Customer Reviews

Meade WA 18mm Eyepiece (1.25")

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Don't believe the review a few down, which stated the eyepiece is only for specific scopes. The eyepiece is simply a series of lenses through wiich the light cone is passed. It doesn't matter which scope you use it on.

At 18mm it is low power on an ETX, so too much magnification was not the problem. It was probably a problem of focus, not enough travel in the focuser. Might have been solved by securing the eyepiece halfway in the focuser.

Series 3000 plossls will work just as easily as 4000's in any scope.

Be aware, this is not the 6-element 18mm wide-angle that goes for ~... elsewhere. It's a 4 element symmetrical design ...

No eyepiece can have an advertised power rating. The power an eyepiece delivers depends entirely on the focal length of the telescope it's used in. This eyepiece in a telescope with a 1000mm focal length will yield 55 power. In a scope with a 500mm focal length it will yield half that, or about 27 power. The longer the focal length of the telescope, the higher the power a given eyepiece will yield.

This eyepiece would be an excellent buy even at double the price. It is superbly suited for medium-power observing, especially for gathering a wider vista of closely spaced objects, or viewing objects within starfields.

The take on this particular component as offered here, is one of amazement, since basically the same eyepiece is available elsewhere at a much higher price. It is highly recommended for the larger aperture telescope. I have looked through this eyepiece in a 10-inch Schmidt Cassegrain, and the view was spectacular.

Be carefull. This Eyepiece is meant for the ETX-60 and ETX-70 scopes. I bought it for my ETX-125EC and had to return it. The ETX-125 and ETX-90 should use the Meade SuperPloss Series 4000 ocular lenses. Otherwise this is a great item and should be bought by those wishing to do wide field astronomy (the best way to see all of those neat nebulas).

This eyepiece apparently does not do too well in a short focal length telescope like the small refectors, and provides fuzzy edges. That would probably all go away on a longer focal length scope, say f/9 to f/15. Simpler (Fewer elements) eyepieces do not generally do as well on fast f/4 to f/8 scopes. But overall this is a fairly good eyepiece for lower powers.

This works just fine in my ETX 125 and also worked well in an 8" LX. Yeah, the box will say for ETX 60 and 70. But, Don't worry about it. If your scope takes a 1.25" eye piece, It will work. It's also true this is not the six element eyepiece. It is a four element version. But, It is has same wide 67 degree field of view and it's 1/3 the price. The coatings are good, the image is nice right to the edge, and it has ample eye relief. Although this is not the best eyepiece I've looked through, it offers a very pleasing veiw. A lot of bang for the buck. I'm glad I got one. I should have got two. If you have a binoviewer a pair of these would be real nice.

This is an update of my review earlier. Now that I've received the eyepiece and had a chance to try it, I'm disappointed. The outer 25-30% of it's 67 degree field is severely distorted. This means it has no more real useable FOV than a standard plossl.

If I focus stars in the outer field, the on-axis view is badly out of focus, and vice-versa.

I gave it a three since I used a GC I had to pay for a good portion of it. If I'd paid full price, I'd have given it a 2.

The amount an eyepiece magnifies is based on its focal length the focal length of the objective (telescope).

To get magnification divide the focal length of the objective by focal length of the eyepiece.

A 18mm eyepiece will only magnify 19x for a telescope with a focal length of 350mm. For an ETX-90 with a focal length of 1250mm the magnification is 69x. For the ETX-125 with a focal length of 1900mm the magnification is 106x.