Tele extender vs powermate

[Stardust]

Wondering if anyone uses an explore scientific  2x 2" tele extender or powermate with a dslr? 

I have a cheap 2" 2x revelation barlow that works quite well. I thought I'd  try a 2.5x powermate. Apart from the vignette I thought the lunar image was cleaner. This got me thinking that a 2" would be better. The explore one is more appealing on price.

[johninderby]

The ES is  very nearly as good as the Powermate in most scopes. Maybe in a very fast scope the ES might be only 95% as good. 

Had the ES 2” 2x but it was a big heavy lump though.. Opticstar does the same tele extender at a bit better price.

http://www.opticstar.com/Run/Astronomy/Astro-Accessories-Telescopes-Opticstar.asp?p=0_10_5_1_8_56

Edited January 28, 2020 by johninderby

[John]

I've owned and used the ES 2x 2 inch Focal Extender, the Meade 2x 2 inch TeleXtender and a 2x 2 inch Tele Vue Powermate. I'm no imager though so I used these for visual observing. All 3 are pretty good at what they do. The one that truly seemed invisible, apart from the additional magnification, was the Powermate but it's a lot more expensive.

Its the usual story I suppose - you do get a little more performance for the additional investment but the competition is pretty good. Whether the additional £s are something you want to spend on this item is a personal decision I guess

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

I have 1.25" 2x and 3x TeleXtenders from Meade (apparently optically very similar to the ES version), and cannot really see any difference in performance with my 2.5x PowerMate

[Space Hopper]

I've used my 2x 2" (and 4x 2") to take Prime focus images of the moon and sun a few times before. The results have been pleasing.

Although i'm not much of an imager either (just a wannabe one !) 

I have the 2" Powermates as i'm using a FF DSLR

The Powermates are excellent in every way, and you can often pick them up second hand with decent reductions. They hold their value as well if you sell further down the line. I'm sure the ES version is just as good though

Be aware that they throw the focus plane out quite a bit (certainly the 4x) and i remember with an old refractor i had to employ extensions on the focuser.

 

 

[Stardust]

thanks for all the feedback guys. I use the 2.5 & 5x powermates with my Lunar & planetary cams along the the Televue barlows at times.  It's only going to be on the Moon with my Fujifilm XT2 so I'll look at prices but the ES might be enough for that set up. 

cheers

David 

[Stardust]

7 hours ago, johninderby said:

The ES is  very nearly as good as the Powermate in most scopes. Maybe in a very fast scope the ES might be only 95% as good. 

Had the ES 2” 2x but it was a big heavy lump though.. Opticstar does the same tele extender at a bit better price.

http://www.opticstar.com/Run/Astronomy/Astro-Accessories-Telescopes-Opticstar.asp?p=0_10_5_1_8_56

cheers for that, looks like a hunt round at Astrofest could be in order

 

[Merlin66]

I have both the 1.25” ES and Meade x3 extenders, they are identical. Look like they came out the same factory inChina.

I use the x2.5 PM, with the T thread adaptor regularly for solar imaging with the ASI 1600. 

The tele-extenders are pretty good, but I do prefer the Powermate.