First off, it should be a pleasure to own the 14"LX200. It's gonna be pretty heavy, probably a 2 man set up. The 12"LX200 is big, the 14" looks huge in the picture by comparison. It will be very top heavy when lifting. I can handle the 12" by myself with no problem, I don't know about the 14". Anyway, in my opinion, your not gonna need a Barlow. Your getting a full range with the eyepiece set. The 12"LX200 has a focal length of 3048. With my 8MM Radian I get 386X. The atmosphere will not let me focus that high magnification most nights and even then, mostly just the moon . Your 14" will be even longer focal length and your getting a 6.4MM eyepiece. I don't think you'll use it to get higher magnification and you have enough eyepieces to cover plenty of ranges. Why would you use a Barlow and 40MM when you have a 20MM, or the barlow and the 32MM when you have a 15MM etc. I have one, never use it. The focal reducer is a good item to get lower magnification. In my opinion, save your movey. Get a good Teleview 19MM, 22MM or 35MM eyepiece for around $300. When you see the difference, you'll use it most of the time. Or maybe a Meade 40MM SWA or 14MM UWA. there are lots of great eyepieces out there, Naglers are great. One more thing, as the other post said, the Dew shield is a must! I prefer the one Meade sells that goes with the scope. You attach it with thumb screws, it works great and it looks good on the scope. Good Luck, keep us posted.
That's it;
BOB SAL

• Good point - danieldgj - April 8, 2003 - 23:18 UTC