wrong Barlow?

[mr saddo]

HI there, i have a heritage 130p, i have been using it a few months now, and i have just bought a cheap barlow, for more magnification, the problem is when you put the barlow in ,then the 10mm ep you can not see anything, even when turning the focusing ring in or out, the only way to get a focused image is to shorten the telescopic tubes on the scope, is the barlow the wrong type? too long? or too short? yours paul

[LukeSkywatcher]

Is it a 2X or 3X barlow?

I have the same scope and i use a TAL 2X barlow with no problems.

If it is a 3X barlow you have it may be too high powered to come to focus with the short focal length of the Heritage.

If it is a 2X barlow then it may just be a BAD one.

The TAL 2X works BRILLIANTLY with the Heritage.

[Merlin66]

A 10mm with a barlow is pushing the limits of performance with your scope. Probably too high a magnification. Try it with a 25mm eyepiece.

[ronin]

The 10mm eyepiece is poor.

A cheap barlow is poor.

The combination is very poor.

The scope is f/5 you could end up buying eyepieces that cost more then the scope.

It is collimated, again at f/5 it has to be well collimated.

[brantuk]

If you have to shorten the trusses to get focus then something is deffo wrong. As suggested above the combination of cheap ep and barlow is likely the problem at too high a magnification and too fast an f ratio. Plus collimation may need looking at.

The Tal barlows are probably the best "cheap barlows" around and great vfm. And I reckon if you know what you're looking for, a half decent 15mm or 12mm ep can be had s/h for around £50. Keep your eye on the For Sale section and Astro BuySell for most reliable kit

[SiriusB]

Someone was telling me about the same problem with a heitiage 130 at Kelling last year- they'd tried two different barlows & neither would come to focus in the scope,& they were a seasoned amateur.

Hopefullly someone can chip in with a barlow that works with your scope.- ahh, i've just seen Lukeskywatcher has.

[mr saddo]

Hi all. its a x2 barlow, and i have to shorten the tube on both 10mm and 25 ep the barlow measures 80mm long, scope works fine with10mm and 25 mm ep on there own. With the barlow in its suppose to be 130x mag with 10mm is this too high for my scope? fl 650mm f5.1 thanks yours paul.

[brantuk]

130x mag should be easilly possible as it's only 50% of the quoted highest potential magnification. Ideally you wouldn't want to go much higher than 200x at the most with UK skies the way they are - remember when you magnify the object you also magnify the atmospheric imperfections, and the more glass you introduce to the light path (ie barlow) the less light is received in the eye (so it gets feint especially with small apertures).

At f5 you are far better off using a single good quality ep like a 5mm TV Plossl. I prefer the Radians myself but they are a fair bit dearer. A 5mm Radian or TV Plossl works well in my 130P. Hope that helps

[russburslem]

ive got a heritage 130p skywatcher and quite frankly ive got the same problem,lol

i got a good look at the moon , but nothing with me 2 x barlow lense,, begining to think this is a dummie of a scope for starters,,perhaps im the dummy

ill go the north staffs astro meeting and take it with me so they can help me sort it out ,

all the best

[mr saddo]

Hi, the heritage seems to get good write ups, its the same spec has a sky watcher sync scan 130p which i had, heritage works fine with the standard 10 and 25mm ep in, i just wanted a little more mag, probably the barlow i bought off e-bay the other day!! for £!0!! says it all really. I am thinking of buying the revelation ep kit on first light optics site, would these be a good buy for my scope? yours paul.

[John]

Like many scopes, especially those aimed at newcomers to the hobby, the scope is fine but the supplied accessories let it down.

But if they supplied a couple of decent eyepieces and a decent barlow with it then it would be double the price. So you "pays your money and makes your choice" as they say.

Spend £70 or so on a couple of good eyepieces and a quality barlow like the TAL and you will see what the scope can really do - I think you will be pleasantly surprised

[mr saddo]

Just been reading about fast and slow scopes, my f5 being fast type, so the question is which lenses are best suited to the heritage 130p? If you have one what do you use? yours paul.

[mr saddo]

hi there, i was thinking a sky watcher sp plossi 6.3 for f6 or slower scopes and a tal barlow x2 would this be ok? yours paul.

[bombassa]

The heritage is easily capable of 130x but I don't know how much the scope can practically cope with. I've pushed mine to 260x on the moon but it wasn't really pretty and I wont recommend it.

I think the dob mount will limit practical magnification as well.

I too have a Talx2 barlow and it's fine actually (despite my earlier statements of the opposite) just not with the supplied 10 mm eyepiece. I have no problems reaching focus with this.