Meade Series 5000 16mm SWA

[alan potts]

16mm Meade Series 5000 SWA.

This eyepiece came to the market a good few years ago now and has since been discontinued, whether this was because of lack of demand or the Company’s situation I do not know. We all believe that the same element configuration is still made by Explore Scientific though they rarely seem to be mentioned, many going for their wider 82 degree range. On the back of the problems that seem to have brought Meade to it’s knees we saw the introduction of the same eyepiece from Max Vision, this was handled by Explore and one assumes is part of that Company or a Sister Company. The eyepiece was considerably cheaper than that offered by Meade and many people filled their boots with the various focal lengths that came to the market at the same time. They appeared looking the same as the Meade range but with a different coloured branding band around them, this being silver whereas the Meade’s was green on this range. I normally review an eyepiece against another which I could do for this report but I have decided not to on this occasion, we all know the Tele-Vue ranges are famous for their edge sharpness and for a change I did not want this to cloud my judgment.

It is a fairly light eyepiece, feels nice in the hand and would be a good weight for anyone’s grab and go setup if 16mm was the desired focal length. It weighs in at around 160 grams on my scales which though light is heavier than a short orthoscopic but cannot cut the mustard against the likes of the of a 31mm Nagler. It comes in a lovely flock lined box like the full range which would not look out of place with a Faberge egg sitting inside. The design uses the twist up type eye-guard system and claims eye-relief of 11.8mm which for me made it impossible for to use and see the full field of view with my glasses on. It is worth a mention that the eye lens is heavily recessed and I feel the minimum of 4mm would make this uncomfortable for others and not only people that have to wear glasses. Meade claim this is a par-focal design with the rest of the range and I can confirm it is with the 24mm and if I recall correctly, the others too. It like the other 5 eyepieces in the range has an optical design using six elements and I have to say it is a good looking piece of engineering.

I have only used the two scope for this assessment, those being the Sky Watcher 190mm Mak/Newt and the F10 Meade LX where it delivers one of my favourite magnifications for viewing Jupiter, X192, which for me is just right for this scope. On the Sky Watcher it offers a much lower X62 so more use on targets like open clusters and general viewing as it offers over a 1 degree actual field of view which is very useful.  

Targets.

Jupiter

The Moon,

Messier 35

The Rosette Nebula Caldwell 49

Messier 57

Messier 13

Castor

Messier 78

C/2014 Comet Lovejoy.

Sky Watcher 190mm M/N.

For the moment this is my favorite telescope from the collection I have though this may well be knocked back to second spot when the Sumerian arrives which should be very soon. It is an underrated visual instrument in my books as it always seems to promoted as a photographic scope and it is very good at that as well judging by work I have seen on the site from others with more patience than me.

Messier 35.

This is always a nightly 'look at' in my view and it a lovely cluster that for me at least does look like the Space Shuttle though in this scope it is upside down and looks more like a bluebell bud. The eyepiece framed it very well and was lovely and sharp on axis and not at all bad at very edge or Tele-Vue territory as I call it, I would say this was a better performer than the 24mm that I reviewed a few weeks ago, there was less in the way of visible astigmatism. The stars twinkled against the lovely black moonless sky which is always better for this type of target as anything near or above first quarter of the Moon play havoc with fainter stars and you never really see the full beauty of the cluster. The nights that I viewed this target varied from very good to lets not bother going above X100 tonight, there has been far from normal seeing this year and the back end of last year, the very dry cold stable air that I usually get seems to have changed for the English lumpy variety. This is a great target in any telescope and is fairly kind to a variation in power used on it, I always like to frame my targets where I can.

Caldwell 49, Rosette Nebula.

I think I wrongly called this number 50 in my last review which was due to a misreading on the one of my software atlases, it seems when I have so many catalogues turned on then all number and name on top of each other creating something of a traffic jam of numbers. Still now I know it 49 and not 50. It is only recently that I was even aware that this could ne seen from here after seeing an image on site which was shot from the UK. The scope showed a lovely collection of stars at the centre of what looked like a fairly rich area of sky. I could not see any sign of nebula without filter but a very pleasing view was to be had from what was there. The eyepiece handled the cluster very nicely showing tight stars on axis and only very slightly soft off near the edge. The view was quite wide field with the eyepiece showing just a fraction over one degree of sky so this even at X62 could still be used as a finder eyepiece on a short scope like this. All in all a very nice target and one I have visited a good number of time since I found out about it’s existence, though how lovely it would be to see all the reds of the nebula with a humble 190mm scope, maybe with an extra meter or so of mirror.  

Castor.

I remember many years ago back in the 70's looking at Castor knowing it was a double and if I am honest never really seeing anything but a suggestion of the two stars, this was with my trusty 3 inch refractor of questionable quality and eyepieces of greater. Somewhat larger scope but at the same power offered by the Meade SWA this is a very easy split indeed and I am able to achieve this even when the star is very low on an evening on decent seeing. The pair were well controlled on axis with both elements looking something like a distant set of cats eyes caught in the car’s main beam on a stretch of road. Moving the double star towards the edge still allowed me the split with a good degree of certainty though less sharp,  image quality did suffer a little with some astigmatism showing though not as obvious as the larger 24mm from the same range. I was beginning to like this eyepiece all over again and started to ask myself why I ever sold the one I had, I guess many of us have done just that as well.

Messier 13.

I started this review so long ago that Messier 13 was still well placed in the sky and I am not trying to kid anyone that I am getting up at 4 o’clock in the morning to view it now. This is one of the largest and brightest globular clusters visible from here and England and is bright enough to be resolved in fairly small instruments. With the Moon well out of the way and the autumnal sky seeming to take forever to get dark I got the scope on to the cluster whilst some dark blue sky was still discernable. It is rather nice sitting with a driven scope and watching such an object slowly offer up its treasures, with more and more stars becoming visible as the minutes ticked by. On axis this is a really nice sharp eyepiece that gives any of my others a run for their money though is does have rather tight eye-relief making is not the easiest to use, though for me it was acceptable and only a matter of getting used to it. Definition of the cluster was not as good at the edge of the field of view and there was a case to be answered that some stars became merged together, this is never a real problem when using driven instruments but would I feel be worthy of consideration if you were a Dobsonian owner.

Comet Lovejoy,

I have visited Comet Lovejoy so many times over the last few months that I have lost count, it was a naked eye object for a few weeks though last night, 10^th February, I was unable to see it even though I knew where it was, shortly after this the Moon will be coming into play and would wash out any further hopes of seeing it, coupled with the fact it is getting fainter all the time, though still very easy to pick up in either the scope of binoculars. I viewed the comet a good number of times over the period and had a feeling that the tail was becoming more evident as time marched on day by day. I was sure I was seeing a tail and not just imagining it though again it was not like that seen on photographs taken by our imaging friends. I was pleased with the eyepieces performance on this and felt the one degree of field was enough and the power not too high. I think I will look in on Lovejoy as it makes its way back into deep space and see just how long I can follow it, one of the luxuries of the goto systems and laptop software.

Meade LX 12 inch SC scope.

Now it was the turn of the eyepiece to become something of a planetary ocular and on this scope 16mm is a nice Jupiter focal length, being one that does not like to over magnify believing many times less is more. I always feel this full range was always designed with these SC scope in mind as i rarely went above the X192 the shortest 16mm offered.

The Moon.

I only used the Moon in this review as I was able to get the laptop to home in on it in a bright sky shortly after the sun had gone down. This was something I had never seen before, a one day old Moon and with my luck it was going to be setting between the two large walnut trees so I was able to observe until the hill got in the way, no scope would see through that. The seeing was nothing to write home about but I was able to see Hubble and Gibbs though not crystal clear. Also between these two was Mare Smythii, something I didn’t even know was there until now. I offer no opinion of the eyepieces ability here as it was rather like trying to focus on something at the bottom of a swimming pool with some annoying child throwing pebbles in from time to time. It was a thrill for me to see the thinnest Moon visible though you are always going to be viewing a “one day” in poor conditions, never in a dark sky and always close to the horizon. If you ever get a chance to see this have a look, you will not see jaw dropping contrast but it is a nice sight nonetheless.

Jupiter.

This for me is an excellent focal length to view the most massive of planets and the main reason I recently bought the 15mm Tele-Vue Plossl and some time ago the 18mm Kasai orthoscopic, form 18mm through to 14mm is Jupiter territory. This SWA 16mm is bang in the middle of that focal range and with the 68 degrees field not too wide, I personally find the massive fields offered by the likes of Ethos detracts from the subject matter, though I accept we all see things differently.

Now as Jupiter was starting to rise and climb high enough to clear the walnut tree to the east and early enough so I was not dropping off at the scope, Jupiter was a regular viewing appointment with this eyepiece over a long period of time. I think I saw Jupiter in most of it’s configurations with regards the four Jovian moons though only the once with them all to one side, something I think looks rather strange and does not seem to happen too often.

On axis the planet looked clean and sharp with little in the way of light scatter and plenty of contrast helping the belts and polar regions become visible. There is no doubt that to sit and relax helps any planetary observation, one reason I have a chair in the observatory, though it has seen better days, now upholstered in Hull City colours in an attractive dog-tooth , it is a good job it’s only on show in the dark.

Over such a long period seeing conditions varied quite a bit and a few nights I didn’t even bother as it was clear that X192 was going to be too high at that point in the evening. I had many nights though where seeing was good enough for this and one which was absolutely excellent. Sadly this night was cut short as the chimney in the house caught fire putting a stop to everything apart from panic, I was a little surprised when the Fire Brigade told me there now no need to clean a chimney, it had jusy been done Bulgarian style.

I managed to catch the Great Red Spot on a couple of occasions and with the 12 inches of aperture able to see it as a pale pink colour something I have only done the once in my smaller scopes, there is nothing like scope size for this, though I imagine this also has different effects with other people’s eyes. Few ever tire of looking at Jupiter and it is the planet where you really can see a good deal of detail with even a small instrument and just lately site members have been using and talking about the use of filters on the gas giant, something I will have to explore in the near future for myself.

Messier 57

This has become a regular ‘have a look’ ever since I was able to glimpse the centre star last year, or was it the year before. This is not really much of a target in a small scopes and even this F10 aperture could do with being another foot bigger at which point I understand one can see colour. Again the eyepiece gave a very nice rendition of the Ring with me being able to easily see the different shades within the nebula though no central star on my 3 visits this time, though at the time of observations the ring was far from its pole position in the sky. I was able to see the faint stars to the sides of the nebula which I believe are all at the 13^th magnitude and a little fainter, though we have to drop another two to have any chance of seeing the star in the middle which stands at magnitude 15.3.

Messier 78.

I have been looking at this with a fairly wide array of eyepiece form 41mm down to 13mm and have to say I find this something of a disappointment, again needing a much large mirror to reveal it’s best or a camera. In the 16mm SWA it appeared a fairly obvious patch of gas with two stellar like bright areas and I guess could well have been mistaken as a comet and worthy of inclusion in his catalogue of objects to avoid, though I often wonder why M45 is in the Messier list. I think on balance this will be a good target for my upcoming work on objects and filters, I have to do something to keep me out of trouble.

Conclusion

This is far from my normal small book of a review and I have to say it was much easier to compile, constantly swapping eyepieces and having to refocus can become a bind even for the most dedicated of observer and these thing have to be done with discipline. I did however still put a solid 13 hours of scope time into the report which is still a long session, with many different evenings, temperatures and varied seeing.

I would say at F10 this eyepiece did not disappoint in any way, even the edge performance was very good though maybe not quite up to the standards of some more expensive eyepieces I have, but you have to consider that this, or the same in different trousers can be bought for about 60 pounds and has been renamed Max-Vision SWA. I feel everyone could forgive the slight aberrations at the extremities for this fairly small outlay as I am sure there are worse to be bought for much more. I am even considering adding one to my collection as it is a lovely light and quality eyepiece and would be a great addition to the top scope on the LX which as it has a short focal length still give a wide actual field of view.

Performance on the shorter M/N 190mm at F 5.26 was not as good which is really only to be expected, but it was still a solid performance which could only be faulted paired with much more costly glass and all the issues were happening at the edges, small though they were. This was of course a much more expensive eyepiece once when it was wrapped in a green skirt and called Mr Meade, like the one I tested, then it was priced around the 140 pounds mark if my memory serves me correct and had a good following.

Both the Meade and now the Maxvision identical twin can be picked up on the secondhand market or new for around the 60 pounds mark, maybe there is a case to answer that the Meade will hold a little more value with brand snobs like myself, and the fact that it is black and green, we can’t have colour clashes in the eyepiece case.

I close by saying I can only highly recommend this eyepiece just as long as the eye-relief is not an issue for you and close by stating it would make a very nice addition to anyone’s eyepiece case.

Clear skies,

Alan              

                

[ghostdance]

Superb review Alan! Really excellent, well written and so comprehensive. Thank you

I have the ES Maxvision version, and to be honest it has sat in my case as I've tended to use my Tele Vue plossls or my Circle T orthoscopics...but your splendid review will spark me to put the 16mm to my scope much more often in future

[Starlight 1]

I have this one love it when I get my SW250p- ds out . bad side is the silly cover allways falling off.

[alan potts]

Starlight,

You are absolutely correct the eyecaps are terrible on the full range, I mentioned it in the 24mm review but it completely slipped my mind on this one. When I had the full set the 28mm one fell on the floor and I stood on it whilst trying to find it, it fitted better after I had put on a dab of glue to repair the damage.

Alan

[Paul73]

Good review Alan

I have the MV badged version. The views are very good and it handles bright contrast well. The eye releaf is the only drawback. I thought that 16 mm is the quoted distance. 12 ish sounds more sensible. This doesn't make it the most comfortable to use in my book.

That said. I like it. It will get replaced by a Delos 17.3 mm at some stage, but the fact that it takes a £250 eyepiece to make it worth upgrading says a lot for this little gem.

Paul

[Dude_with_the_tube]

interesting review Allan and appreciate you doing it.

I actually have a pair of 16mm and 24mm SWA(Maxvisions) what i am testing in binoviewers and so far despite being ortho purist,i have been very impressed with both.

I agree that there is astigmatism in 24mm but it is very slight and deffo not something i would be much worried about and well worth as alternative to 24mm panoptic or 24mm Ex Sc.

As for 16mm,i think its the best in series.For planetary views 16mm is very well corrected and shows great contrast.I was actually surprised to see these perform so good.

In short,if you cant afford premium Ep`s,Maxvision is absolutely bang for money and at 60 quid its a steal.

For people with binoviewers,I can recommend 16mm Maxvision pair for higher powers for planetary,but use them same like i do with the eye guard down and you will love the views,if your prisms are 26mm and larger,seriously consider 24mm Maxvision as an alternative to Pans/ExSc.My ones are keepers.(just managed to get another 28mm Meade RG ortho, so another test is brewing up weather permitting lol)

[Paul73]

I notice that one has popped up in the classifieds a few minutes ago!!! Not mine btw

Paul

[John]

Excellent report as usual Alan

Good to see that high performing eyepieces don't all have high dollar prices on them these days.

[alan potts]

John,

I agree with the sentiment on the price but when you turn the clock back to Meade's prices, they may well have been overpriced but that is history, the owner of a new one then has every right to expect a decent performance for his 140 odd pounds.

I think they were 149 for the 16mm and 169 for the 24mm, for that money on the latter I was disapointed with the delivery in a fastish scope but as I said it's all history now.

I think I may well keep the one I have, it's good.

Alan

[John]

I had my fingers burned long ago paying over the top for Meade eyepieces. I bought a new 6.4mm 4000 series plossl when they cost £79 each, a s4000 13.8mm SWA for £149.00 and the 24.5mm SWA for £199. This was in 2000 and these were the list prices at Telescope House. 15 minutes of use and I knew I should have opted for TV panoptics and a Celestron Ultima which would have cost only a little more overall

We live and learn

[Ruud]

Hi Alan,

Thank you for the review! It is a good read.

I had a chance of trying the 16mm MV the other day and it is a really nice eyepiece indeed. If I didn't already have a 16mm Skywatcher Nirvana (a WO UWAN clone) I would buy  a MV 16mm. (I wear no glasses and the eye relief is on the short side, but OK for me.)

Clear skies and happy observing.

[Mr Spock]

Excellent review and a really good read.

[cotterless45]

Excellent read . I use the 5.5mm for planets etc., these Meades and their clones certainly produce results at a good price,

Nick.

[AstroAdam]

I notice that one has popped up in the classifieds a few minutes ago!!! Not mine btw

Paul

I grabbed it to go with my 28mm 2" Maxvision.

Going to gradually build this range, as I like what I've seen so far

[alan potts]

Adam,

I fully believe that you could do a lot worse spending more, lets not forget these were once expensive eyepieces with a different name on them.

Alan

[AstroAdam]

Adam,

I fully believe that you could do a lot worse spending more, lets not forget these were once expensive eyepieces with a different name on them.

Alan

Agreed Alan.

I get a strange sense of satisfaction knowing I'm getting something equivalent to what a lot of people paid a lot more for.  I'm definitely not a brand person - if the quality is care, I don;t care what's written on the barrel...!

[alan potts]

Adam,

The only thing we cannot be totally sure of is whether the quality standards were relaxed for the MaxVision branding. Yes they were all made for Meade but maybe, just maybe a few not so good ones were slipped into the mix. I guess though as the price was significantly lower there is less chance of complaint.

The full range is good and I really wish I had keep mine now.

Alan

[AstroAdam]

Adam,

The only thing we cannot be totally sure of is whether the quality standards were relaxed for the MaxVision branding. Yes they were all made for Meade but maybe, just maybe a few not so good ones were slipped into the mix. I guess though as the price was significantly lower there is less chance of complaint.

The full range is good and I really wish I had keep mine now.

Alan

Thing is, Im going up from much more basic EPs anyway, so whatever I have, it'll be a step up.   Nice price/quality compromise from what I can tell anyway

[alan potts]

Adam,

I wish that I was in the same boat as you and I would have a good deal more money than I have, I'm sure you will love the MV's. Much of my working life I was paid to find fault with things we made and put systems in place to try and stop them , by all accounts I was rather good at it.

Sadly though the habit has continued long after I stopped work back in 2004. My fault spotting activities lead me use a system based on TeleVue eyepieces, where though differences are small they are there, this pleased me no end. Now some 4 cases later my wallet is the proud winner of slimmer of the year for 3 straight years.

Alan