Meade 56mm Plossl Review

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Refractordude
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Meade 56mm Plossl Review

#1

Post by Refractordude »


This Meade is an A Team eyepiece. Using a 150mm f/8 refractor views are sharp very close to the edge. There are no blackout/kidney beaning issues. Was able to split/distinguish Orion's trapezium stars. It is advertised by most vendors as weighing 24 ounces. The actual weight is a little over 18 ounces. This eyepiece will really shine at my dark site.

https://agenaastro.com/meade-series-400 ... piece.html
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Refractordude
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Re: Meade 56mm Plossl Review

#2

Post by Refractordude »


Forgot to mention that the field of view is about 45 degrees. I could be wrong. Regardless it has a wide enough view with super clear sharp glass.
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Re: Meade 56mm Plossl Review

#3

Post by Greenman »


Refractordude wrote: Sun Jan 10, 2021 3:20 pm Forgot to mention that the field of view is about 45 degrees. I could be wrong. Regardless it has a wide enough view with super clear sharp glass.
The site says 52 degrees, I expect the 45 you mention is the TFOV. :D
Cheers,

Tony.

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Re: Meade 56mm Plossl Review

#4

Post by Bigzmey »


I always liked how sharp and flat is the field in 2" Plossls. You are most likely right about 45 deg FOV. Claimed 52 deg is a marketing trick. It is unachievable for 56 mm 2" EP. The best you can get is around 50 using EP barrel as field stop. However, most of Plossl manufacturers stop the field down to between 40 and 50 deg.
Scopes: Stellarvue: SV102ED; Celestron: 9.25" EdgeHD, 8" SCT, 150ST, Onyx 80ED; iOptron: Hankmeister 6" Mak; SW: 7" Mak; Meade: 80ST.
Mounts: SW: SkyTee2, AzGTi; iOptron: AZMP; ES: Twilight I; Bresser: EXOS2; UA: MicroStar.
Binos: APM: 100-90 APO; Canon: IS 15x50; Orion: Binoviewer, LG II 15x70, WV 10x50, Nikon: AE 16x50, 10x50, 8x40.
EPs: Pentax: XWs & XFs; TeleVue: Delites, Panoptic & Plossls; ES: 68, 62; Vixen: SLVs; Baader: BCOs, Aspherics, Mark IV.
Diagonals: Baader: BBHS mirror, Zeiss Spec T2 prism, Clicklock dielectric; TeleVue: Evebrite dielectric; AltairAstro: 2" prism.
Filters: Lumicon: DeepSky, UHC, OIII, H-beta; Baader: Moon & SkyGlow, Contrast Booster, UHC-S, 6-color set; Astronomik: UHC.

Observing: DSOs: 3106 (Completed: Messier, Herschel 1, 2, 3. In progress: H2,500: 2180, S110: 77). Doubles: 2382, Comets: 34, Asteroids: 255
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Re: Meade 56mm Plossl Review

#5

Post by notFritzArgelander »


Bigzmey wrote: Mon Jan 11, 2021 2:31 am I always liked how sharp and flat is the field in 2" Plossls. You are most likely right about 45 deg FOV. Claimed 52 deg is a marketing trick. It is unachievable for 56 mm 2" EP. The best you can get is around 50 using EP barrel as field stop. However, most of Plossl manufacturers stop the field down to between 40 and 50 deg.

Yep! I do appreciate the humor about the TFOV being 45 though. :)
Scopes: Refs: Orion ST80, SV 80EDA f7, TS 102ED f11 Newts: AWB 130mm, f5, Z12 f5; Cats: VMC110L, Intes MK66,VMC200L f9.75 EPs: KK Fujiyama Orthoscopics, 2x Vixen NPLs (40-6mm) and BCOs, Baader Mark IV zooms, TV Panoptics, Delos, Plossl 32-8mm. Mixed brand Masuyama/Astroplans Binoculars: Nikon Aculon 10x50, Celestron 15x70, Baader Maxbright. Mounts: Star Seeker IV, Vixen Porta II, Celestron CG5
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Re: Meade 56mm Plossl Review

#6

Post by Refractordude »


Tried it out at my dark site a few days ago. A very good eyepiece. I failed to mention in my review that the Meade 56mm plossl comes with no end caps. That is the only problem some may have with this eyepiece. Go ahead and get one. There are reviews stating that this Meade plossl bested the Televue 55mm plossl.
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Bigzmey United States of America
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Re: Meade 56mm Plossl Review

#7

Post by Bigzmey »


Refractordude wrote: Mon Jan 18, 2021 2:33 am Tried it out at my dark site a few days ago. A very good eyepiece. I failed to mention in my review that the Meade 56mm plossl comes with no end caps. That is the only problem some may have with this eyepiece. Go ahead and get one. There are reviews stating that this Meade plossl bested the Televue 55mm plossl.
I never figured why Meade does not provide dust caps for their Plossls. Even $10 EPs of eBay come with dust caps.

As for the reviews saying Meade Plossls better than Televue, skip those. They don't come from experienced observers.

I like Meade Plossls. They are well made and offer great value in terms of performance vs price. They come close in performance to Televue, so for most applications there is no need to pay 3-5x more for TV Plossl over Meade.

Saying that, TV (in particular older smoothies) are still the best Plossls out there. They are sharper, have better coatings and as a result better contrast. And when they say 50 deg FOV, they really mean it. In fact 55mm TV Plossl is the only 2" Plossl I am aware of that have actual 50 deg FOV. As you already noticed most other 2" Plossls claim 52 deg FOV but in reality are stopped down to 40-45 deg. This translates to 20-50% more observable area.
Scopes: Stellarvue: SV102ED; Celestron: 9.25" EdgeHD, 8" SCT, 150ST, Onyx 80ED; iOptron: Hankmeister 6" Mak; SW: 7" Mak; Meade: 80ST.
Mounts: SW: SkyTee2, AzGTi; iOptron: AZMP; ES: Twilight I; Bresser: EXOS2; UA: MicroStar.
Binos: APM: 100-90 APO; Canon: IS 15x50; Orion: Binoviewer, LG II 15x70, WV 10x50, Nikon: AE 16x50, 10x50, 8x40.
EPs: Pentax: XWs & XFs; TeleVue: Delites, Panoptic & Plossls; ES: 68, 62; Vixen: SLVs; Baader: BCOs, Aspherics, Mark IV.
Diagonals: Baader: BBHS mirror, Zeiss Spec T2 prism, Clicklock dielectric; TeleVue: Evebrite dielectric; AltairAstro: 2" prism.
Filters: Lumicon: DeepSky, UHC, OIII, H-beta; Baader: Moon & SkyGlow, Contrast Booster, UHC-S, 6-color set; Astronomik: UHC.

Observing: DSOs: 3106 (Completed: Messier, Herschel 1, 2, 3. In progress: H2,500: 2180, S110: 77). Doubles: 2382, Comets: 34, Asteroids: 255
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Re: Meade 56mm Plossl Review

#8

Post by Don Alvarez »


Bigzmey wrote: Mon Jan 18, 2021 3:09 am I never figured why Meade does not provide dust caps for their Plossls. Even $10 EPs of eBay come with dust caps.
Its been about 2 years since I bought them but my 4k's came with dust caps. Maybe they stopped shipping them to recoup money for that lawsuit :lol:
Telescopes: 10" SkyLine Dobsonian, 6" Apertura F5 Newt, Celestron Nextar GT90, Meade Infinity 80
EP: 5.5mm, 8.8mm, 14mm, 20mm, 24mm Meade 5000 UWA's, BCO's w/ Q-Turret, 26mm, 32mm, 40mm Meade 4000 Plossls, Orion Expanse, 30mm, 20mm, 15mm GSO Superview, Various others.
Binocs: 15x70 Celestron Skymaster, 10x50 Levenhuk Karma Pro, 10x42 Bushnell, 8x42 Sans & Streiffe
Mounts: Meade LX70 with dual axis motors, Celestron GT, More miscellaneous tripods than a Martian invasion.

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Re: Meade 56mm Plossl Review

#9

Post by MistrBadgr »


I do not know about the two inch eyepieces, buy the Plossels coming from Sunny have end caps, but not the plastic cases. They just come in a plain thin white cardboard box like most generic eyepieces come in. They seem to be good eyepieces with an emphasis on sharp images in the inner 50 or 60 percent of the field. Edges tend not to be as sharp as really high dollar eyepieces. The coatings seem to have the same general characteristics as before, more on the cooler side of things and not yellow, with a lot of light transmission, compared to some others I have encountered. They work well in my Bortle 6 back yard and seem to fight the light pollution some. The lettering is now white and not some shade of yellow.
Bill Steen
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Many eyepieces, just not really expensive ones.
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