Celestron 3x Barlow review: X-Cel LX, three times the power
Where does it rank on our leaderboard
| Rank | Accessory | Stars for Your Buck | Recorded UK price |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | GEMINI EAF | 100 out of 100 | £42 |
| 2 | Generic Dew Heater | 93 out of 100 | £9 |
| 6 | Generic Guide Scope 50mm | 88 out of 100 | £41 |
| 16 | White light solar filter | 78 out of 100 | £17 |
| 28 | ASIAIR Mini | 64 out of 100 | £215 |
| 36 | Celestron 2x Barlow | 46 out of 100 | £135 |
| 38 | Celestron 3x Barlow | 45 out of 100 | £145 |
| 45 | SKY ROVER 2x54 Binoculars | 28 out of 100 | £139 |
| 46 | 365 Solar Telescope Cover | 5 out of 100 | £73 |
Contents
- 01 Where does it rank on our leaderboard
- 02 Specifications and features
- 03 In my words
- 04 Watch it in my videos
- 05 Should you buy it?
- 06 Questions and more about this review
In 30 seconds
Stars for Your Buck 45/100
Reviewed 9 Jul 2025 Updated 25 Sep 2026
- Rank
- #38 of 46 accessories
- Verdict
- With reservations
Written by Damon Scotting 2 min read
Buy it if
- You record the planets and want a bigger planet on the sensor
- You use a 1.25 inch focuser or diagonal and want to triple any eyepiece or camera
- You want 1.25 inch filters threaded on the Barlow itself
Skip it if
- You want a wide field: a 3x Barlow triples the focal length and narrows the view
- You image deep-sky targets: three times the focal length is three times the focal ratio
- You only need a little more power: Celestron sells the same Barlow as a 2x
Specifications and features
| Celestron 3x Barlow reviewed #38 of 46 | |
|---|---|
| Recorded UK price | £145 |
| Model | Celestron X-Cel LX 3x Barlow (93428) |
| Magnification | 3x |
| Barrel | 1.25 inch (31.75 mm) |
| Optical design | 3 elements in 2 groups, fully multi-coated |
| Eyepiece holder | Brass compression ring |
| Filter threads | Yes, 1.25 inch |
| Weight | 150 g |
| Dimensions | 90 x 45 x 45 mm |
| Waterproof | No |
In my words
“The main change I want to make is to add a 3x Barlow lens. This makes it much easier for me to resolve the planet without having to reduce the resolution of my video.”
From my Celestron C5 video
“You can now just about make out the Martian surface detail.”
From my Celestron C5 video
Watch it in my videos
I Pointed a £200 TELESCOPE at JUPITER!? (+ Bonus stuff) · published 9 July 2025 · 8:52 · Watch on YouTube · 21,158 views, 991 likes on 2 Oct 2026
Jump to
- 1:49 Mars through the 3x Barlow
- 2:39 Mars rotating, from the stacked videos
Transcript of the video 300 words · 2 chapters · searchable
Press a time stamp to play from there.
1:49 Mars through the 3x Barlow
1:49 We'll do that shortly, but for now, the main change I want to make is to add a 3x Barlow lens. 1:55 This makes it much easier for me to resolve the planet without having to reduce the resolution of my video. 1:59 You can now just about make out the Martian surface detail. 2:02 Perhaps you can even note the different shades of colour, a contrasting red and brown. 2:06 Now we can take this one huge step further. 2:09 I'm now going to record lots and lots of videos of Mars for 2 hours. 2:13 Each video will be precisely 3 minutes long. 2:16 then going to input this video into a free planetary stacking software and tell it to stack the best 30% of my images. 2:20 Which doesn't sound like much but it's actually taking about 50 pictures per second. 2:24 And once that's done I'm going to aggressively sharpen the image to reveal as much detail as possible. 2:29 And then this is the really mind-glowingly cool part, I'm going to play each of my newly stacked and sharpened pictures back to back to make this.
2:39 Mars rotating, from the stacked videos
2:39 A short looping video of the red planet rotating on its axis. 2:39 Now Martian day is precisely 24 hours 39 minutes and 35 seconds which isn't much longer than it is here on earth so over the short time period that I've been imaging the planet we can see it rotate. 2:51 The super cool part is that thanks to our new sharpening techniques we can actually see the martian polar ice caps that right there is where the martian santa clause lives or actually I think the image might be inverted so really that right there might be where the martian penguins live either Either way, insane levels of details to be made out with a 200 pound telescope.
Should you buy it?
45/100 Stars for Your Buck
Pros
- Triples the magnification of any 1.25 inch eyepiece, by Celestron's own figures.
- It is not only for eyepieces: I used it with a camera for planetary video on my C5.
- Three elements in two groups, fully multi-coated, in a design Celestron calls apochromatic.
- A brass compression ring holds the eyepiece, and the barrel takes 1.25 inch filters.
Cons
- The AliExpress listing I link sells the 2x and the 3x on one page and opens on the 2x: pick 3X before you buy.
- At First Light Optics the 3x is £145, £10 more than the 2x on the same page.
- Celestron lists it as not waterproof.
A 3x Barlow earns its place on the planets: on my C5 it made Mars big enough that I could just about make out surface detail without cutting down my video.
Three alternatives I have reviewed
- Celestron 2x Barlow Celestron's 2x Barlow, for a smaller step up 46/100 £135 Read the review
- PowerMate 5x Barlow Tele Vue's 5x Powermate, 1.25 inch 47/100 £255 Read the review
- Celestron 8-24mm Eyepiece One zoom eyepiece from 8 to 24 mm 82/100 £99 Read the review
Questions and more about this review
Reviewed by
Damon Scotting
The Telescope Man Verified
BSc (Hons) Physics with Astrophysics and Cosmology, Loughborough University PGCE / QTS, University of Nottingham
About Damon About Damon Damon Scotting is The Telescope Man. He holds a BSc (Hons) in Physics with Astrophysics and Cosmology from Loughborough University and a PGCE with QTS from the University of Nottingham, and taught physics in secondary schools before becoming an astronomy creator. He is a contributing writer for BBC Sky at Night Magazine and the author of 42 Wonders of Our Night Sky, and his photograph of the galaxy M100 with the dwarf planet Ceres was Highly Commended in the Astronomy Photographer of the Year 2024 competition run by Royal Observatory Greenwich. He has appeared on the BBC's Blue Peter. More than 750,000 people follow his astronomy channels on YouTube, Instagram and TikTok, and he has reviewed more than 140 telescopes, mounts, cameras, filters and accessories hands-on for this site. More about Damon · How I test · Damon's book
I review all kinds of gear: most of it I buy, some is gifted and some is loaned, and all of it is reviewed the same way. How this site is funded
Five questions, answered
Questions about the Celestron 3x Barlow
Reviewed 9 July 2025 ·Updated 25 September 2026
I review all kinds of gear. Most of it I buy, some is gifted and some is loaned, and all of it is reviewed the same way: no company sees or approves a review before it is published. Shop links marked Ad are affiliate links: I earn a commission when you buy through them, at no extra cost to you. How this site is funded
- Which 3x Barlow is this? The Celestron X-Cel LX 3x Barlow, a 1.25 inch Barlow with three elements in two groups, fully multi-coated, 150 g by Celestron's figures. The specifications ↓
- What did I use the 3x Barlow for? Planetary video with my Celestron C5: I added it for Mars to make the planet bigger on the sensor, so I could resolve it without reducing the resolution of my video. Watch it in my videos ↓
- Does the AliExpress link open the 3x? No: the listing sells the 2x and the 3x together and opens on the 2x, so choose the 3X option on the page before you buy. The verdict, the readers and the sellers ↓
- Where can I buy the Celestron 3x Barlow? The prices I recorded: £145 at First Light Optics (UK), listed; $125 at Agena Astro (US), in stock; £78 at AliExpress (Global), listed. A record, not a live price The verdict, the readers and the sellers ↓
- What have I not tested on the 3x Barlow? I have not used the 3x Barlow visually with an eyepiece or measured the magnification it actually gives with a camera.