Customer Reviews

Meade 124 2x Barlow Lens (1.25")

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This is a great accessory, because a 2X Barlow not only doubles the power of all your eyepieces, it essentially doubles the quantity of them as well. If you have two eyepieces and a Barlow, then you really have four eyepieces. By the way, a Barlow is not only meant to use behind a diagonal to double the eyepiece power - a 2X Barlow will TRIPLE the power of any eyepiece, when used in FRONT of the diagonal.

Basically, you insert the Barlow where you would normally put an eyepiece - into the diagonal (in a refractor or Schmidt Cassegrain) or into the focuser (in a Newtonian reflector). Then you insert your eyepiece into the Barlow, and snug-up the set screw. A certain amount of refocusing will be necessary.

The Meade 124 Barlow is a "shorty" design. It is short enough to use in a refractor or Schmidt Cassegrain without worry of clashing with the diagonal mirror. It is of fairly high quality, exhibiting well chromed and anodized surfaces, with a blackened interior to help eliminate glare and secondary reflections. Its 2-element design will yield sharp transmission to the eyepiece or diagonal. You may occasionally find that it appears to correct chromatic irregularities, though this effect will be slight at best.

Meade offers eyepieces and optical accessories of extremely high quality. Their reputation as an excellent source of eyepieces, Barlows, and optical accessories is well deserved. The Model 124 is a good example of their popular mid-priced line of fine optics. I have noticed many of them in use, and have never heard a single complaint.

I have frequently used this Barlow myself. Not once do I ever remember being conscious of it. That's really the truest test of an optical component. If it leaves you alone with the image and your thoughts, then it's done its job. This is an accessory I can highly recommend.

I found that the Meae 124 2X Barlow lens worked exactly as specified. I just recently purchased the Measde ETX 90ec telescope and added the Barlow lens to the eyepice included. Seeing mountain ranges on the moon was very exciting!

It really works as advertised and is a wonderful addition to any lens collection.

The Meade 124 2x Barlow Lens certainly zooms in a lot closer to the viewed object. It's difficult for an amatuer like me to say for sure if it actually doubles the magnification, I'll have to rely on Meades assurances for that. It's a useful addition for the ETX90 but it does have some drawbacks. The light gathering capabilities of the ETX90 restrict the magnification you can use to certain limits. To high a magnification and things start getting blurry. I have 26mm, 15mm and 9.7mm meade eyepieces in my collection. The 26mm is my most frequently used. I use the barlow mostly with the 26mm and occasionally with the 15 and 9.7. However, only in most steadiest of conditions do I get good results with the barlow and 15 and 9.7 combinations. Most of the time I get a much clearer view with the eyepiece alone. Things just get less defined with the barlow and higher power eyepieces combinations. Having said that, the barlow does give you a better range of magnifications and finding the most suitable one for a given situation is more likely. I use the barlow both for planetary and deep space viewing and find I have to adjust the focusing when putting in and taking out the barlow, which is a nuisance. I'm not convinced that the Meade Barlow I have is up to the standard of their other eyepieces in my collection as it seems to have some minute abberations on the lens itself. This is quite possible unique to mine, I'm not sure. Despite the above negatives, the Barlow is worth having with the ETX-90 and probably much more useful on the ETX-105 and 125. Recommended, but inspect and test your barlow on receipt of it and let Meade know immediately if it is not up to standard. Clear skies everyone.

Love the 2X barlow lens. It performs as stated by Meade. All lenses used in conjuntion with the Barlow are doubled I saw no degredation of objects viewed at all. The lens fit very tight in my first telescope but perfectly in my second.

The 2x Barlow lens practically doubbles your eyepiece collection. it mounts easily to any telescope and effectivly dobble the magnification of your current eyepiece. It is great for viewing planets and closer objects, when used with somewhat powerfull eyepieces on deep-space objects, the objects become really faint and hard to see. The lens comes in a convienient storage contianer and fits in any of the carrying cases.

This is a no-frills Barlow lens. It works well, as long as you know that, for example, using it with a 4mm eyepiece in a 70mm scope isn't recommended. As noted, it will double the magnifying power of your scope, but more magnification isn't always a good thing. It will make your view dimmer and more fuzzy, especially if you are magnifying past the maximum useful magnification. Still, it is a good, functional instrument, and works well. What more do you want?

As expected the Meade 2X Barlow appears to double the power on my Meade ETX-90 but it also slightly fuzzes the image. It's interesting to use this lens but it's definately not a show stopper.

2x Barlow Lens was not worth the price as it was slightly too large to properly fit my Meade Scope(t00 thickly plated). This was a sign to me that Meade is not the Quality concerned organization they advertise themselves to be...