Meade series 5000 eyepieces

[jamieren]

I'm going to decide on a purchase of eyepieces or die in the attempt. After much hesitation, discussion and reservation I am hoping to pick up the "right choice" soon. As tempting as it is to plunk down 4 - $600 on a pentax or televue, I like the look of the series 5000 super plossls. A set of 4 can be had for $400 complete with case. I've come to the conclusion that I am most interested in versatility. I haven't been a dedicated astronomer for long enough to solidly know what it is I enjoy most on the other end of the telescope. The set includes 5.5, 14, 20 & 32mm sizes, with a reported field of view measuring 60*. I believe these will give me opportunity to take in a wide variety of items and will complement my SWA 10mm perfectly (the pack-ins will be retired hopefully).

Does anyone own one or more of these? Do you ever regret buying them? If so, can I have them?

P.S. Thanks to Jahmanson for the referral, you may have found a match for me!

Here's a link so you know exactly which ones I'm talking about...

http://www.meade.com/series5000/index.html#eyepiecesets

..they're the red trimmed ones on the left.

[The Warthog]

I considered a Meade 5000, and have heard good things about them, but settled on Antares Speers-WALERS. I don't think you could go far wrong with the Meade 5000s, though.

[Ben Ritchie]

As you're talking about $400, i'm guessing you're in the states? Rather than buying the Meade Plossls i'd spend $12 to join Astromart and pick up a set of second-hand TeleVue plossls. The TeleVue plossls are excellent, and by going used you should be able to put together a set for no more money than the Meades.

[Andrew*]

Do you ever regret buying them?

No, but I regret selling them!

Lovely EPs. I've had the pleasure to use 5 of the Series 5000s and enjoyed every one of them. Some dislike their build, but I've always enjoyed handling them.

Saying that, Ben's advice to go for second hand is very sound indeed. You can take a few steps up in quality for around the same price.

Andrew

[RichieP]

I have the 5.5mm, 9mm, 14mm, 26mm and 40mm and I love them all (until I can afford the next step up of course). You won't go far wrong with series 5000s.

Regards

Richard

[jamieren]

I considered a Meade 5000, and have heard good things about them, but settled on Antares Speers-WALERS.

I actually own the 10mm speers-waler and have had good results. The only problem is that it's sooo close to bottoming out my focuser in order to focus. I've been told though that the lower the magnification the further it will be from the limit of the focuser. On the other hand, if I go any higher it will be beyond the focusing capabilities of my scope.

[jamieren]

Lovely EPs. I've had the pleasure to use 5 of the Series 5000s and enjoyed every one of them. Some dislike their build, but I've always enjoyed handling them.

Andrew

Does this mean they're big, heavy and clunky or that they look ungainly or the overall quality?

Ben, are Televues really that much better, or is it (my opinion) the name speaking for them? Not to step on any toes, but it seems with their $85ish price point (which actually works out to less than the Meade 5ks, this is for new ones) and at 50* fov they would be the underdogs I think. The Meades being far newer would benefit from more up to date technology -I would be tempted to believe the televues were a great value & quality 25 years ago (and no doubt still are for what they do) but have been left behind in favor of TV's many newer designs.

I'm still waiting for a response from Steve, who posted generously on this series in the past and (as far as I know) owned several of them. Thanks to all of you who repied, you're really making me "ruminate" on this decision and by God I don't want to make the wrong one, can't afford the wait to save more $$!

P.S. I'm from Canada and the $400 for the Meades is an outstanding price, considering they're quoted at $349 US right off they mfr's website.

[Ben Ritchie]

Ben, are Televues really that much better, or is it (my opinion) the name speaking for them?

It's not the name speaking - i'm not aware of TeleVue ever releasing an overpriced/underperforming piece of equipment. You pay top rate for TeleVue but get excellent performance in return, whether it's the humble Plossl or the hugely expensive Ethos. You're paying for - and getting, IMHO - top notch build, performance and quality control.

That's certainly not to knock other eyepieces, and we all have to make the decision about whether we buy a Panoptic, say, or a Baader Hyperion that gives a large percentage of the performance at a considerably lower price. But the used market allows us to adjust those decisions a little, and, still, faced with a new set of Meade eyepieces or used TeleVue i'd pick TeleVue any day of the week.

HTH

[russ]

Never owned the 5000 but come very close on a number of occasions (not least visiting Telescope House in the summer). But i play the secondhand game like Ben suggests. Which means i've usually ended up with TV Plossls. The 20mm being my pick of the bunch.

But since switching back to a dob i ditched my previous eyepieces, including the 32mm TV Plossl. Put all my eggs into one basket and bought a secondhand Televue Nagler. And just added a Speers-Waler too.

Worth noting that the Series 2 Speers have been redesigned to improve the focus point. So you should find a 17.2mm Series 2 has more focus travel left compared to your Series 1 10mm.

It's such a huge benefit having that full 82 deg field of view. I previously had a 7.5mm, 9mm, 10mm, 12.5mm, 15mm, 17mm, 20mm, 26mm and 32mm Plossls. All good ones, a mix of Televue, Celestron Ultima, Orion Ultrascopic but i feel far happier with just four eyepieces and i may reduce that to three. Now have the 7.5mm Speers, 9mm TMB, 16mm Nagler and 26mm SWAN. It's amazing just how little you have to nudge the scope with an Ultra Wide. I think this outweighs ultimate performance when owning a dob.

Regards

[Andrew*]

Lovely EPs. I've had the pleasure to use 5 of the Series 5000s and enjoyed every one of them. Some dislike their build, but I've always enjoyed handling them.

Andrew

Does this mean they're big, heavy and clunky or that they look ungainly or the overall quality?

A common complaint is that they are larger than they need to be due to their rounded housing, which is essentially not necessary. The twist-up eye guard is built into the whole body, also increasing girth. So the size aspect does put some people off. Personally, I've never been bothered by their size (the 32mm Ploessl was the largest I owned) partly because they are relatively light.

Another complaint was the twist-up eye guard. People don't like this arrangement full stop. I love it. It uses grease to lubricate the movement, which can spread a little. It's never got anywhere near the optics, so I don't agree that the grease is a downside. Without it the movement would be stiff or scratchy.

Another complaint is that the general build quality is not what you'd expect from a premium product. I struggle to see how it could be a heck of a lot better. Maybe not quite up to TeleVue's standards, but Tele Vue is Tele Vue.

My point is that these are tiny niggles and have never clouded my view that their optics give you almost Tele Vue performance at 2/3 Tele Vue price.

However, I think their SWAs, particularly in the shorter f/ls, is not a winner. I doubt they offer a significant performance boost over say Hyperions, and they are almost Panoptic prices. Saying that I've only tried the 20mm SWA and didn't compare it to anything.

What I like about their ploessls is that they're "ploessls +". You get a nice 60° field, which is quite liberating over the standard 50°.

As for their UWAs. Superb. Almost everything I've read states that they're almost up to Nagler standards, but significantly cheaper. The 30mm UWA seems to be some cause of complaint re: the body size, but look at the 31mm Nagler....

HTH

Andrew

[John]

Ben, are Televues really that much better, or is it (my opinion) the name speaking for them?

It's not the name speaking - i'm not aware of TeleVue ever releasing an overpriced/underperforming piece of equipment. You pay top rate for TeleVue but get excellent performance in return, whether it's the humble Plossl or the hugely expensive Ethos. You're paying for - and getting, IMHO - top notch build, performance and quality control.

That's certainly not to knock other eyepieces, and we all have to make the decision about whether we buy a Panoptic, say, or a Baader Hyperion that gives a large percentage of the performance at a considerably lower price. But the used market allows us to adjust those decisions a little, and, still, faced with a new set of Meade eyepieces or used TeleVue i'd pick TeleVue any day of the week.

HTH

I am 100% in agreement with Ben on this. Tele Vue make some of the best asto equipment available, period. Their reputation and popularity is thorougly deserved in my opinion.

John