Meade 4000 Super Plossl - any good?

[Louis D]

7 hours ago, Merlin66 said:

The original design was a five element design said to be based on the mythical Masuyama five element design. These are collectables.

They are marked JAPAN on the barrel, and do NOT have rubber eye caps and were manufactured prior to about 1996 by KOWA.

As long as JAPAN is stamped on the upper black barrel, they had 5 elements.  The last year or so of production added eye cups.

The revised 4 element design has JAPAN stamped on the lower chrome barrel.  They are still very good thanks to superior polish and coatings.

8 hours ago, Merlin66 said:

he rest were made in China and changed back to four element design to save $$$$$ ???? which was pretty "basic"

Production first moved to Taiwan in the mid-90s prior to production moving to China.  All were 4 element designs.  I doubt Taiwan was stamped on the bodies.  I have Sirius Plossls from that mid/late 90s era where the boxes say Taiwan, but the eyepiece barrels themselves are blank.

[paleoc2000]

I have read all about manufacture location and number of elements.  My questions boil down to two things.  I have never seen one (including looking at pictures on the internet) that was not all chrome (excluding the black center grip).  On this one, the bottom is chrome but the metal on top is brass instead of chrome.  In fact the 6x26mm finder scope on the telescope is also brass.  The eyepiece also has letters LP which none of my other super plossl have.   What does LP stand for?

 

[paleoc2000]

1 hour ago, Louis D said:

Production first moved to Taiwan in the mid-90s prior to production moving to China.  All were 4 element designs.  I doubt Taiwan was stamped on the bodies.  I have Sirius Plossls from that mid/late 90s era where the boxes say Taiwan, but the eyepiece barrels themselves are blank.

One of the three 9.7mm super plossl I have has TAIWAN stamped on the barrel.  The other two do not have any origin on them and I assume they are from China.  Is it correct the Taiwanese ones are often inferior?

[Louis D]

I have no idea if the Taiwanese ones are inferior.  I know my Sirius Plossls from 1990s Taiwan are inferior to my GSO Plossl from 2010s Taiwan.  I'm guessing optical prowess improved in the intervening two decades.  Likewise, I would infer early 2000s Chinese made would be inferior to 2020s Chinese made.  They have noticeably improved optical and mechanical quality in the last 20 years across many product categories.

[Louis D]

1 hour ago, paleoc2000 said:

I have read all about manufacture location and number of elements.  My questions boil down to two things.  I have never seen one (including looking at pictures on the internet) that was not all chrome (excluding the black center grip).  On this one, the bottom is chrome but the metal on top is brass instead of chrome.  In fact the 6x26mm finder scope on the telescope is also brass.  The eyepiece also has letters LP which none of my other super plossl have.   What does LP stand for?

 

I have never seen a Meade Super Plossl that looked like that.  Perhaps it was specific to a particular scope or collector's edition?

[Don Pensack]

There were multiple versions of the S4000 "Super Plössls".  The exact dates are a bit confused because there was store stock later than Meade actually brought them into the US market

or the European market.

Version 1 was a smooth side, no rubber eyecup, 5 element, made in Japan, mustard color lettering.  Production seemed to end ~1990 +/-.  Nicknamed the "pseudo-Masuyama" version.

Version 2 had a rubber eyecup, 5 element, made in Japan, mustard color lettering. Production definitely ended in 1994 for these.

Version 3 had a rubber eyecup, made in Japan, 4 element, mustard color lettering.  There may have only been one production batch ~1994

Version 4 had a rubber eyecup, made in Taiwan, 4 element, mustard color lettering.  It appears there may have been only one production batch of these, as they are rare.

Version 5 had a rubber eyecup, made in China, 4 element, mustard color lettering.

Version 6, 7, 8, and no one knows how many more, had a rubber eyecup, 4 element, made in China, white lettering.

To add confusion to the mix, Meade, apparently, with their last production, went back to mustard color lettering.  How many years ago that was I can't find the answer to.

You cannot trust that is what you will get, though, because many retailers have very old pictures on their sites and may have stock of the white lettering versions.

One industry person mentioned several years ago that Meade had had at least 6 different manufacturers make these, and possibly more.

 

[Don Pensack]

3 hours ago, Louis D said:

I have never seen a Meade Super Plossl that looked like that.  Perhaps it was specific to a particular scope or collector's edition?

That looks a lot like the color black anodizing ends up looking like when faded by the sun.

[Louis D]

8 minutes ago, Don Pensack said:

One industry person mentioned several years ago that Meade had had at least 6 different manufacturers make these, and possibly more.

[Merlin66]

Don,

I have a late five element 4000 no eyecap made in Japan, recessed barrel circa 1990.

 

Edited February 14, 2023 by Merlin66
correction

[paleoc2000]

6 hours ago, Don Pensack said:

One industry person mentioned several years ago that Meade had had at least 6 different manufacturers make these, and possibly more.

 

That makes sense looking at the Meade super plossls on Astromart, I see several with brass bodies.

[Mr Spock]

I used to have a 'version 2' 6.4mm. That was excellent on planets.