Orion Shorty 1.25" 2x Barlow Lens

by Orion

Product Details

Product Manual [39kb PDF]

• Shipping Information: View shipping rates and policies
• ASIN: B0000XMWQW
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (19 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank:
  • #3 in Camera & Photo > Accessories > Telescope Accessories > Eyepieces
• Date first available at Amazon.com: November 1, 2003

Product Description

Give your scope a power boost! Orion's Shorty barlow lens doubles the power of any eyepiece it's used with. For about the price of a single telescope eyepiece or less, this practical accessory effectively doubles the number of eyepieces at your disposal. It gets its name from its compact size. The Shorty barlow lens is just 3" long end to end - about half the length of a standard barlow lens. It's short 1.25"-diameter barrel is just 1.6" long, fitting easily in any 1.25" star diagonal, so it's great to use with refractors and Schmidt-Cassegrain telescopes. In fact, it works with any type of telescope. The Shorty's 2x amplifier lens is an achromatic glass doublet that's multi-coated to ensure excellent light transmission. The machined and anodized aluminum housing is internally baffled to eliminate unwanted reflections and increase contrast. Barrel is threaded to accept filters.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

35 of 35 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A must have for any amatuer astronomer!, May 14, 2007

By 

D. White "D-Rock" - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Orion Shorty 1.25" 2x Barlow Lens (Electronics)

I picked up this Barlow lens after reading that Barlow lenses were must haves for any telescope kit because they basically double (in theory) the amount of eyepieces you have. For anyone who doesn't know how they work, you simply slide the Barlow lens into your eyepiece slot like a normal eyepiece, and then your normal eyepiece will slide into the Barlow. So in essence, if you have 2 eyepieces, with the Barlow lens you now have 4. The magnification boost that the Shorty gave to my .10mm and .17mm eyepieces was pretty incredible to say the least. I use a Konus 4.5" reflector telescope and with the Barlow boosting my .10mm eyepiece Saturn looked absolutely stunning. You could see the divisions inside the rings, something that was not easily done with the eyepieces alone. Another very convenient thing is that the Shorty can be swapped out just as fast as any normal eyepiece. That being said, I would find the object I was looking for with the wider viewed .17mm eyepiece, then just swap out that one with the .10mm Barlow-loaded eyepiece and the object would be in the center of my FOV within a few seconds. Long story short, if you want some extra magnification power for your eyepieces, look no further. At first I was a bit skeptical that the magnification boost wouldn't be very noticeable, but I was pleasantly surprised at just how well it really worked. For the price, you can't beat it.

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Good Lens For A Good Price, January 9, 2009

By 

R. Kirkham "jrkirkham" (Rushville, Illinois USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Orion Shorty 1.25" 2x Barlow Lens (Electronics)

Pros:
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Doubles your lens collection. My son has a 90mm mak-cass. He has two lenses that yield 50X and 75X. The barlow doubles them to 50X, 75X, 100X, 150X. This is about as large as a 90mm can go.

I use this barlow on my Dobsonian. I like having more magnification without reducing the exit hole on my eyepiece. Some eyepieces are not as good around the edges. A barlow gives a larger clear spot while increasing magnification. This is win/win. I often use the barlow, even if I have a lens that will yield the same magnification.

Cons:
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A barlow will give good magnification on items that can be magnified, such as the moon and planets. When looking at deep sky objects, I often like wider fields and lower magnification.

This particular barlow offers great bang for the buck.

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A whole new world, January 23, 2006

By 

J. Stanley (Orem, UT USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Orion Shorty 1.25" 2x Barlow Lens (Electronics)

I got one of these for my StarBlast 4.5EQ and I was amazed--the Cassini division and cloud bands on Saturn were opened to my view. Highly recommended for getting that last bit of "oomph" from a small telescope.