127mm F7.5 triplet apo refractor

[Guest]

I have been contemplating my new main telescope.Ideas have varied with 8 inch Newtonian to 127mm triplet apo's.I did get the opportunity of using a Meade 127mm triplet series 5000 before Christmas.It was a great scope to observe with.

My question is that this scope has been and still is sold with different brand names ,Explorer Scientific,Meade etc.The recent ones have Hoya FCD1 Dense Fluorcrown glass element,which I believe is the similar to FL 51 glass.Did the earlier versions such as The series 5000 Meade have the better quality FL 53 glass element.

Also does it make as much difference as it is a triplet compared to the doublet ED's?

 

[Commanderfish]

Well all I can tell you is my ES 127 Triplet was bought new in January, and it is just so damn sharp.  People rightly point out that a big selling point of a triplet is no chromatic aberation, but I don't think enough is made of the fact that all three main wave lengths of light are focused to the same point (as opposed to two out of three wavelengths in a doublet), so the resulting image is just so very very sharp. The views are spectacular.  So I wouldn't worry about the exact glass type (Fpl51/53) if you're getting a triplet - it's going to be a really sharp view.