barlows

I know that the Celestron Ultima, Orion shorty plus and Meade #140 are pretty much the same.. I've tried these already.

But... is the 1 1/4 Televue Powermate 2.5 much better... meaning is it worth the extra?.. Is it 10% better for twice the cost???

Also: What is just the plain televue like compared to the above???

If I've missed something you could just refer me to some comparison reviews or other posts.


Thank you kindly

Mark Visser

Al Nagler will give you a very honest and knowledgeable answer to this. I believe that it depends on the type and focal length of eyepiece that you will be using.

While the biggest benefit of the PM is with long focus, wide field eyepieces and certain photographic applications (check the TeleVue website and/or customer service), I can say that my move from a Meade #140 to a 2.5x Powermate was well worth it. My high power views with the PM are terrific. For example with the Meade Saturn's inner moons were often LESS visible with an eyepiece and the barlow than just the eyepiece alone - that is, the moons were *less* visible at *higher* power. No such issues with the Powermate - there's no extra glare from scattered light, which I assume was the issue with the barlow.

"Worth the extra" is entirely subjective, but there's a definite advantage and it was worth it for me. Plus, Powermates last about 5 minutes in the classifieds if you want decide it's not worth it for you, and they hold value well.