Where to buy 2" barlows?

[tehmac]

Hi all,

I'm UK based and just wondering if anyone knows somewhere online you can buy a 2x (or 3x) barlow (a semi-decent one) in 2" format for below £40? I see lots of good prices for 1.25" barlows but rarely anything for 2". I plan on buying this item (https://www.firstlightoptics.com/reflectors/skywatcher-explorer-130p-ds-eq3-pro-goto.html) so I think this is what I'll need to go with it.

Thanks,
Gary

[Steve Ward]

The Skywatcher 2"ED Barlow is very good , I have two and highly recommend them , they come in above your figure at around £69 though .

 

[John]

These are decent but close to your price target:

http://www.telescopehouse.com/barlows/revelation-barlows/revelation-ed-2x-barlow-2.html

On the used market (see link below) they would be under your price, if you can find one for sale:

http://www.astrobuysell.com/uk/

[tehmac]

Or rather than a barlow, since I only get one 28mm eyepiece with it all, should I look at getting a zoom eyepiece of some sort to get a variety of views. Or better to just get barlow, stick with 28mm for a while (not sure how this will look on it's own and with a 2x barlow ... worried I won't see much) and get a nice eyepiece of choice maybe for Christmas once I know what I'd quite like after experimentation?

[Dave In Vermont]

The GSO 2" Barlow is very good for it's price. I was surprised at the view through it, and the build is exemplary:

http://agenaastro.com/gso-2-2x-ed-barlow-lens.html

You could find one over there. Look around. Agena does ship-at-cost to the UK,

Dave

[tehmac]

I've found the following items:

Sky Watcher Super Deluxe ED 2x Barlow 2" (£60)
https://www.harrisontelescopes.co.uk/acatalog/SkyWatcher_Super_DeLuxe_ED_2x_Barlow_Lens_2_.html 

GSO 2" 2x Achromatic ED Barlow (£62.40)
http://www.365astronomy.com/2-GSO-2x-Achromatic-ED-Barlow-Lens-50.8-mm-2.html

Revelation ED 2" 2x Barlow (£40)
https://www.harrisontelescopes.co.uk/acatalog/Revelation_ED_2x_Barlow_2_.html

ED Deluxe 2x 2" Barlow (£59)
https://www.firstlightoptics.com/barlows/skywatcher-ed-deluxe-2x-two-inch-barlow-lens.html

Obviously the £40 item is appealing to me, but I really don't know what the other items have over that one other than the higher price. They all seem to do the exact same things, are ED, same size etc. Is any one of these better than the other? Also, I read on Amazon that the Revelation item's lens can be unscrewed from the body to attach to a T2 adapter for a DSLR, but people say it doesn't actually screw into the T2 mount. Are these all like this? Does that mean I wouldn't be able to put my DSLR onto the scope while using a Barlow at all?

[Ricochet]

I would only buy a 2" barlow if you plan to buy ultra wide 2" eyepieces in the future. The supplied eyepiece is probably 2" more for marketing reasons than optical considerations and I suspect in the future you will be a lot more likely to want to barlow 1.25" eyepieces than 2". 

[tehmac]

10 minutes ago, Ricochet said:

I would only buy a 2" barlow if you plan to buy ultra wide 2" eyepieces in the future. The supplied eyepiece is probably 2" more for marketing reasons than optical considerations and I suspect in the future you will be a lot more likely to want to barlow 1.25" eyepieces than 2". 

Oh ... I thought if you buy a scope that says 2" then that is all you could use from then on? It's not built by design to only accept 2" eye pieces? I've never owned a scope before.

[Ricochet]

You will be able to use either 1.25" or 2" eyepieces in any telescope capable of using 2" eyepieces. Depending on the scope there will either be a 1.25" adaptor that sits inside the 2" holder when you want to use 1.25" eyepieces or the focuser will have both 1.25" and 2" adaptors that fix onto the end of the focuser and you swap them over as required.