Advice on 2" Barlows please... (and EPs)

Well, after finally getting a good clear night last night to get my new toy
(2nd hand Meade LX200GPS 10") outside and give it a good test run, I have
decided that the Meade 1.25" Barlow is basically a piece of sh*t !

I have the Peterson EyeOpener installed on the back of this scope, into the
microfocusser, intoa Meade 2" diagonal.

For eyepieces, I have a 2" Meade Series 4000 40mm Ultrawide, Meade 1.25"
32mm, 20mm, and 9.7mm Super Plossls and also a 5mm that seems to be for an
ETX-70 scope (at least that's what it says on the box). Also - the
aforementioned 1.25" Barlow.

Excellent views of the Moon and Jupiter last night - with 4 moons nicely
lined up BTW. Viewing Jupiter, every time I tried to use the Barlow, the
image just degraded to the point it was almost unusable.

Anyway - I want to use the 2" light path where possible as the difference
between this and the 1.25" eyepieces was significant. I presume a good
quality 2" Barlow would be a decent investment. Can anyone recommend a good
one, or should I be looking at the TeleVue Powermates instead of a Barlow ?
Money is not the deciding factor here - I'd rather buy something that will
last years and never need upgrading. I also intend to upgrade some of my EPs
to 2" as I go forward.

My interests are primarily visual until I make the jump into CCD imaging,
although I do want to be able to use it with my dSLR camera.

Also - any recommendations for a good high quality 5mm or similar eyepiece
to replace the current one ? It's definitely the worst quality of the EPs
that I own.

By the way - in case anyone is interested, there is a guy on eBay selling
the Meade Series 4000 UltraWide 40mm and 32mm 2" EPs for about £80 at the
moment. He's in Las Vegas, but he shipped my 40mm in three days. Telescope
House want £399 for the same thing ! Even with customs duty and shipping, it
came it at just over £105, which is a BIG saving in my book. (eBay store is
called "Telescope Warehouse")

Viewing Jupiter, every time I tried to use the Barlow, the
image just degraded to the point it was almost unusable.

May have been due to the seeing and not the Barlow ? I can't always
use mine.
jc


--
http://mysite.wanadoo-members.co.uk/jc_atm/

"John Carruthers" wrote in message
...
Viewing Jupiter, every time I tried to use the Barlow, the
image just degraded to the point it was almost unusable.

May have been due to the seeing and not the Barlow ? I can't always
use mine.
jc

Probably a bit of both.....

Doesn't stop me wanting to buy new bits of kit though ! Although I can't do
much about the seeing, I can certainly upgrade my optical path. I wish i
wasn't so much of a gadget junkie, but....