Celestron Ultima Barlow Lens

The application for this barlow on my 8i/GPS SCT/XLT was to gain higher magnification options from longer focal length and eye relief eyepieces (ELux and Xcel 25-18-15mm)and stay in modest price ranges for everything. COMMON TESTS with the barlow vs. short focal length eyepieces to 8mm was most favorable: a) using both common and wide angle FOV eyepieces and b)testing with and without eye glasses while c) viewing Polaris double, Jupiter & moons and the Moon. Seeing conditions were poor (Dallas, summer, early evening sky with a lot of Moonlight.) Never the less I am pleased with both the Celestron Ultima 2X barlow and the strategy and therefore I "recommended". Shipping was prompt - much better than prior experiences with amazon.com - improvement so noted.

This particular Barlow, along with the Orion Shorty, is highly recommended on several of the astronomy forums on the internet. I got this one instead of the Orion simply because Amazon was offering it at about $52 at the time.

I've found that I enjoy using the Barlow when viewing planets and a few DSO's. It provides an economical way to virtually increase the number of eyepieces in your collection. It does introduce a little light loss with my eyepieces (maybe this is normal with all eyepieces), but it is not troublesome.

I certainly recommend this Barlow for those of you who want to cheaply expand your eyepiece collection.