Meade's budget 5 inch triplet apo.

[ollypenrice]

Only Vega and Jupiter were bright and shining as I swung the 127 skyward for a first look. I was pretty anxious, to tell the truth, because while £1200 is not a lot for a five inch triplet it is an AWFUL lot to throw away on a bad scope. So, Jupiter it was and…relief…it snapped into focus and looked not just good but very, very good. In with the 4.8 Nagler and…yes…it looked even better. Sharp, contrasty and splendidly well-corrected for colour. Phew! Up to Vega for a quick star test and, more relief, the diffraction circles were perfectly concentric and the focus convincing. Vega was very blue but also very well contained, with no fringing. So the scope’s trip down to France from the UK supplier had not abused its alignments…. and that’s good because I can see no obvious collimation facilities.

The rationale behind my choice of the 127 was simple: I wanted an imaging telescope with enough focal length to get into the mid-sized galaxies and planetaries without getting into difficult guiding terrain. A metre, more or less, would do it. Finding the right instrument for imaging at that length is not dead easy, though. It would be if you had between three and six grand to spend, sure enough, but I didn’t. I did consider all sorts of possibilities but most had their drawbacks. There are some reasonable Newtonians, there’s the forthcoming Synta Mak-Newt and there’s the Synta (Skywatcher) 120 doublet as well. Truth to tell, I initially opted for the Synta Mak Newt, f6 with a full metre focal length, one of which was available from a UK supplier under the Orion US brand. However, when I tried to buy it the dealer refused to ship to France and when I tried to talk to FedEx I got passed from pillar to post with each call centre telling me a different tale. I reckon buying a new telescope should be a pleasure so I gave up on the Mak Newt and went for the readily available Meade.

I do think the Skywatcher Mak Newt will probably be a great imaging choice but on the other hand I like refractors. They work. There is no focus nonsense, no collimation and precious little dewing up to contend with. There are no diffraction spikes either. Now some people don’t mind them and some actually like them but Chris Suddell made a good point while down here recently; they are pretty obtrusive if your camera has anything other than a large chip. And finally, refractors last. My Genesis is nearly twenty years old and yet still bagged an Astronomy Now ‘Picture of the Month’ this year, in the capable hands of Peter Vasey.

The inevitable New Telescope Weather promptly arrived (even here!) so it was later in the week when I found myself waiting anxiously for a first thirty second burst on NGC 891 to download. It seemed an eternity… then there it was; at a gratifying image scale our old friend was already showing detail in his dust lane and all the stars looked nice and round. More relief! I make no claim to be an expert imager so you’ll have to make your own mind up on the way the first images have image turned out but I was happy with the scope’s contribution to them. You’ll be able to tell if this sort of optical quality meets your ‘house standard’ or not and won’t need me to comment further. I found the images easy to process and free from scope-induced complications.

In terms of construction I would call the scope very sound and certainly better than you’d have any right to expect for the money. It is a pleasure to handle and to use and has no plasticky or otherwise nasty components. It is not, though, a Takahashi or a TeleVue, nor would anyone expect it to be. The lens is shielded by a screw-on metal cover (which I like) and has a deep pull-out shield. This slides without grating but is far too tight on the tube to be called convenient and I’m glad I don’t have to retract it to close the obsy. I have no other negatives to report but the dewshield might be a minor niggle for mobile imagers. Maybe other examples are less tight.

The lens cell seems robust enough and, though it doesn’t ‘disappear’ when peered into, the objective looks richly coated – for what that’s worth. The focus assembly is Crayford, two speed with chunky-sized alloy knobs and, in my view, has a very satisfactory action. Sky at Night found the focuser disappointing but I certainly don’t. I like it. The lock screw is a maybe a little sloppy in its thread but I found I didn’t need it with the weight of the Atik 16HR and filterwheel. There is no slop in the draw tube and it is very legibly graduated for quick refocus. It is also very long and has no need for an extension tube with my setup. I think the popular small scopes are engineered to look even smaller by using drawtube to replace the overly truncated main tube. That’s not the case here - a good thing because too much drawtube out means too much leverage on the bearings. There is no camera-rotating facility but that would be asking a lot at the price and they need to be well made to be worth having. I’d call the one on our ZS66 marginal, myself.

I bought the ‘package’ deal so I also got some goodies. An attractive Meade diagonal claiming 99% reflectivity has a well-styled inch and a quarter adapter and does what diagonals do. Their finish makes them, again, nice to handle and use. Lock screws are of the brass compression ring kind to protect your precious eyepieces. Hmmm… I know these are supposed to bring a touch of class but I don’t either like or trust them myself. All the ones I have used seem prone to seeming tight when they’re not or to getting out of sorts with adapters or eyepieces which have recesses, etc. But you probably do like them so what the heck. I’d always advise people to put a tether on their camera, though, because I have had one alarming experience myself and have heard of fatalities...

The tube rings are fine and come ready-bolted to a bottom beam, part of which has a Vixen/EQ dovetail section. Very handy - apart form not fitting the EQ6, that is! With the worthy intention of bringing the OTA down close to the mount clamp the designers have put a step in the rail at each end but did not make the space between the steps quite long enough to span the EQ6 clamp. Apparently it does span the HEQ5. Either you can cut out some of the stepped areas with a hacksaw and file the beam down to dovetail section at each end or buy a new length of Vixen rail. I counsel the latter though I did the former. On the top side of the tube rings is a bolt-on handle with a slot in it. This is great for carrying the scope and also great for attaching a guidescope. No drilling required. I bolted a bit of Vixen rail to the handle and attached my ZS66 guidescope to that using a Baader clamp I was given. I’ll probably replace the handle with Vixen rail all the way and lower the guidescope a tad but I don’t have a long enough bit handy at the minute. However you do it, that handle’s great and every telescope should have one.

The finder is a sweetie! Its mounting arm is integral with collar round the 127 that allows you to rotate it where you like and it’s aligned by just three screws, not six, though none is spring loaded like the nifty Synta adjusters. Once right it seems to stay in place and gives a good bright, sharp view. It has a superb illuminated reticle switched easily on and off and makes centering a doddle. You can do a three star alignment just using the finder. It’s my first illuminated one but it won’t be my last…

And, finally, the boring bit about the box! You get a decent alloy case, more than up to the job, with a well-fitting foam liner, room for all the bits and some eyepiece spaces as well. Absent from the box were any kind of useful instructions. Something on the focus tension and drawtube pad adjustments might have been nice. What you do get is about the equivalent of, ‘This is the end you look through.’ On the other hand, refractors don’t really need much by way of instructions and therein lies their charm. The permanent case was packed in a larger cardboard package with shock absorbing fillers between the two.

I haven’t written an elaborate optical report partly through lack of competence and partly because, for better or worse, the images I will be posting will do the talking. I like this instrument, though, and have high hopes that it will be a hit with all who use it. As soon as someone comes down here with a large-chip camera we’ll see how well flattened the field is across the full width. Meanwhile, Roll on M51…

If you have any specific questions please send me a PM and I’ll enjoy getting back to you.

Olly Penrice.

[NickH]

Have to admit that optically the new 5000's are rather nice. I didn't personally like the integrated DT on the 80mm, but the optics were top notch on the one I had on loan.

[philsail1]

Nice report "ollypenrice!" Nice scope too!

Refractors do have that certain ............

(I like my TAL100RS).

Best wishes,

philsail1

[GazOC]

Nice report Olly, did you get the chance to do an out of focus star test? The S@N review mentioned spherical aberration in the scope they tested.

[Doc]

What is the weight of this beast?

[ollypenrice]

Hi guys,

I will do more star testing when I can. I'm afraid I don't have any way to weigh it but it is rather lighter than I expected. Our 4 inch TeleVue Quadruplet is remarkably heavy for a little'un, the Meade rather the opposite. One person can handle it comfortably. The 127 does not cause a murmer on the EQ6 and a member of another forum runs his happily on an HEQ5. A recent guest uses a Vixen Sphinx for his. I hope that gives a rough 'order of magnitude' in the absence of a proper answer.

Regards,

Olly.

[centroid]

A very interesting read Olly, and your comments 'stack up' nicley with my finding of the 80mm version, with I bought and reviewed some weeks ago.

Not had too much chance to 'play' with it as yet, as I've been down in Western Australia for the past five weeks, but am very much looking forward to using it when I return home to UK (this coming weekend).

Thanks for 'posting' your report.

Dave

[ollypenrice]

STARTEST UPDATE.

I had a quick star test session tonight. There was quite a lot of moonlight and the seeing was good. First I tried the double double, which Sky at Night found did not split for them, perhaps because of atmospherics. Well, despite the moon and the wackery Gibraltar on which I'd quickly plonked the scope, the 127 split the components dead easily. Using a 4.8 TeleVue Nagler to give just under 200x I saw clear black night between both pairs. I didn't get the 10inch Meade out but I know how it does on this one. It needs more power because the stars are not as tight. So, a good resut on that one for the 127.

Next I looked at Altair using 10mm TelVue Radian. Inside and outside focus the diffraction rings were clearly concentric, as near to perfectly so as I could judge. They remained that way to the edge of field when I let the star drift. No is collimation and no astigmatism, then, for sure.

The patterns inside and outside focus looked symmetrical to me, though the colour distribution changed. My understanding is that spherical abberation would give a brighter outer ring inside focus. The outer rings both inside and outside focus seemed similar to me. But I'n no expert.

So, all good news.

Olly

[DanDare]

Thanks for the report Olly, the 80mm also gets a good write up in AN.

Congrats for your Helix nebula image in AN :hello1:

[NickH]

Optically these are superb instruments...were I in the market for a triplet APO, this would be high on my list

[Tikkis]

A nice and interesting report. It covers all the basic facets of the OTA. The report gives me good feelings, because I am anxiously waiting for my own similar scope. I hope mine will be as satifactory as you found yours.

Thanks

Tikkis,

Helsinki, Finland

[ollypenrice]

Hi Tikkis,

I think you will be delighted by your new scope. All the evidence suggests that quality control is consistent and good. I am hoping to get started on 'Thor's Helmet' tonight with mine.

I guess you have long nights for observing at the moment!

Best wishes,

Olly.

[philj]

Nice Review Olly, I am now a member of the Meade 127 Triplet clubf:D

Over the past few years my astronomy has changed from primarily visual with a little imaging to the reverse, so much so that I am using my 102 ED and ZS80 refractors almost all the time thus my C11 rarely gets used. With this in mind I am in the process of having an equipment rehash, (something I said I would never do).

Therefore a Meade 127 ED Triplet has become that latest addition to the family and will be used as the main scope for awhile before I decide on which of my other scopes will go, (too many scopes and not enough space at the moment).

1st impressions

I think Olly’s review says it all in his initial review of his 127 but I shall add a couple of things if I may:

Scope

Crikey, what a whopper! Compared to my 102ED this scope is BIG. I mounted it on the HEQ5 Pro just to test it out and it dwarfed the mount. OK the HEQ5 can handle the 8 kg + (all up) with ease but the shear size of the scope makes it look under mounted. The scope is going to be used on the CGE in the observatory and that mount will take it and guide scope plus owt else I can bolt on. I am in the process of making a meaty CGE dovetail bar for it so I won’t be trying any imaging until that is sorted.

As Olly says, good but not Tak standards, in fact I would say my OTB 102ED is finished to a better standard. But the 127 is still a functional and particularly handsome scope with its gloss white tube and anodised Meade blue highlights.

Case

To match the scope the hard case is also BIG. When the scope is housed in the case it’s also a bit bulky so I foresee a pair of wheels being fitted to one end in the not to distant future

Finder + Bracket

The finder is nice, well made and with a graduated illuminated reticule, I can see this being my favourite finder in future.

I still haven’t mastered the bracket though. The bracket fits on a rotating collar on the focuser, (focuser does not rotate), ingenious. However it has 3 finder adjusting screws but the fit is very loose at the opposite end of the bracket so there is quite a lot of finder movement, it needs an O ring like the Synta design, I reckon to take up this slack, I feel a little mod coming on here

So there you go, the current poor weather in the UK is all down to me I’m afraid so apologies I won’t do it again. Well maybe not for a year or two anyway

Philj