The Meade Series 5000 Triplet APO - Review conclusion

[centroid]

Last night the sky cleared, giving me the chance to out my new Meade 80mm APO.

As soon as the sky was dark enough, it was a race to get some DSO imaging done before the Moon appeared above the Eastern horizon.

It was evident that the Moon's appearance wasn't far off, from the sky glow on the eastern horizon, but at least the Moon itself wasn't visible.

I attached an eyepiece and pointed the scope at Altair, and was pleased to see that at focus, or either side of it, there wasn't any evidence of colour fringing at all.

Having read the review on the Meade 127 APO in the latest issue of S@N magazine, where the reviewer commented that the Spherical Aberation performance, wasn't was quite as good as that of SW Eqinox 120, I looked specifically at this parameter, in the Meade 80 APO, and could not see any evidence of this at all.

At focus the stars were 'pin sharp', and the contrast very good indeed. A good start!!

Knowing that very soon, the Moon was going the be a problem for DSO imaging, I didn't dwell too long on the visual assessment.

A quick look at The Sky6 software, to see what was available, best placed, and not requiring lengthy exposures, as the sky wasn't dark enough.

So, I chose M27 to be the 'first light' object, for the new scope.

I wanted to try the scope at its natural focal length (480mm) and f ratio (f/6), so the SXVF-H9C was attached directly to the draw-tube, with just an IR blocking filter in place, as this is how the camera is always used.

I used the Lodestar and the 12" LX200R (at f/7), to guide the Meade APO, and captured 17x180 sec subs of M27.

Given the rapidly rising Moon, and the resulting sky, the end result is quite pleasing, and is attached below.

By now, the Moon was well clear of the horizon, and M31 'sitting' not that far above it. However, as I had used M31, and it's surrounding stars, in my assessment of the William Optics Megrez 88, I wanted to compare the Meade APO result with it.

I was a bit concerned at what the result would be like, as the the sky in that area, was now bathed in moonlight. However, as can be seen the the result below, the end result was better than I'd expected. Clearly, a lot of the fine detail has been lost in the 'sky glow', but the object of the excercise was achieved, showing nice clean, colour fringing free stars.

Finally, before 'calling it a night', I put an eyepiece back in the Meade APO, and pointed in at the Moon, thinking if there are any chromatic aberation issues, then this would most certainly show them. To my relief and pleasure, the image was crisp and clear, without a trace of colour fringing. Needless to say, I went off to bed, a very 'happy bunny'.

If I had to make a negative comment on the Meade APO, then it would be that while very 'posh', the dew cap screws into the dew-shield, and is not as quick and easy to 'whip' on and off, as with the 'push fit' design.

I would also point out, that while being quite a small compact scope, it is quite heavy, due to the extra glass of the 'triplet' optics.

So, for price (£449), an 80mm triplet that performs this well, represents good value for money in 'my book', and I'm very happy to have it in my obsy.

So, thanks again to Steve, a First Light Optics, who managed to source me one, at very short notice, and also loaned me a WO Megrez 88 to try, I now have now achieved what I set out to do. Which was, to obtain a scope the would provide a bigger FOV, and be a bit 'faster' than my SW ED80, while retaining the colour fringing free results of the ED80.

SW ED 80: FL 600mm at f/7.5 and a 51x38 arc min FOV with the SXVF-H9C attached.

Meade 80 APO: FL 480mm at f/6 and a 64x48 arc min FOV with the SXVF-H9C attached.

This then, I think, concludes my review of the Meade Series 5000 80mm Triplet APO.

Dave

[FLO]

To my relief and pleasure....

Mine too

Its good to know you are pleased

[Andrew*]

Excellent review - it seems a bargain, that scope!

Re: the M31 image - you appear to have not double, or triple, but QUADRUPLE stars... :scratch:

Andrew

[centroid]

Hmm!!, you might actually be right Andrew

I'll have a look at that, as it might be an overlay problem from layer processing in P/shop.

Dave

[centroid]

You were right Andrew, and the corrected M31 has now been attached.

It was an alignment overlay issue, but in AA4, not P/shop. Operator error!!

Dave

[Whippy]

Good stuff Dave , I was looking at one of these last year but they seemed to have disappeared. Nice to see them back and looks like it's a winner!

Tony..

[Andrew*]

You were right Andrew, and the corrected M31 has now been attached.

It was an alignment overlay issue, but in AA4, not P/shop. Operator error!!

Okay, nice one!

Andrew