Meade #126 1.25-Inch 2x Short-Focus Barlow Lens

by Meade

Product Details

• Product Dimensions: 4 x 4 x 6 inches ; 4.8 ounces
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Shipping: Currently, item can be shipped only within the U.S.
• ASIN: B00000K3RG
• Item model number: 07273
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank:
  • #6 in Camera & Photo > Accessories > Telescope Accessories > Barlow Lenses
• Date first available at Amazon.com: June 13, 2008

Product Description

Our #126 2x Short Focus Barlow is our most commonly recommended Barlow lens. It doubles the power of any 1.25-Inch eyepiece without adding a very long extension between the telescope and the eyepiece. Designed for the ETX, it works well with any telescope.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Doubles the magnification of all of your telescope eyepieces, January 11, 2011

By 

Allan Ray Miller "Ray's Reviews" - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Meade #126 1.25-Inch 2x Short-Focus Barlow Lens (Electronics)

A Barlow lens is used to effectively increase the magnification of your eyepieces in a telescope. For example if you would normally see an image at 30x then using that eyepiece in conjuction with the Barlow gives you an effective 60x magnification. One Barlow can be used with all of your different eyepieces in turn, making for a cost effective way to have a wider range of magnification options.

This Barlow can be used on any telescope that uses 1.25" eyepieces. It does not have to be a Meade telescope; all you need is that the size of the eyepieces be the same. (1.25" is one of the more common sizes but check your telescope to be sure first.)

To use this lens, pull your eyepiece out of the telescope and put the Barlow lens in first. The eyepiece then gets placed back into the end of the Barlow. Refocus - and you're done - the image should now be 2x. Simple.

I've used this lens and it is a fine lens for starter telescopes. I did not see any increased chromatic aberration. The quality of the glass and the coatings are all acceptable. Obviously you can spend a whole bunch more and get even more premium glass, and Barlow lenses that go up to 3x or variable amounts, but for most backyard astronomers and folks with relatively small or starter telescopes, this is all that you need and is a good value.

One word of caution on telescopes: bigger is not always better. If you magnify an image too much you'll get dim and/or fuzzy images. But as long as you stay within the range of what the rest of the optics in your telescope can reasonably deliver, a Barlow lens is a great addition. (In particular I often use my Barlow to help out my low powered lens rather than my high power. I find I get higher magnification but with the better eye relief that comes inherent to the lower powered eyepieces.)

5.0 out of 5 stars Good barlow lens, but beware of your telescope limitations, January 29, 2012

By 

W "Neko-san" (CA USA) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Meade #126 1.25-Inch 2x Short-Focus Barlow Lens (Electronics)

I bought this Barlow Len to use with a 25mm piece or 9mm piece that came with Meade 20218 NG-70SM 70mm Altazimuth Refractor Telescope. I wanted to use this Barlow Lens with the 9mm to watch Saturn and Jupiter. I was worried it would be a bit too much, and in a way it was.

For example, the first issue was to get Saturn on the center of the field of view. Once I got it on the center, I would have about 10 seconds before Saturn would drift out the field of view again. The second issue was to get the telescope to focus. Even the slightest tap on the nob would change of focus, and cause the image to vibrate. However, once I got past these issues (not a trivial task), I was able to observe how the shadow of Saturn darkened the ring behind. Awesome!

In all, this Barlow Len worked as expected, and I even got it one day earlier than expected from the seller.

0 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Barlow lens review, February 17, 2011

By 

joezon - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Meade #126 1.25-Inch 2x Short-Focus Barlow Lens (Electronics)

Did not have much time to use the Barlow lens
but the time I did the image was a bit blurry.
Delivery was perfect .