Televue Powermate 5X

Ratings:Top:Astronomy:Equipment Reviews:Barlows:Televue Powermate 5X

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Brand and Model:Televue Powermate 5X
Price ($USD):$168
Magnification:5.0x
Barrel Size:1.25"
Description:Telenegative Amplifier. A 4-element parfocal amplifying lens system. It consists of a negative achromatic doublet plus a positive "pupil-correcting" doublet. The 5X Powermate is threaded for 1-1/4" filters.

Vote Highlights Vote
Televue Powermate 5X
Sharp, good contrast and no added false color to my FS-102... But, internal dust in the plane of focus, marred images with my Canon 10D at prime focus, and was very apparent when used optically with my 24mm Panoptic. This was a very short-lived accessory in my kit. (Many others swear by these, so mine may have been defective.)

Overall Rating: 8
Optics:8 Value:8
Weight: 20 (Notable Vote)
Date:
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Link to this vote: http://www.excelsis.com/1.0/displayvote.php?voteid=290917

Televue Powermate 5X
I am sure there may be a better all around hi pwr barlow for different focal lengths_____but good luck finding it!

Overall Rating: 10
Optics:10 Value:10
Weight: 10 (Trustworthy Vote)
Date:
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Link to this vote: http://www.excelsis.com/1.0/displayvote.php?voteid=480414

Televue Powermate 5X
I utilize this Powermate and find it to be transparent in use on all of my scopes: f5 reflector, f6.8 refractor and f10 SCT. It increases the power of your eyepieces as advertised and adds no color, reflections, etc. As advertised, it also does not seem to increase eye relief.

This is a very welcome enhancement to my eyepiece collection.

Overall Rating: No Vote
Optics:10
Weight: 10 (Trustworthy Vote)
Date:
By:
Link to this vote: http://www.excelsis.com/1.0/displayvote.php?voteid=67547

Televue Powermate 5X
From Al Nagler, President Tele Vue Optics

I normally do not comment on ratings judgments, but I noticed that our 5x Powermate was downgraded by two people who misunderstood the nature of its operation. Von Werner downgraded it for dust in the plane of focus. The Powermate has NO plane of focus. However, with his f/8 telescope, the 5x Powermate converts it to f/40, so dirt somewhere else, e.g. on a filter or eyepiece was the more likely culprit. He could have checked the origin by selectively rotating components. His eyepiece was producing a 0.6mm exit pupil, and we check for dirt with a 0.36mm exit pupil on every Powermate.

An anonymous voter (date 4/20/04) downgraded it for high light loss, saying maybe because of the 5x power. No maybe, he should have understood that 5x amplification reduces the brightness of extended objects such as planets, moon, and sky background by 25x! Just the laws of physics, folks.

Overall Rating: No Vote
Weight: 3 (Unreliable Vote)
Date:
By:
Link to this vote: http://www.excelsis.com/1.0/displayvote.php?voteid=399030

Televue Powermate 5X
I was really looking forward to trying this baby out. A bit disappointing. I thought there was major light loss from it. I have not tried the 2.5 PM, but I'd like to see if there is as much Light loss. Maybe it's because of the 5x power. I really wanted one of these bad, not now. I don't see the value. I'll stick with a 3x Barlow as my max. I'll give props to Al for trying.

Overall Rating: 6
Optics:6 Value:5
Weight: 1 (Unreliable Vote)
Date:
By:
Link to this vote: http://www.excelsis.com/1.0/displayvote.php?voteid=354610

Televue Powermate 5X
Very Nice! Well Made. Not cheap but worth it. Mars looked great threw the powermate and a meade eyepiece of mine. I would imagine the other planets will look great as well. If you need to boost power this is a nice way to go I've found. Take Care.

Overall Rating: 10
Optics:10 Value:10
Weight: 1 (Unreliable Vote)
Date:
By:
Link to this vote: http://www.excelsis.com/1.0/displayvote.php?voteid=310976

Televue Powermate 5X
I used it to take photograph on the planets using my Ranger.

http://oldfield.uhome.net/star/photo/planets.html

Very satisfied.

Overall Rating: 10
Optics:10 Value:9
Weight: 1 (Unreliable Vote)
Date:
By:
Link to this vote: http://www.excelsis.com/1.0/displayvote.php?voteid=127423

Televue Powermate 5X
I use it with my 1200 mm CR-150 refractor and either my Televue
32 mm Plossl or my 19 mm Panoptic.
That gives me either 316x or 188x.
Both work great. Lots of eye relief
and tack sharp images. I recommend
the combinations.

Overall Rating: 9
Optics:9 Value:9
Weight: 1 (Unreliable Vote)
Date:
By:
Link to this vote: http://www.excelsis.com/1.0/displayvote.php?voteid=65709

Televue Powermate 5X
Very very good... Unbeatable! Transform my low power long eye-relief EP into excellent planetary EP.

Overall Rating: 10
Weight: 1 (Unreliable Vote)
Date:
By:
Link to this vote: http://www.excelsis.com/1.0/displayvote.php?voteid=44285

Televue Powermate 5X
Certainly a ten for it's performance, but before choosing this high of a magnification, think about what you need. I find that the 2.5 Powermate is more suited for the average focal lenght telescope. Very short focal lengths are needed for this 5x power in my opinion,

Overall Rating: 10
Weight: 1 (Unreliable Vote)
Date:
By:
Link to this vote: http://www.excelsis.com/1.0/displayvote.php?voteid=44284

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