Meade 4000 series

[Kirby301]

hi all,

What is the quality of the meade 4000 series eyepieces like?

I have read that the televue dioptrx fits onto these and am seriously thinking of trying this out, can anyone confirm?

Many thanks.

[Louis D]

The old Meade 4000 UWAs were quite good.  The Meade 4000 SWAs were equivalent to the Tele Vue Wide Fields (better than an Erfle, but not as good as a Panoptic), and the original made in Japan Meade 4000 Super Plossls in smooth side were excellent, having been made by Towa as a 5 element design.  If you can find these used at good prices and in good condition, they're quite decent performers.

The modern Meade 4000 series only refers to their Super Plossl line as far as I know and are simply 4 element symmetrics that are little different from all the other Plossls coming out of China.  I would get the GSO/Revelation Plossls from Taiwan due to better consistency from sample to sample at a better price.

It's quite likely the Dioptrx fit on the modern Super Plossls, but they also fit on most Plossls out there with removable eye cups.

[Kirby301]

Thanks for your reply @Louis D

I would like to carry on with the bst range but its all going to come down to what the dioptrx fits and at what price, televue are simply out of my budget hence the meade 4000 range.

[Louis D]

Remember, you still need about 15mm of usable eye relief for the Dioptrx to work well.

[Kirby301]

@Louis D

I've read the bst eyepieces have removable eye cups and 16mm eye relief, im not sure how much of that eye relief would be usable?

[Louis D]

3 hours ago, Kirby301 said:

@Louis D

I've read the bst eyepieces have removable eye cups and 16mm eye relief, im not sure how much of that eye relief would be usable?

With the eyecup removed, close to 15mm.

[Don Pensack]

8 hours ago, Kirby301 said:

Thanks for your reply @Louis D

I would like to carry on with the bst range but its all going to come down to what the dioptrx fits and at what price, televue are simply out of my budget hence the meade 4000 range.

And the Meade Series 4000 SWAs, to my knowledge, are not compatible with the DioptRx.

[Guest]

I've used my friend's Meade 4000 Super Plossl 15mm many times and it's much better than most supplied eyepieces that came with various scopes.  I prefer the BST StarGuiders though, but that's just personal preference.

[Kevin Kretsch]

I have a 15mm, 20mm, and 26mm 4000 Super Plossl and I really like them. They are better than my 17mm Celestron plossl (a 1990's "Halloween" model) and my 32mm Orion Sirius plossl.