Which Barlow.??.

[Rustmonkey]

Chrimbo is around the corner and the missus keeps asking me what I want?

she knows its gonna be Astronomy related but what??

i have a couple of choices.....first was the SW mounting bracket like Dion showed in his tutorial....handy but I'd I really need it.....my Guidescope seems to be doing a good job of finding stars anyway.

Secondly was a Barlow. Imhave the standard SW rubbish...which is actually attached to said Guidescope minus lens as it makes a perfect extension.

But which Barlow....which size for optimum use and good quality. I like the look of the imagemate x4 but is it worth £90? Antares do a x2.5 and a x5 for a good price and seem to be good quality.

Any thoughts...I don't mind paying the money if its worth it with regards to results.....ideally would be used with my SPC or QHY5

[JamesF]

I'd go with the GSO/Revelation 2.5x, but I've no idea how it compares to the Antares.

I've been struggling with the ImageMate 4x in my 127 Mak. The slightest error in alignment when you switch to it and the target is gone from the sensor which makes it awkward to work with. You appear to have the same type of EQ3-2 so I'd certainly hesitate to recommend it. With a the GOTO version perhaps it would be different. If you want better image scale than the 2.5x allows you could always put the old Skywatcher barlow/extension into the back of the 2.5x barlow (which is what I do for my planetary imaging).

James

[bottletopburly]

i got the celestron 2x which they say is the same as an orion and an antares and im really pleased with it i paid £35 but i think the antares comes in cheaper

[andyman]

i use a orion shorty plus very good japanese optics but would take most of your budget

[JamesF]

The Orion Shorty Plus and the Celestron Ultima are becoming increasingly hard to get hold of these days unfortunately as they're good quality barlows. Hence my recommendation of the GSO/Revelation 2.5x which does seem like a decent alternative from my experience. I know a few others have used them and been happy with their performance too.

James

[tingting44]

I like the look of the imagemate x4 but is it worth £90?

only £61 from scopes n skies fella

where i was going to get mine if i ever decide in time lol

[bomberbaz]

depends what magnification your looking for. But I have a celestron x-cel lx x3 barlow and its a lovely piece of kit, howev4er they also do a 3x of same thing but are a little pricey at £82 or £92 i think...

[bomberbaz]

That should have said they also do a 2x