We report on an essentially improved version of the classical Eppink-Parker velocity map imaging spectrometer design (Rev. Sci. Instrum. 68, 3477 (1997)). By adding electrostatic lenses with an opposite polarity to the extraction system we succeeded in extending the range of detection of energetic particles up to the key regime at moderate (<20 kV) extraction voltage conditions. Simulations show that the electrostatic lens system acts in analogy to an achromatic lens in optics and leads to a reduction in the chromatic energy aberration. For comparison to other setups a transmission parameter of the extraction system is defined denoting the maximum kinetic energies of particles which can be analyzed. Detector size and spectrometer length only enter via geometry, that is the straight trajectories in the subsequent field-free particle drift. With respect to Eppink-Parker the energy range has been extended by a factor of 2.5. Moreover, particle trajectory simulations demonstrate that the energy resolution can be improved by about 20%. To test the performance, photoemission studies have been conducted to resolve above-threshold-ionization patterns from Xe atoms exposed to intense ultrashort laser pulses as well as single photon ionization of Ne atoms using tunable synchrotron radiation with photon energies up to 600 eV.