Best Barlow Lens For Your Telescope [2021]
A Barlow lens is a great way to enhance your telescope’s magnification abilities, but you’ll still want the Best Barlow Lens for your budget.
What Barlow lens do you need? Do you have a budget in mind, or do you want to buy the best Barlow lens and not worry too much about the cost? Whichever way you choose to go, we select the Best Barlow lenses across different budgets and quality.
In our Barlow lens buying guide, we’re sure there is at least one that will provide the best quality Barlow lens for the amount of money you want to pay.
7 Best Barlow Lens Buying Guide
1. Celestron X-Cel LX 1.25-Inch 3x Barlow Lens
The Celestron X-Cel LX is our choice for the best all-rounder selection of Barlow Lenses. You’ll be blown away by the quality of the planetary images you will capture with this 3x Barlow Lens from Celestron. If you have a decent scope, say a 130mm Newtonian, for example, you can see some great images of Jupiter’s red spot and three moons. If you want to view the lunar landscape, the Barlow will give you some excellent pictures or video if you prefer.
Owners of fast, short focal length telescopes will be excited by the Barlow’s triple magnification of any 1.25-inch eyepiece. Your images will be bright and sharp with excellent color correction thanks to the fully multi-coated, three-element apochromatic optics.
The lens barrel is threaded to accept any standard 1.25-inch filter and the brass compression ring holds the eyepiece in situ perfectly. In case you get too excited, a rubber grip around the Barlow helps to prevent accidental drops.
If you already own some eyepieces in the Celestron X-Cel Line, the attractive black anodized, with orange highlight design matches up perfectly.
Key Features
- A brass compression ring holds the Barlow in Perfect position
- Attractive black anodized body
- The Barlow lens produces bright, sharp images
- Triple magnification
- A rubber grip to prevent any accidental drops of the eyepiece
- Excellent optics in this price range
2. SVBONY 2X Barlow Lens 1.25-Inch
Our choice for the best budget Barlow Lens goes to the SVBONY 2x 1.25-inch. The range also includes a 3x and a 5x lens, but this review will discuss the 2x only.
The SVBONY is at an excellent price point considering the eyepiece’s body is metallic and not plastic, similar to other Barlows in this price range or even a little more expensive. There doesn’t appear to be any visible chromatic aberration.
Again considering this eyepiece’s cost, the optics’ quality is outstanding, with only a small reduction in light transmission to the eyepiece.
If you unscrew the lens portion from the eyepiece’s body and screw it onto the eyepiece you use, you’ll find you get approximately a 50% gain in magnification. For example, a 20x will then give you 30x, pretty useful.
Astronomy beginners or youngsters will find this Barlow easy to use and give them a nice view of Jupiter’s bands, Saturn’s rings, and the lunar surface.
Key Features
- An excellent price point
- All-metal body, and no plastic parts
- The Barlow lens portion can be attached to another eyepiece for a 50% gain in magnification
- Good Barlow lens for beginners
- Sturdy build quality
3. Celestron 93436 Luminous 2-Inch 2.5x Barlow Lens
The Celestron Luminous is the best Barlow lens capable of fitting both the 2-inch and 1.25-inch eyepieces of your telescope. And with the hard-anodized aluminum barrel is an extremely visually appealing Barlow lens. The lens is more significant than it looks in photos. A substantial build-quality, but not over heavy, so it’s straightforward to use. Includes a rubberized band around the middle for ease of use and reducing the risk of drops.
This Barlow is a two in one eyepiece because of the 1.25-inch adapter. Using the adapter doesn’t detract from a firm fit to your eyepiece. Great if you have a 2-inch focuser or diagonal on the telescope you own or are using. There is a compression ring for both the 2-inch eyepiece and the 1.25-inch adapter to secure the Barlow lens.
There’s fantastic image quality from the 4-element multi-coated apochromatic optics, and the images are sharp minus any unnecessary color. The filter thread will only accept 2-inch filters, and you will not be able to attach a DSLR camera because there’s no available thread on the O-ring. But that’s a small price to pay for such a top-quality Barlow lens.
Key Features
- Excellent quality 4-element multi-coated apochromatic optics
- An attractive and visually appealing hard-anodized body
- A rubberized band to prevent accidental drops
- A 1.25-inch adapter
- There is a compression ring for secure attachment of the eyepieces
4. Televue 2x Barlow 1.25 inch
The Televue 2x Barlow is our premium choice of Barlow Lens.
The eyepieces Televue produces have an outstanding reputation, and that also extends to their Barlow lens. It does look a little longer than many Barlows, but only 41mm extends from the focuser, so you will hardly notice.
The upper section of the body is black with attractive lime-green lettering; the middle section is silver, and the base is black. The brass compression ring will hold the Barlow firmly in position. By using a compression ring that prevents the damage, a tightening screw can cause.
The view quality is notable, and with only minor distortion around the edges of the field. If you’re looking for an excellent combination to go with the Televue Barlow lens, try a 10mm quality eyepiece.
Using a Barlow lens with eyepieces can reduce image quality, especially if the Barlow is of lower quality. But the Televue will provide excellent viewing images.
If the Barlow lens you want has to be of the highest quality, with excellent image purity, then the Televue is worth the extra cost.
Key Features
- Impressive Build-quality
- A Brass compression ring for secure fitting
- Excellent optics
5. Orion 8707 High-Power 1.25-Inch 3x 4-Element Barlow Lens
Orion manufactures premium astronomy equipment with an excellent reputation, and the Orion 8707 High-Power Barlow lens is typical of the precision equipment Orion manufactures.
This Barlow is a premium lens, so if you choose this lens, you’ll need a higher budget. But you will benefit from 4-element apochromatic optics, which will give you sharp images of the moon, Jupiter, Saturn, and Mars.
The Barlow is of solid construction, and the anti-reflection coatings work very well. The central area is rubberized with grooves to give a firm handhold.
There is a brass compression ring to fit the Barlow firmly to the eyepiece. Ensure when you tighten the brass ring that the screw is not in a position over the ring’s open section, or you will scratch your eyepiece.
The High Power is threaded to accept any 1.25-inch eyepiece and offers 3x magnification. This magnification makes the Barlow perfect for a short focal length telescope.
Key Features
- It is fitted with a brass compression ring to secure the Barlow to the telescope’s eyepiece
- 4-element apochromatic optics
- Sturdy construction
- The central band of rubberized material gives a much better grip
- The Lens is available in 2x and 3x magnification
- Excellent for lunar and planetary astrophotography under high-magnification
6. Celestron Omni 2X Barlow Lens
The third offering from this manufacturer features the Celestron Omni 2X Barlow Lens and is from the Omni range. This range of Barlow lenses is more in the budget-friendly range of lenses, and the Omni 2x we have chosen as an entry-level lens. But don’t think you won’t get a quality Barlow Lens, because that’s not the case.
A few of the lens features that will benefit your purchase are fully multi-coated optics with the edges blackened to assist light transmission without undue reflections – double the magnification of the eyepieces you possess without chromatic aberrations.
The 1.25-inch barrel will fit into any 1.25-inch focuser and diagonal and will accept 1.25-inch eyepieces.
Unscrew the primary Barlow lens, remove it and screw it on the bottom of any 1.25-inch eyepiece to give yourself a 1.5x magnification.
To get the very best from a Barlow, your eyepieces need to be of good quality. A Barlow lens cannot improve your eyepieces beyond their capabilities.
Key Features
- The Barlow lens will fit a 1.25-inch focuser and diagonal and any 1.25-inch eyepiece
- Fully multi-coated optics
- Blackened edges for better light transmission without unnecessary reflections
- A good price point relative to quality
- Will maintain the eyepiece eye relief
7. Astromania 2″ 2.5X Barlow Lens
Astromania 2″ 2.5X Barlow Lens will increase the magnification of 2-inch and 1.25-inch eyepieces by two and a half times.
To hold the lens firmly in position is a brass compression ring which will not damage or mark the eyepiece. There are fully multi-coated optics and a 4-element lens system. Construction of the Barlow is robust with a hard-anodized aluminum barrel, threaded to accept 2-inch filters.
This lens is a well-built Barlow lens that performs exceptionally well, and if used carefully, the lens will have a lifespan equal to much higher priced lenses.
The lens element can be unscrewed and fitted to a 2-inch eyepiece with threads to accept the lens.
Key Features
- Sturdy, well-built construction
- Increases magnification for both 2-inch and 1.25-inch eyepieces
- Excellent optics and a reduction of color aberration
- Cost-effective 2-inch Barlow Lens
Conclusion
When can a Barlow Lens help you?
- If you don’t have the specific eyepiece, you need.
- You want to maintain the long eye-relief of a low-power eyepiece.
- Your finances will not meet the cost of extra eyepieces. The Barlow will effectively double the magnification of your current eyepieces.
Although high-quality eyepieces are the way to go with better astronomy, it’s not always financially viable, especially if you’re a beginner. The Barlow lens will give some additional flexibility until you can add the eyepieces you need. Different eyepieces can be bought and put with your collection at any time in the future.
Hopefully, this best Barlow lens buying guide has given you a taste of what is on offer.
