Quality, Low-Cost Barlow Recommendations?

Hello all,

I am happy to report that I am helping a bride-to-be purchase a scope
for her fiance. Her budget was $300, so I immediately steered her
towards the Harding Deep Space Hunter 8" scope. It looks like it should
be a great beginner scope, and appears to be very well reviewed.

As the two eyepieces provided result in a high end of 133x mag., I'd
like to recommend a decent barlow to go along with the package. I
haven't looked at balows for at least 3 years, since I've been happy
with my Meade barlow. I'm not recommending that one to her due to it's
$80 cost. Can any of you recommend a less expensive barlow that still
performs on a level equal to the 8" dob she is about to purchase?
Remember the cost is a major concern here, due to her being over budget
already.

Thanks for the great advice!!


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Kevin Rehberg wrote:

Hello all,

I am happy to report that I am helping a bride-to-be purchase a scope
for her fiance. Her budget was $300, so I immediately steered her
towards the Harding Deep Space Hunter 8" scope. It looks like it should
be a great beginner scope, and appears to be very well reviewed.

As the two eyepieces provided result in a high end of 133x mag., I'd
like to recommend a decent barlow to go along with the package. I
haven't looked at balows for at least 3 years, since I've been happy
with my Meade barlow. I'm not recommending that one to her due to it's
$80 cost. Can any of you recommend a less expensive barlow that still
performs on a level equal to the 8" dob she is about to purchase?
Remember the cost is a major concern here, due to her being over budget
already.

Thanks for the great advice!!

I'd try the Orion Shorty Barlow at $39.95 or the Shorty Plus (which
I have) at $56.95.



--
Posted via Mailgate.ORG Server - http://www.Mailgate.ORG

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Tom Royer
Lead Engineer, Software Test
The MITRE Corporation
202 Burlington Road
Bedford, MA 01730
Voice: (781) 271-8399
FAX: (781) 271-8500


"If you're not free to fail, you're not free." --Gene Burns

Kevin Rehberg wrote:
Can any of you recommend a less expensive barlow that still
performs on a level equal to the 8" dob she is about to purchase?
Remember the cost is a major concern here, due to her being over budget
already.

For the budget conscious I suggest the GTO series from Hands-On Optics. I
have purchased two eyepieces and a barlow from them and find their quality
to be comparable to most standard Plossl eyepieces that come with scopes
from Discovery, Meade, Orion, Celestron, etc. Their barlow prices range
from $27 to $45.

Bryan

http://www.handsonoptics.com/astrono...to_series.html

On Tue, 22 Jul 2003 15:39:07 +0000 (UTC), "Kevin Rehberg" ...reflected:

Hello all,

I am happy to report that I am helping a bride-to-be purchase a scope
for her fiance. Her budget was $300, so I immediately steered her
towards the Harding Deep Space Hunter 8" scope. It looks like it should
be a great beginner scope, and appears to be very well reviewed.

As the two eyepieces provided result in a high end of 133x mag., I'd
like to recommend a decent barlow to go along with the package. I
haven't looked at balows for at least 3 years, since I've been happy
with my Meade barlow. I'm not recommending that one to her due to it's
$80 cost. Can any of you recommend a less expensive barlow that still
performs on a level equal to the 8" dob she is about to purchase?
Remember the cost is a major concern here, due to her being over budget
already.

Thanks for the great advice!!

Well, I don't know great this would be, but Orion sells a barlow or two
for under $50, and made in Japan to boot.

Alan

On Tue, 22 Jul 2003 18:48:06 +0000 (UTC), ...reflected:

Kevin Rehberg wrote:
Can any of you recommend a less expensive barlow that still
performs on a level equal to the 8" dob she is about to purchase?
Remember the cost is a major concern here, due to her being over budget
already.

For the budget conscious I suggest the GTO series from Hands-On Optics. I
have purchased two eyepieces and a barlow from them and find their quality
to be comparable to most standard Plossl eyepieces that come with scopes
from Discovery, Meade, Orion, Celestron, etc. Their barlow prices range
from $27 to $45.

Bryan

http://www.handsonoptics.com/astrono...to_series.html

Yes, those items from Hands On Optics appear to be "hot sellers."

I gave my Parks PRT-813 80mm refractor to my cousin, but with the
provision that he purchase at least two eyepieces to go with it. He bought
a set of three GTO's from Hands On... , and with one of them backordered...
the 10mm, if I'm not mistaken.

Yes, they're very popular.

Alan