Celestron Ultima Barlow 2x

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Celestron Ultima Barlow 2x
A great choice for an all around 2X Barlow. This is a fully apochromatic short tube design. I feel it compares favorably to the Televue Power Mates for a fraction of the cost.

Overall Rating: 9
Weight: 1 (Unreliable Vote)
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Link to this vote: http://www.excelsis.com/1.0/displayvote.php?voteid=44314

Celestron Ultima Barlow 2x
I concur with the above review. I have had my Ultima for some time now and found it to be an excellent performer; preferred it to the Meade apo barlow as the Meade had some color fringing problems (I think one of the lenses was out of alignment). The Utlima is very sharp and compact and light through-put remains virtually indistinguishable from a similar focal length single eyepiece. I have noticed no vignetting or loss of detail when using the barlow.

I also recently purchased a 5X Powermate. When comparing them directly I have found that the Powermate works best with Televue eyepieces, but can ghost with some others (obvious but slight). I have noticed the Ultima can also ghost a little but I don't recall on which eyepieces.

Anyway, the Ultima is a excellent purchase and will not disappoint should you decide to buy.

Telescopes - 10" f4.5 Newt, Tak FC76 f7.9
Eyepieces - UO Orthos, various Televue types across the different series

Overall Rating: 9
Weight: 7 (Veritable Vote)
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Celestron Ultima Barlow 2x
Great barlow for the cost giving sharp views and no additional false colour is introduced like with some other barlows. Compares very favourably to the much more expensive Televue barlows.
One problem though is that the tolerances seem very tight and some eyepieces will not fit in this barlow and a 14mm Apogee Konig that I owned had to be removed with pliers as the vacuum stuck it in tight. That dropped it a point.

Overall Rating: 9
Weight: 1 (Unreliable Vote)
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Celestron Ultima Barlow 2x
Awesome barlow. I've never seen any false color or degredation of image sharpness. I don't have any significant experience with any other barlows but for the price, I'd probably take this one of a powermate any day.

Overall Rating: 9
Weight: 1 (Unreliable Vote)
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Link to this vote: http://www.excelsis.com/1.0/displayvote.php?voteid=44317

Celestron Ultima Barlow 2x
Very good barlow, but not up to the performance of the TV 2.5x Powermate, which is sharper and has no vignetting at all. Still, the Ultima can't be beat for the price.

Overall Rating: 9
Weight: 1 (Unreliable Vote)
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Celestron Ultima Barlow 2x
Bought one from a camera shop last year ($80 ouch!). No false color. I have noticed slight image softening with the Barlow, but it is likely caused by limiting factors in the atmosphere. On steady nights, there is no image degradation. The focus travel is slight enough to be used with a reflector, even with a pair of filters causing the eyepiece to stick out of the Barlow. The Barlow is no heavier than a two element model: rebalancing a Dob is not necessary. Planets stay sharp, even in my Orion Short Tube 90 clone. I use this Barlow with a U.O. 12.5mm ortho almost exclusively (yielding 195x in my 8" Dob.)

Overall Rating: No Vote
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Link to this vote: http://www.excelsis.com/1.0/displayvote.php?voteid=44319

Celestron Ultima Barlow 2x
Excellent Barlow, very sharp images.

Overall Rating: 8
Weight: 1 (Unreliable Vote)
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Link to this vote: http://www.excelsis.com/1.0/displayvote.php?voteid=44320

Celestron Ultima Barlow 2x
I have both the Celestron standard barlow and the Ultima. The Ultima provides clearest views and is my preferred piece. One nice advantage is leaving the barlow in place for the night allows interchanging eyepieces without having to refocus, well very little refocus. My eyepieces that work very well with this barlow include Celestron Ultima 30, Ultima 7.5, Plossl 12.5 and Meade SWA18.
The C Plossl 12.5 provides an especially clear image at 200x in this barlow. This is my best high power combination for deep viewing of globular clusters. Cality and sharpness to the edge are excellent. I have also put this barlow in front of my diagonal to successfully increase power by 3x rather than 2x and achieve the needed power to cleanly split some extremely close doubles less than 1". I have experienced the very tight fit with some of my ep's. I have had to pull the barlow and ep out together and pull them apart using both hands. I can deal with that.
One thing I noticed, it seems that my field of view is less than half of the fov using same ep without barlow. I expected it to be half. Could it be this barlow is actually more than 2.0x or could it be that it narrows the fov. Anyway, I strongly recommend this APO barlow. edz.

Overall Rating: 9
Weight: 3 (Unreliable Vote)
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Celestron Ultima Barlow 2x
Really like mine in a Pronto . You don't even know it is there . Can't beat it for $80.00 .

Overall Rating: 10
Weight: 1 (Unreliable Vote)
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Link to this vote: http://www.excelsis.com/1.0/displayvote.php?voteid=44322

Celestron Ultima Barlow 2x
Very good barlow, very clear images.

Overall Rating: 9
Weight: 1 (Unreliable Vote)
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Celestron Ultima Barlow 2x
Good overall but sharpness is lacking slightly.

Overall Rating: 9
Weight: 1 (Unreliable Vote)
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Link to this vote: http://www.excelsis.com/1.0/displayvote.php?voteid=44324

Celestron Ultima Barlow 2x
Has vignetting on certain eyepeices, but the small compact size and sharpness make this barlow very practical for small to medium size scopes (which won't unbalance scopes, unlike 2" barlows). For me, the loss of light is only a small matter, and is relatively insignificant if you're using it on planets (which is what I use it for). A great value.

Overall Rating: 10
Weight: 1 (Unreliable Vote)
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Link to this vote: http://www.excelsis.com/1.0/displayvote.php?voteid=44325

Celestron Ultima Barlow 2x
The Ultima Barlow is the best buy among apochromatic Barlow lenses.
When I first built my observing kit I visited Jeff at Scope City in Sherman Oaks, CA. He recommended that I choose between the TV Barlow and the Ultima Barlow for several reasons that I have since confirmed through experience and reading. I have not considered replacing this Barlow and my only real upgrade appears to be the much more expensive Tele Vue Powermate series.

My Ultima Barlow is used primarily with short fl refractors. It delivers such excellent performance with Plossl, ortho, Radian, and Kellner eyepieces that any doubts about “barlowing” are removed instantly. The compact size of this Barlow lens is an asset with certain telescope focusers with limited travel.

Say no to cheap Barlows! Buy the Celestron Ultima, TV Barlow, or TV Powermate or pay less now and upgrade later.

Overall Rating: 10
Weight: 1 (Unreliable Vote)
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Link to this vote: http://www.excelsis.com/1.0/displayvote.php?voteid=44326

Celestron Ultima Barlow 2x
A very nice, affordable barlow. Very sharp images!

Overall Rating: 10
Weight: 1 (Unreliable Vote)
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Link to this vote: http://www.excelsis.com/1.0/displayvote.php?voteid=44327

Celestron Ultima Barlow 2x
This is my second barlow. My first was a B/Lomb which I traded in. I tell you the difference was amazing!! I have a Nexstar 5 used in light polluted city skies. Even at 3x zoom ( in front of the mirror ) the sight of Jupiter and Saturn were well detailed. Even used a Lumicon UHC nebular filter at 3x with a 17mm EP ( 220X ), the view of Orion Nebula was spectacular with no added darkening.
I only give it a 9 overall because it doesn't have threads for filters. Otherwise a perfect score. I don't know what tight fit problems others had with this barlow, but mine works great with all of my EP's. You just feel a small vacuum and a POP sound when you pull the EP out. The fit is fairly loose.

Overall Rating: 9
Optics:10 Value:10
Weight: 1 (Unreliable Vote)
Date:
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Link to this vote: http://www.excelsis.com/1.0/displayvote.php?voteid=60506

Celestron Ultima Barlow 2x
This is an excellent accessory for anyone looking to double their ep collection. There is one caveat mine is 3 years old and has extremely tight tolerances some eps won't fit. Maybe this has been corrected since.

Overall Rating: 10
Optics:10 Value:10
Weight: 1 (Unreliable Vote)
Date:
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Link to this vote: http://www.excelsis.com/1.0/displayvote.php?voteid=65027

Celestron Ultima Barlow 2x
Very good barlow, a cut above the cheap ones but not a TV Powermate.

Overall Rating: 9
Optics:9 Value:10
Weight: 1 (Unreliable Vote)
Date:
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Link to this vote: http://www.excelsis.com/1.0/displayvote.php?voteid=65721

Celestron Ultima Barlow 2x
greattt barlow! you can put this barlow up against a tv barlow anytime & it would be a tie. & it isnt near as expensive!

Overall Rating: 10
Optics:10 Value:10
Weight: 1 (Unreliable Vote)
Date:
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Link to this vote: http://www.excelsis.com/1.0/displayvote.php?voteid=74297

Celestron Ultima Barlow 2x
Superb Barlow!!
Excellent optics and workmanship.
Haven't seen one better in 1.25".

Overall Rating: 10
Optics:10 Value:10
Weight: 1 (Unreliable Vote)
Date:
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Link to this vote: http://www.excelsis.com/1.0/displayvote.php?voteid=77101

Celestron Ultima Barlow 2x
A decent Barlow at a great price. Fit and finish are top notch. Be sure not to pay more then $70 for it though (3/2002). Also available as the same Barlow as the Orion Shorty + for a few dollars less.

Overall this is about as good as a Barlow gets except on long focal length eyepieces. You will notice the eye relief on longer eyepieces being extended too much causing blackouts and trouble positioning your eye. This is common for all short Barlow models. Not a major issue on eyepieces 26mm and shorter.

Overall Rating: 9
Optics:8 Value:10
Weight: 10 (Trustworthy Vote)
Date:
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Link to this vote: http://www.excelsis.com/1.0/displayvote.php?voteid=77615

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