now), but it still gave me an idea of what I can see at that level of magnification, so now I want to upgrade.