Excelsis - Display Vote

Meade 152ED

I purchased the OTA previously owned and reviewed by Tony Grigsby above. My rating is not for the stock OTA, but rather after I subststantially modified its lens cell to allow the lenses to be precisely centered.

Vega has a thin ring of purple around it. Under scrutiny, at any magnification up to about 600x, the limb of the moon shows a very thin cobalt blue fringe of false color which can't quite be focused out completely. The terminator shadows are very black and the moon surface is very white when the scope is properly focused, and does not show any fringe. When out of focus, I see either a slight purple or slight amber fringe to the images, depending on if it is intra- or extrafocal. I have taken this scope up to 400x+ on a regular basis when viewing double stars, which show their true colors very well. 200-300x seems to be the sweet spot for Saturn, considering the crappy seeing here in Phoenix as of late. I get a crisp cassini division, surface banding, 3 moons easily, and perhaps some contrast variations in the ring bands themselves using my 8mm and 6.5mm UO Konigs. Saturn's images mimick those seen from the best scopes I have ever sampled, Ie: 12.5" Zambuto equipped Starmaster, Cervallo 8" Mak-Newt, 6" f/9 AP.

The scope exhibits a dark sky backround: with a basic low power wide angle eyepiece (40mm Widefield, 30mm Widescan II), I can see detail in the two main halves of the Veil neb. without any filters in, and can nearly get a spiral to M33. Andromeda (m31) shows its two main dust lanes when favorably positioned above the horizon, quite similarly to a 16" Starfinder dob which was nearby on the night I tested. M22 and M13 appear completely resolved with my 13mm Widescan, even though this eyepiece only provides just over 100x. The double double splits at 60x and is clean and wide at 200x. And I am sure it goes without saying that the star images are pinpoints, even up to 100x per inch of aperture, though bad seeing tends to light up a few diffraction rings around the airy discs on brighter stars.

The focuser is much, much better and smoother than the Synta focusers, but not quite a Televue, Takahashi or AP focuser. It's about 80% as smooth as the premium types but certainly feels serious and precise. Critical focusing at planetary magnification is no problem for me, as I have adjusted the gears for no backlash and minimal roughness.

Do not buy a Meade ED refractor unless you know that you will be getting the newer cell (which I have never seen myself, but I hear that it is properly adjustable), or are willing to fix the stock lens cell with which it comes equipped. The Meade ED refractor lens design uses steep curve radii which make it of the utmost importance that the lenses be precisely centered, moreso than than with the Synta achromats (ie. CR-150, Skywatcher 120). If you have the know how or are willing to experiment with lens centering mods to its cell, the Meade 152ED should be considered a huge bargain. Its sharpness and color correction is much closer to the expensive APO's (Ie. Tak Fs-102) than the cheaper achromats. My star test showed about 1/4 wave of undercorrection at first, but I have removed the stock lens airspace ring and replaced it with a thinner ring, yielding near perfect spherical correction. The star test diffraction rings are very round and smooth. Considering that the OTA is roughly the same price used as the Tak FS102 or TV102 OTA,but provides 50% more aperture, giving up only a slight bit of color correction, it was a choice which I don't regret. But you must know how to adjust refractor lenses if you seriously expect to get the most out of a Meade ED refractor. And BTW, this scope showed horrendous star images upon delivery, having had its lenses knocked out of position thanks to UPS. I spent the first few weeks feeling quite frustrated and disappointed with the scope. But it turned out like a wild young puppy which just needed to be trained.

Jeff Quinn
jeff.g.quinn@worldnet.att.net

Overall Rating: 10
Weight: 3 (Unreliable Vote)
Date: 10/28/2001 09:40:17 am PST
By: Anonymous (xxx.xxx.67.194)
Link to this vote: http://www.excelsis.com/1.0/displayvote.php?voteid=38520

"200-300x seems to be the sweet spot for Saturn, considering the crappy seeing here in Phoenix as of late.  I get a crisp cassini division, surface banding, 3 moons easily, and perhaps some contrast variations in the ring bands themselves using my 8mm and 6.5mm UO Konigs.  Saturn's images mimick those seen from the best scopes I have ever sampled, Ie: 12.5" Zambuto equipped Starmaster, Cervallo 8" Mak-Newt, 6" f/9 AP."

> I also own this scope, and I have observed Saturn various times pre and post opposition. I do not fully agree with the statement given above. 
Using high-end 7mm and 5mm orthoscopics (yielding about 200x and 270x, respectively), the ring sytem can be easily separated into crep-ring, surrounding cassini division and Encke-minimum (not-division). At very good seeing (around 9/10) itÂ´s possible to detect spokes within the A and B ring. More than five equatorial and subequatorial belts as well as six moons are also visible under those conditions.
Moreover, the scope easily splits doubles down to 0.74", i.e. 14 Ori and gamma CrB (at more than 250x).
Finally, limiting magnitude is 14.1 and 15.3 at direct and adverted vision, respectively, as determined by the photmetric cart of the "surrounders of M57" by Brian Skiff, Lowell Observatory.
In conclusion, great scope that may compete with 6-inch high-end apochromats, such as FS-152 and TMB152.

Regards, Cord
cord.naujokat(at)med.uni-heidelberg.de

[snipped by webmaster]

>lenses if you seriously expect to get the most out of a Meade ED refractor.  And BTW, this scope showed horrendous star images upon delivery, having had its lenses knocked out of position thanks to UPS.  I spent the first few weeks feeling quite frustrated and disappointed with the scope.  But it turned out like a wild young puppy which just needed to be trained.  
>
>Jeff Quinn  
>jeff.g.quinn@worldnet.att.net

every time you read a review about one of the meade semi-apos you always hear about how they had to change this or that, these scopes should not even be thought of in the same catagory as taks or televue and astro-physics. they are decent performers but the advertising by meade would make you think that you are purchasing a true apo, and that is simply not true. all the meade ed semi-apos are over priced and truly a testament to consistant inconsistant quality control. spend your money on a tak, televue, tmb, or astro-physics. you will be very happy you did.

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