Seben Barlow?

[lostpleiad]

I have an 8 inch Orion dobsonian. After some great advice on here, I finally decided on buying a zoom eyepiece, but not able to afford the Baader Hyperion, I bought a Seben 8-24mm zoom eyepiece, which seemed to get good reviews elsewhere for its price. It seems fine for my complete novice level and I've had some nice views with it, light pollution permitting!

I also plan to get a small focal length BST.

That leaves a barlow. Again, I am on a tight budget, so I have been wondering if I should go with Seben again. They have a cheap barlow here.

Has anyone got any experience of this barlow? Or would I be wasting money which would be better put towards saving for an Orion shorty?

Thanks

[andyman]

Cant give any advise on the seben barlow the only thing i would say cheap barlows tend to be off poor quality.as for the orion shorty yet again cant help but i do own the orion shorty plus version which is fab... and if the shorty is as good as the plus you will have a very good barlow.

Sadly the shorty plus has been discontinued also the celestron ultima (which are the same barlow just different branding) but do crop up on abs quite regulary

[lostpleiad]

Thanks andyman. It seems like many of thecheaper  barlows people rate highly are all discontinued - shorty plus, ultima, tal. After that, the suggestions get a bit too expensive for me....

[ronin]

The person selling the BST's also has a selection of barlows on their site, little more costly then the Seben (£20).

They also have one at £17.

Suggest a call to Alan and simply ask him. He is quite honest, well has been so far.

Think they used to have a BST 2x barlow which appears to have gone, cannot recall the cost (may have been more costly then you wanted) but you could ask about them and enquire if any more are expected.

[Ben Smith]

I have this barlow and find it really good. This with the stock 10mm ep looks better than one of my 6mm plossl on its own.

[rwilkey]

Hi there, at the end of the day you get what you pay for, I have heard the Seben Barlow is not too bad, however, the Orion Shorty Plus (make sure it is the 'Plus') is extremely good and will last a lifetime, if you want to start off with quality.

[wookie1965]

Here is the one Sky`s The Limit sell very similar to the BST lens

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Skys-the-Limit-2-2X-ED-Barlow-Lens-with-1-25-adapter-/380835033316?pt=UK_Telescope_Adapters&hash=item58ab8970e4

[lostpleiad]

Thank you for all the helpful replies. Ben - sounds like a choice of patience over cost. I think patience will lose! If Ben is happy with the Seben I guess that's good enough for me.

[lostpleiad]

Ronin - calling Alan sounds like a good idea, I think I will do that before I hit the purchase button on the Seben.

Rwilkey - I take the point about quality. To be honest, being so green, I'm not even sure I would recognise the difference though!

[Reeny]

Cant give any advise on the seben barlow the only thing i would say cheap barlows tend to be off poor quality.as for the orion shorty yet again cant help but i do own the orion shorty plus version which is fab... and if the shorty is as good as the plus you will have a very good barlow.

Sadly the shorty plus has been discontinued also the celestron ultima (which are the same barlow just different branding) but do crop up on abs quite regulary

Just a quick note here about the discontinued 2x Barlows from Meade and Celestron (which are reported to have been an actual 2.2x magnification).

I am 100% sure that the Revelation 2.5x is the same animal, with a different name.

Revelation                                                                         Celestron

 

The Revelation 3-element barlow is excellent in my 8-inch skywatcher dob.

It straightens out minor edge distortion with the Maxvision 16mm, and magnifies the 11mm Explore scientific 82degree eyepiece superbly.

Only £32 plus £3 delivery, and worth every penny.

The only negative is that it pulls the focus point further towards the scope.

You will need enough inwards travel to accommodate the Barlows optics (about 20mm plus some spare travel)

[Reeny]

Alan had a couple of BST 4-element 2x Barlow for £55 a few weeks ago.

I was tempted to get one to fine tune my eyepiece magnifications around 200x, and for the built in filter threads.

It looked good.

Worth asking if it will be coming back soon.

[andyman]

Just a quick note here about the discontinued 2x Barlows from Meade and Celestron (which are reported to have been an actual 2.2x magnification).

I am 100% sure that the Revelation 2.5x is the same animal, with a different name.

Revelation                                                                         Celestron

 

The Revelation 3-element barlow is excellent in my 8-inch skywatcher dob.

It straightens out minor edge distortion with the Maxvision 16mm, and magnifies the 11mm Explore scientific 82degree eyepiece superbly.

Only £32 plus £3 delivery, and worth every penny.

The only negative is that it pulls the focus point further towards the scope.

You will need enough inwards travel to accommodate the Barlows optics (about 20mm plus some spare travel)

If the revelation is the same as the ultima as you say its a cracking price.the celestron ultima used to retail for £110 and the shorty plus £90

[Reeny]

I thought they were exactly the same with different case, sleeve, and bottom locking ring.

However, the "air-spaced, three-element apochromatic optical design of 27mm clear aperture" on the Meade shorty Plus, is only 23mm at base of the Revelation.

The actual magnification suggests that they are very closely related.

2.2x from both designs is too much of a coincidence.

Maybe the Revelation is done to a budget with the smaller 22mm exit diameter, instead of the full 27mm.

Revelation                                                                Meade Shorty Plus

 

[Skytriker]

Reeney's comment about the focus point being pulled closer to the scope is interesting to me. I tried a 3x Barlow, that came with a cheap high street scope, with my new Skywatcher 200P. I had the focus wound fully in and couldn't quite focus on Jupiter before hitting the stop. Is this going to happen with all Barlows? Is there a solution? I don't want to invest in a decent Barlow, only to find it won't fully focus.

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