3x Barlows - Are they useful? How much do you need to pay for a good one?

[benjiman46]

3x Barlows - Are they useful? How much do you need to pay for a good one? Im just weighing up routes to take with my new orion spaceprobe 130 reflector telescope. Im interested in looking at the moon in high detail aswel as the planets. Im thinking of bidding on a celestron 2x barlow for a start and i just wondered about 3x barlows. I must be getting really anoying now with all my posts but im just really excited and thrilled with my new telescope

[Ben Ritchie]

Very useful - they're good with a medium focal length 'scope for imaging, and convert low-medium power plossl eyepieces to high powers suitable for lunar/planetary viewing with a shorter focal length refractor. I had some excellent views with 11mm and 15mm TeleVue Plossl + 3x barlow with my 80ED (160x and 120x magnification respectively).

I got a very nice Astro-Engineering AC613 3x Photovisual Barlow for about £40 secondhand, lovely bit of kit and very well made. Cheaper ones exist too, but it's not worth going too cheap IMHO.

[beamer3.6m]

I believe the Tal barlows are pretty well regarded and cheap.

[rawhead]

I believe the Tal barlows are pretty well regarded and cheap.

Impossible to get hold of unfortunately...