Barlow - First Upgrade from Bundled Skywatcher..

[coxy322]

I am now beginning to buy accessories for my 5 month old 200p BD.

Am looking at Barlows, is it worth getting a 3x to compliment/upgrade from the standard 2x that came with the scope?

Would it be also worth investing in a TeleVue (£90) over something at half the price? Thinking this sort of Barlow would improve all Eps I use and purchase in the future?

[Capricorn]

Working on comments here the \tal's are good but I don't know if they do a 3x and what it is like. Everyone seems to have/want the 2x, and that me be because hey do not make a 3x.

Then as you say the TV's come out good but at a somewhat higher price.

Thereare I expect a couple of others but they do not get much mention.

The drawback of a 3x is that you could find that eyepieces of 12mm are not usable in a scope, at 4mm effective focal length you could be pushing the capabilities of a scope. I have found that almost immaterial of the scope I use, (4 options) most seem to give poorer images at less. then 5mm.

[LukeSkywatcher]

Tal do make a 3X. I'm not sure if they are in stock though. The Tal seems to be more popular then ever right now. Bang for buck you cant beat the Tal. Maybe this is why they are selling out?

[SeedyF]

I bought a TAL x3 last year and it was a big step up in performance over the cheap x2 I had. If budget matters (and if it doesn't will you be my friend ) then the TAL would be a good choice.

What Capricorn says is worth bearing in mind though, with my 150p the 3x was limited in its use to 2 of my eyepieces - completely pointless with my 6mm but then that might say more about my cheap 6mm eyepiece! But it is proving useful to have some versatility with both the 2x & 3x providing me with a bigger selection of possible magnifications.

Hope this helps - it won't help find a supplier with the TAL in stock though, they seem to be pretty rare.

[newman]

Assuming you got those standard Skywatcher Super MA 25 and 10mm ep's bundled with the scope, and assuming those are the only eyepieces you have..

Considering you already have a 2x barlow, I'd look into investing into a few good eyepieces first.

[great_bear]

Normal Barlows don't work well with longer focal-length eyepieces such as 25mm and longer (too much eye-relief) and can cause vignetting (darkening and fuzzing of the edge of the view).

As mentioned above, you'd be better advised to get better eyepieces before looking for another Barlow.