trufflehunter
12-03-2005, 06:08 PM
<H2>Meade QX Eyepiece — First Look!</H2>I ordered a 20mm and a 26mm from Mike at Bintel on Thursday afternoon and they arrived here in Newcastle the following day! Those guys are great! I thought I'd pass my initial impressions on to you, although I can't tell you how they actually perform because, as some of you already know, I'm currently scopeless! Apparently Meade have stopped shipping the LX90 LNT until they resolve some parallax problem with the red dot finder. I'll be sure to write up a full review when I've got a scope to use them with!<H3>Packaging</H3>With trembling paw, I lay them out on my dining table. Supplied in plastic bolt cases and nicely boxed!<br>
http://www.users.bigpond.net.au/trufflehunter/qx_review/QX1.jpg <H3>Appearance</H3>The eyepieces are beautifully finished using exactly the same barrel design as the Series 4000, although the font used for the screen printing is slightly different. The barrels are recessed, which seems to be Meade's policy for all their new eyepieces. The coatings are a nice turquoise blue, unlike the poisonous green on my GSO 15mm Superview. Unlike the GSO, the eye lens on the QX has its flat surface facing out. The GSO has a steeply convex outer surface on its eye lens.
Looking through each (no scope, remember!) the field stop is in sharp focus, again unlike not only the GSO, but also several other 'lesser' eyepieces I've used in the past. The FOV is quite impressive and certainly seems somewhat wider than that of the GSO, which would put Meade's claim of 70° right on the mark.<H3>Eye Relief</H3>Here's the rub! The eye relief is not great. So: "No glasses please, we're QX eyepieces!"
Without glasses the 20mm is 'comfortable' however, on the 26mm, I had to roll back the rubber eye-guard to see the full FOV. Once the eye-guard is rolled back the whole FOV is fully visible with a beautifully focussed field stop. I find the same problem with the GSO 15mm.<H3>Barrel Length</H3>One of the things that attracted me to the 26mm (and the 36mm when they are in stock!) is the shorter than average chrome barrel. I have a Willam Optics 2" diagonal and my 1rpd ST80 30mm doesn't fully insert, as you can see:<br>
http://www.users.bigpond.net.au/trufflehunter/qx_review/WO_1RPD.jpg
<p>The Meade however fits beautifully:</p>
http://www.users.bigpond.net.au/trufflehunter/qx_review/WO_QX.jpg
<H3>Final Words</H3>I am extremely impressed with the look and feel of these eyepieces. On the surface they exhibit all the hallmarks of quality design. Of course time will tell, once I get to try them out properly! If they perform as well as they look, then, for the price, we've got real bargains on our hands.
There has been much speculation over whether they are from the same source as the GSO's. That may well be the case, but they are certainly of a very different optical design. The eye lenses on the Meades have their flat surface facing out, like most eyepieces I have ever seen. The GSO and the 1rpd 30mm have a distinctly convex outer surface, which is not part of the standard Plössl or Erfle specs. Furthermore, the coatings on the Meades seem much 'nicer', for want of a better term!
Curiously I noticed that when you remove the chrome barrel from the GSO the whole eyepiece unit falls out. It's as though they produce these basic eyepiece "capsules" that can be inserted into other barrel designs. I'll leave the possibilites of such a design for others to postulate... but can anyone verify that the other GSO models (I only have the 15mm) are the same, in terms of this 'capsule' idea, and in terms of the convex outer surface of the eye lens?
Finally, just in case you get the impression I don't like my GSO, I do! I think it's a great medium power wide-field eyepiece and fantastic value for money. It's staying in my eyepiece case for some time to come, unless someone donates a Teleview or a Meade Series 5000 UW to this very worthy cause!
http://www.users.bigpond.net.au/trufflehunter/qx_review/QX1.jpg <H3>Appearance</H3>The eyepieces are beautifully finished using exactly the same barrel design as the Series 4000, although the font used for the screen printing is slightly different. The barrels are recessed, which seems to be Meade's policy for all their new eyepieces. The coatings are a nice turquoise blue, unlike the poisonous green on my GSO 15mm Superview. Unlike the GSO, the eye lens on the QX has its flat surface facing out. The GSO has a steeply convex outer surface on its eye lens.
Looking through each (no scope, remember!) the field stop is in sharp focus, again unlike not only the GSO, but also several other 'lesser' eyepieces I've used in the past. The FOV is quite impressive and certainly seems somewhat wider than that of the GSO, which would put Meade's claim of 70° right on the mark.<H3>Eye Relief</H3>Here's the rub! The eye relief is not great. So: "No glasses please, we're QX eyepieces!"
Without glasses the 20mm is 'comfortable' however, on the 26mm, I had to roll back the rubber eye-guard to see the full FOV. Once the eye-guard is rolled back the whole FOV is fully visible with a beautifully focussed field stop. I find the same problem with the GSO 15mm.<H3>Barrel Length</H3>One of the things that attracted me to the 26mm (and the 36mm when they are in stock!) is the shorter than average chrome barrel. I have a Willam Optics 2" diagonal and my 1rpd ST80 30mm doesn't fully insert, as you can see:<br>
http://www.users.bigpond.net.au/trufflehunter/qx_review/WO_1RPD.jpg
<p>The Meade however fits beautifully:</p>
http://www.users.bigpond.net.au/trufflehunter/qx_review/WO_QX.jpg
<H3>Final Words</H3>I am extremely impressed with the look and feel of these eyepieces. On the surface they exhibit all the hallmarks of quality design. Of course time will tell, once I get to try them out properly! If they perform as well as they look, then, for the price, we've got real bargains on our hands.
There has been much speculation over whether they are from the same source as the GSO's. That may well be the case, but they are certainly of a very different optical design. The eye lenses on the Meades have their flat surface facing out, like most eyepieces I have ever seen. The GSO and the 1rpd 30mm have a distinctly convex outer surface, which is not part of the standard Plössl or Erfle specs. Furthermore, the coatings on the Meades seem much 'nicer', for want of a better term!
Curiously I noticed that when you remove the chrome barrel from the GSO the whole eyepiece unit falls out. It's as though they produce these basic eyepiece "capsules" that can be inserted into other barrel designs. I'll leave the possibilites of such a design for others to postulate... but can anyone verify that the other GSO models (I only have the 15mm) are the same, in terms of this 'capsule' idea, and in terms of the convex outer surface of the eye lens?
Finally, just in case you get the impression I don't like my GSO, I do! I think it's a great medium power wide-field eyepiece and fantastic value for money. It's staying in my eyepiece case for some time to come, unless someone donates a Teleview or a Meade Series 5000 UW to this very worthy cause!