Sub £40 barlow

[Cornelius]

Hi,

I've been researching barlows and found a number in this sort of price range. I'm wondering if there would be any discernible difference between them, and if so, which one would be the one to go for.

The few I have shortened it down to are:

Revelation Astro 2x

Celestron Omni 2x

Skywatcher Deluxe 2x

Revelation Astro 2.5x

All are 1.25", the Skywatcher being the cheapest at around £30 and the Celestron the most expensive around £40.

The first three seem able to be reduced to roughly 1.5x, but i'm not sure if this is possible with the 2.5x Revelation (I think I would prefer to have this feature).

The 'scope it will be for will be a Skyliner 150p 6" f8.

Any comments or help would be appreciated.

Thanks in advance.

[Reeny]

I can only comment on the Revelation Astro 2.5x.

It is a 3-element Barlow, whereas the 2x Revelation is not.

The 2.5x performs perfectly for me in the 8-inch dob.

It is also recomended by other users

Edit - I have the Barlow with the removable 1.5x magnifier lens on the bottom and it is absolutely useless as a 2x Barlow.

If you want a rubbish magnifier get that one.

If you want a decent Barlow get the 2.5x (which works as a proper Barlow, and doesn't unscrew to bits)

[Cornelius]

I can only comment on the Revelation Astro 2.5x.

It is a 3-element Barlow, whereas the 2x Revelation is not.

The 2.5x performs perfectly for me in the 8-inch dob.

It is also recomended by other users

Edit - I have the Barlow with the removable 1.5x magnifier lens on the bottom and it is absolutely useless as a 2x Barlow.

If you want a rubbish magnifier get that one.

If you want a decent Barlow get the 2.5x (which works as a proper Barlow, and doesn't unscrew to bits)

Thanks for the reply.

Does the 2.5x have the ability to be reduced like the others?

[Cornelius]

Just noticed the edit!

[John]

Another vote for the Revelation 2.5x barlow here. It performs very well for it's price tag.

[Cornelius]

The problem with the 2.5x will be that I was planning on sticking with the stock 10mm and 25mm EPs for the time being. This would essentially turn the 25 into the 10 and perhaps be pushing the magnification a bit too high on the 10 at 300x?

Maybe a 2x would be better given this?

Any thoughts on the others, or indeed any not yet mentioned?

Also, is the feature where you can unscrew particular borlows to make them 1.5x something to avoid then? I thought it sounded quite handy but I am a beginner to all this!

[Reeny]

The 2.5x might be an actual 2.1x magnification.

You have asked the right questions and have some good advice above.

Good luck with your choice.

[Reeny]

PS - Instead of buying a Barlow, have you considered getting the correct sized eyepiece instead.

Revelation do a 6mm Plossl for £23 which would work much better than the stock 2x 10mm Skywatcher eyepiece.

[John]

PS - Instead of buying a Barlow, have you considered getting the correct sized eyepiece instead.

Revelation do a 6mm Plossl for £23 which would work much better than the stock 2x 10mm Skywatcher eyepiece.

I agree with this. Putting a quality barlow on the stock eyepieces isn't going to turn them into anything better. £40 would buy a couple of decent quality plossls on the used market.

[nightfisher]

Have to admit i ended up ordering to Revelation 2.5 barlow just today, been umming and arring for a few weeks since i let my Baader barlow go to a new home.

This barllow will be used with volcano top ortho`s and a maxvision 16mm ep

[andyman]

Cant comment on any of the listed barlows as i use orion shorty plus barlow discontinued shame as its a exellent barlow

I have also heard quite a few negative comments on using barlows but i dont think it detracts from the views whatsoever

Infact  it can actually enhance the views and also give more eye relief to tight eyepieces and double your eyepiece collection for a fraction of the cost of buying singles

But if you do decide on a barlow go for a good quality one you wont regret it

[Reeny]

....... Also, is the feature where you can unscrew particular borlows to make them 1.5x something to avoid then? I thought it sounded quite handy but I am a beginner to all this!

Sorry I should have explained why I dislike the unscrewable lens type of Barlow.

The problem appears to be the poor optical performance of the lens assembly - not the fact that it unscrews.

It actually works OK as a 1.5x magnifier on my 3-inch scope.

If you want better views - get some decent eyepieces (8mm = 150x / 6mm = 200x magnification)

If you want a proper Barlow to last a lifetime - get the 2.5x Revelation.

If you still want to get the 2x Barlow with the 1.5x magnifier - get it from Ebay for £19

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/1-25-BARLOW-2x-LENS-ACHROMATIC-EYEPIECE-ASTROBITS-/281220907276?pt=UK_Photography_Telescopes&hash=item417a12810c#ht_895wt_1400

[hunterknox]

I very much like my 2x / 1.5x Revelation, though I have mostly been using it for monochrome imaging rather than visual observing.

I'd advise caution over getting shorter focal length plossls if you were tempted by the above suggestion. The lack of eye relief on any plossls under 10mm make them unusable for me.

[Joves]

PS - Instead of buying a Barlow, have you considered getting the correct sized eyepiece instead.

Revelation do a 6mm Plossl for £23 which would work much better than the stock 2x 10mm Skywatcher eyepiece.

Great advice. So often when trying to work out the arithmetic, we fail to see the glaringly obvious! I've been guilt of this SOOOO many times.

[Cornelius]

I had considered the option of eyepieces rather than a barlow but after a fair bit of reading up thought the barlow would be the cheapest and easiest way of effectively doubling (or even tripling) the stock eyepiece collection to start with.

Then could add a couple of extra eyepieces at a later date when I had a better idea of what I'd like as I'm a complete beginner at the moment.

This is the reason I was interested in the 2x/1.5x barlows as they would give the largest number of options to begin with, but obviously I would still like a quality barlow that can continue to be used in the future.

Most bar the absolute cheapest seem to get decent reviews when commented on individually but I have no real idea if there is any real difference to buy one over another within the same price range.

[Reeny]

Most bar the absolute cheapest seem to get decent reviews when commented on individually but I have no real idea if there is any real difference to buy one over another within the same price range.

I don't know how to make it any clearer.

So I will leave you to make your decision based on:

-  the 3x good reviews above for the Revelation2.5x barlow.

- and the1x rubbish review by myself (as I seem to be the only idiot daft enough to buy one second hand off Ebay for a tenner - even then I was robbed)

I will leave you to figure it out.

But please don't try to say that you have no real idea which one to buy after all the good advice towards the 2.5x Barlow.

[Cornelius]

Reeny,

I read it as two positive reviews for the 2.5x Revelation and one positive review for the 2x Revelation, but all as a unit themselves rather than in in comparison to one of the others. You did mention one other but from the link that appeared to be one of the 'absolute cheapest' that I was referring to in my previous post. Also surely I'm not to just completely discount the Celestron for example because it was neither reviewed good or bad.

I do realise it is unlikely someone will have owned say both the Revelation 2x and the Celestron as the price is fairly close so a direct comparison is going to be harder to find. Thats what I meant where I said I had no real idea if there was much of a difference between them.

I was also leaning away from the 2.5x for the reasons in my previous posts but if you have have experience that the quality of the others mentioned is noticeably affected by the unscrewable assembly then obviously I would reconsider.

Thanks for your help so far.

[Reeny]

Maybe I just got a bad version of the Skywatcher Barlow (or a damaged unit - it was pre used)

My 2x is the one with the camera threads on the top of the casing.

Try to avoid that type.

I have a lot of respect for the quality of Revelation gear as a brand.

But I always assumed that this type of similar equipment was manufactured in the same factory, then branded with different company names.

Maybe the Celestron and Revelation 2x Barlows are better quality.

Another advantage of the unscrewable lens is that you can fit a filter into the barlow.

This saves screwing and unscrewing the filters onto each eyepiece again and again.

The disadvantage with my set-up was that both the 10mm skywatcher eyepiece, and Barlow filter threads were not machined properly, and they wrecked a moon filter for me.

If you definitely want the 2x - you should think about the Celestron or the Revelation.

The filter threads on the Skywatcher might not be up to the job (and the optics are poor).

And the 2.5x Revelation does not have any filter threads.

[ScottS]

Another vote here for the 2.5x Revelation.

[RikM]

I actually didn't find the Skywatcher Deluxe 2x barlow all that bad. I did buy a Meade #126 barlow as an 'upgrade' and couldn't tell the difference. I don't know if I had a good SW or a duff Meade? I swapped them for a 2.5x in the end (not a Revelation though) because that was a better match to my eyepiece focal lengths. I didn't screw the end off to make it a 1.6x.

[Cornelius]

Thanks for all the replies.

The Revelation barlows seem to get pretty good reviews across this forum and others, and it seems the 2x would suit my needs best for now, so I think I'm going to end up going with that one.

Thanks for all the help.

[Tonys]

I very much like my 2x / 1.5x Revelation, though I have mostly been using it for monochrome imaging rather than visual observing. I'd advise caution over getting shorter focal length plossls if you were tempted by the above suggestion. The lack of eye relief on any plossls under 10mm make them unusable for me.

The same for me. I much prefer to use my 9mm plossl with 2x barlow than 5mm plossl. Ditto also re the quality of the standard 2x Revelation barlow. I have compared this regularly with my Tal 2x and there really isn't much between them for me. The Tal is usually rated okay so I won't complain about the Revelation one.