Family reunion? Meade 4000 series UWA smooth sides.

[Dude_with_the_tube]

I have developed my self into a vintage eye piece lover and No i am not a collector.All my eye pieces are getting regular use on my scopes and none of them sit in a glass box.

This time let me introduce you to my newly acquired set of 4000 series Meade ultra wides.Yet again they come from the golden era of 1980`s,there where 2 runs of these beautiful eye pieces. First one was the no rubber eye cup version or so called smooth sides or smoothies and second run was with rubber eye guard.Both where produced in Japan and have it stamped on the body,both runs are same 84 (NOT 82) degrees FOV giving you 2 more degrees over modern standard of 82 degrees.Optically both runs are equally same,however,majority say that smooth sides where superior.I have not looked through both series,as such i will hold my judgment out.Smooth sides are getting quite rare and more harder to find as these are now considered as a collectors item.

Set consisted of only 4 focal length eye pieces: 14mm, 8.8mm, 6.7mm and 4.7mm

All had 84 deg FOV, and 8 elements what is the most element eye piece built by Meade at that era.Unfortunately after the 4000 series,all went down the hill for Meade and they have not produced any eye piece what would match or be close to they 3000 or 4000 series quality.Also 8 element eye piece was something unheard or unseen before and was very expensive to produce at that time.

All eye pieces can be used in 1.25" focuser,with 8.8 and 14mm EP`s being dual barrel with ability to use them as 2" Ep`s.

All eye pieces are parafocal,apart of 14mm which is NOT.

Very high built quality on both body and optics.I have not heard any issues with these EP`s apart of people dropping the 14mm on they foot

As for each individual EP:

14mm: still considered a legend and one of the best,if not the best 14mm EP ever produced. There have been a lot of head to heads  of this EP vs nagler,pentax and even ethos and this eye piece still stood strong and showed its class.Obviously each person sees it differently,but at the end,everyone agreed that this eye piece is unique and title "Legend" is well earned.

Quite heavy and bulky eye piece with dual barrel fitting.Same size as 13mm Ethos but heavier.Very generous eye relief and this EP is suggested for people who are wearing glasses as due to ER you can observe with glasses on.You cant do that with the rubber eye cup version.that run had shorter eye relief.I tested this Ep in 14" fast dob and my frac and all i can say is: field is flat. I mean flat as flat can be.Sharp field stop,neutral tone,no pin cushioning,nothing you can fault.just stunning eye piece.

8.8mm:very compact for 8 element 84 deg eye piece.Dual barrel allowing you to use it as 2" or 1.25".Good/reasonable eye relief,but not that generous as in 14mm. again optically the same as 14mm and hard pressed to define any fault.Very lovely EP for lunar,planetary observations or high power DSO.

6.7mm: i am still puzzled how they managed to squeeze in 8 elements in this EP what has a size of 25mm plossl.Very lightweight,reasonable eye relief and stunning optics.Superb planetary,lunar,double star and high power eye piece.Razor sharp field stop.No false colour.

4.7mm: same lightweight as 6.7mm and very compact.Relatively tight eye relief as expected in this focal length.Direct comparison to Televue nagler type 1 4.8mm. This is love of hate eye piece as a lot of people will be put off by relatively tight eye relief,however,if you can get on with it,you will be rewarded with stunning image nicely framed and presented.

one thing to remember if you are planning to get your hands on smoothies.As these eye pieces do not have any rubber eye guard,you will have a small learning curve and you will have to work with this eye piece as eye position is important. Wrongly placed,these Ep`s will kidney bean.But once mastered,kidney beaning is non existent and you do get rewarded with high class images.If this is something you cant do,get the 2nd run version with rubber eye guard and you will be well pleased.These eye pieces are over 30 years old,but will still give Nagler or any other modern 82 deg EP  run for its money.I will not open a can of worms by saying that these are better then Nagler,Pentax,ES or any other.Get one,try one and judge yourself.You can always sell them if you dont like them as there are many astronomers who are after these.My ones will be going nowhere.

What you can expect to pay: both smoothies and Mark 2 versions are priced about the same,with only difference that smoothies do not appear on s/h market that often,14mm version is highly regarded and will be bought almost immediately once it shows up ,specially the smoothie version.all other focal length in smoothie are quite difficult to find and might take some time,where Mark 2 versions appear relatively often. A such price range: 14mm: 120-140 squid or up to 200USD  with all other focal length for about 70-90 pounds depending on condition.I very doubt you will find them used in UK as it seems that Uk market is not that developed as such your bet bit will have to be USA/Canada astro market.i only know a few people in Uk who are very serious dedicated vintage EP specialists and they tend to keep they EP put and dont sell them

This set was purely the reason why i sold my 13mm Ethos and 9mm ES.I am sure that new owners of these will love them and have plenty of stunning nights whilst i enjoy my vintage Ep`s.

Few pics below,and if anyone wants some more pics of individual EP or more info,drop me a PM and i will gladly assist.

Clear skies.