MaxVision 16mm & Meade 16mm SWA Side-by-Side

[Adrian]

When Astroboot returned I decided to buy the Meade 16mm SWA that was on for a very reasonable price to (hopefully) make a binoviewer pair with my MaxVision, and allow a direct, side-by-side comparison of these two, outwardly identical, lines of eyepiece. Ready? Here we go...

The view through:

Who can tell? It's time for the close ups:

And change sides:

Is that a difference I see?

From the side?

Swap over!

Game Over! There's a clear difference: Top right/bottom left has reddish coatings and shows a more reflective lens edge somewhere inside.

Which is which?

The Meade shows less internal reflection out of these two eyepieces, and has nicer looking purple coatings (Meade still on the left):

Now this is just these particular samples of one.

I have had 3 MaxVision 16mm eyepieces over the past year (received 2 in my original order, found they were too close to my 14mms, sold them, changed scope so got another one  )

The first had a very badly fitted field stop. It was in focus and round, but looked welded in place, showing heat marks. Maybe the blackening failed, or wasn't redone after a repair. Didn't affect the use.

The second had a top rubber thickness of around 2mm, instead of being wafer thin. With the eye relief that this eyepiece hasn't got, that 2mm was significant 

The third you can see - are these coatings/reflections why this has a MaxVision badge.

I haven't been able to compare all 3 16mms at the same time, but it seems they all had (minor) QC issues. So instead of being a cancelled order, maybe this was the stockpile of eyepieces that had failed Meade's £150-£350 QC, but acceptable at £40-£130.

I, for one, am very happy having paid bottom dollar for a premium "second" - I had to search for the difference, and in the BV I can make sure the MV goes to my astigmatic left eye 

Thank you for reading 

[nightfisher]

Very interesting, i have the Maxvision 16mm and very happy with it

[Adrian]

As you can tell from my sig I'm a MV fan too. 

The 34mm is a fabulous eyepiece, and whenever I get tempted by anything around the 1.25" limit I just remember that  I've got the 24mm which is the best performance you can get without spending twice as much (or more) and somehow the temptation fades .

What colour do the coatings show on your 16mm?

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

Very interesting. I have heard there were differences in Meade quality between different batches of Series 5000 UWAs (I had a Mk-1 14mm which was great, but later versions were less good). I wonder whether there are similar issues with the SWAs, with the earlier ones being better than the later. Maybe your Meade is an early one, and the MV represents the later version (though your analysis may be spot on, of course). I have two MV 24mm  68deg ones which have good coatings, and show no issues at all. The 20mm I recently sold was fine as well. I am surprised you had issues with the 16mm

[Adrian]

They weren't issues, as such - the field stop was as good as any other, it just had a rainbow "heat" pattern when you looked from the bottom, rather than matte black. Didn't affect the use at all, as far as I could tell. The thicker top rubber on the other may have made it harder to use due to eye relief.

I sold those 2 as I had the pair of 14mm S5000 plossls which I preferred, and there wasn't a significant difference in magnification when used in the skymax 150. Now that I've gone back to a 10" SCT the change from 14mm to 16mm is noticable, so I've got a set back in (as well as 2x20mm, 24mm, 34mm).

I notice that the 16mm russ.will is selling in the classifieds also appears to have the reddish coatings on the eyelens...

[russ.will]

As I am sitting here with the very same EP that I've just pictured in the classifieds, I would say that depending upon the angle of the light, I can make the coatings look entirely red/purple, entirely green or mostly, a bit of both. I've had a quick try:

Russell

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

That looks very much like the coating on my two remaining MV 24mm EPs.  One is currently on loan to the university's observatory (they only had a 42mm (LVW, lovely) and a 13mm Hyperion, so I lent them my spare MV until such day that I get a binoviewer or big binocular (might take a while). The other is in the "ultra-light travel set" together with the WO zoom.

[Adrian]

As I am sitting here with the very same EP that I've just pictured in the classifieds, I would say that depending upon the angle of the light, I can make the coatings look entirely red/purple, entirely green or mostly, a bit of both. I've had a quick try:

Russell

Thanks for posting the pictures. I even swapped mine over to check if it was just the angle to the camera:

Still, both are fully coated and both are excellent EPs. The Meade was £50 on astroboot, so similar to getting a Maxvision delivered from ES. 

[John]

Different production runs can have variations of this type in coatings or sometimes even the finish in other areas of the eyepiece. The Meade SWA's have been in production for years and the ones destined to have the Meade branding on might have had a slightly different spec level over that period than the Maxvisions.

I guess what matters is how they perform.

[Paul73]

I've got four MV's and never had any QA issues (mind you, one has already been vouched for in this thread already). One of the things that I love about them is the solid, well built feel about them.

A thought does occur. The dodgy batch must have been pretty sizeable as every man and his dog seems to have a handful of these "super seconds".

Paul