Meade Instruments 07741 Series 5000 1.25-Inch Ultra Wide Angle 8.8-mm Eyepiece (Black)

I bought this to use with my Orion XT8 Plus Dobsonian. As others have noted, this thing is big (see photos). It weighs 1lb, 10 oz (737g). I included a photo comparing it to the Orion 28mm eyepiece, which comes with the telescope. I thought the 28mm eyepiece was big! Down to the pros and cons (cons first): Cons: 1) Ring of grease: due to the way the twist-up eyecup works, you have to watch out for a ring of grease what is exposed when the eye cup is up. The grease is exposed because the eyepiece is threaded in the body and extends when you (firmly) grab the main body and the bottom and twist in opposite directions. The interior parts of the eyepiece descend, thus "raising" the eye cup. The eye cup itself doesn't move. So when you do this, the interior sleeve of the eyepiece, which is covered in grease, is exposed by about 1/4". I'll get used to it, but I touched it probably three times in my only outing with it so far. Pros: 1) Field of view: at 82 degrees, this is simply beautiful. You don't feel like you're looking through a long tube with a tiny opening. Instead, it's the feeling of almost sticking your head out into space. I also get this feeling with the 28mm Deepview eyepiece (w/a 56 degree AFOV, interestingly), but this is more powerful and just as bright (60x in my scope vs. the 28mm's 42.8x). The moon is stunning in this piece (although painfully bright - get a moon filter with this!). The Orion nebula was clear and very visible. 2) Eye relief: aside from the ring of grease, the eye cup itself is nice. It provides very deep eye relief. I happen to have long eye lashes, so sunglasses and telescope viewing can be challenges, but with this I could push my eye into it until it sealed out the light around it and nothing touched the lens element. The cup itself is a very firm and kinda thick rubber with a satin feel which doesn't move or have to be folded up, so I believe it will last and I'm not worried about it someday tearing. Very nice. 3) Clarity/focus: clarity and sharpness just make the whole viewing experience come to life. You experience more the depth of space, and it feels more three-dimensional to view through a quality eyepiece such as this. Power isn't everything! You'll want more power for planetary viewing (although I could clearly make out two cloud bands on Jupiter, along with the four main moons, but it was pretty small). Neutral: 1) Size: again, it's massive. One reviewer called it "the hand grenade," which is no joke. It's also heavy, which makes me wonder how it would perform in a refractor or a smaller tube assembly like a Maksutov-Cassegrain. It doesn't bother my Dob, though. 2) Ghosting: When viewing Jupiter, I did notice that there was a ghost image swimming around when I would move my head. I'm willing to correct this should it be the fault of less-than-ideal viewing, which I had when testing this (and there was a lot of light from the half moon). I'll correct this if it goes away under better conditions. UPDATE 4/26/16: I was finally able to get another night of pretty clear skies, and this time there was no ghosting, only a dim lens flare when observing Jupiter plus the usual diffraction spikes (which reflectors have regardless of the eyepiece). Atmospheric conditions, humidity, and other things can affect viewing quality, so the lesson learned is: observe the same thing over several nights, when the climate conditions might vary, to see if it really is the eyepiece or something else. I guess it was something else. Misc: - it comes in a nice, foam lined box. - the dust caps are nice. - it is waterproof (realistically more like humidity proof - you're not going to be taking your telescope out in the rain!). - I will be buying at least one other eyepiece in this series, as well as a barlow for 2" eyepieces. I am very happy with this eyepiece.

I have 3 telescopes but only my F5.9 Orion XT8 Intelliscope can accept 2" eyepieces. This is an 8" Dobsonian/Newtonian telescope. I have 38 mm 70 degree and 25 mm 70 degree 2" as well. I recently added the Meade 5000 UWA 20 mm 82 degree in 2". I find the view excellent with a clean image across the range. The turn up eyecup is very comfortable and very effective. The only negatives I can offer are that it is heavy compared to my other 2" eyepieces and it is physically much larger. Also Meade uses a very thick grease to lubricate the rotating eyecup that makes it stiff to the adjustment. Since you only move it once during a session this is not a big issue. I used a paper towel to remove some and the eyecup moves much more easily now. Due to the weight of the 20 mm eyepiece, on my XT8 I find I need to tighten up the Alt adjustment. I also have magnets that I use for counter weight when I put my other 2'" eyepieces into a 2" barlow. I use half of that balance set when I use this eyepiece alone. Not an issue but worth noting. The weight could be a problem in a small refractor. I also have the Meade 5000 UWA 5.5 mm and find that to be excellent too. I have two Explore Scientific 82 degree eyepieces and I find the 5.5 very comparable. If you are looking for a wide angle 2" in this range I would recommend this one as long as the size and weigh are not an issue.

I really like this eyepiece. It is bulky, hevy and had a nice quality feel. Be aware of the bulky/heavy quality of this as it may not be ideal for certain telescopes. I ordered 2 of the for use in my binoviewer and they function well without any weight/width issues. I am not going to get into the quality of the optics as I know that there is a lot of of different factors that readers would like to know and I am a bit too new to the hobby to be very accurate. There are other people out there that will serve those points better. I will however say that I observed the moon on a few clear occassions and had really nice up-close views. Being so close up however, the moon quickly travelled out of the field of view. I much perfer the views of the moon through my 68 degree 24mm eyepieces....but it is very cool to be able to zoom in and see everything so up close. In my novice status, I feel that I got these at a really good price ($84 each) and I like what I see. There is however one thing that I don't like, and it really annoys me: As I have read on other reviews, there is a lubricating grease that helps the retractible eye relief glide up and down. When the eye relief is down, no issue. But, when you raise it, the greased area becomes exposed. Everytime I use this eye piece, I get the grease on my hands. It is thick and sticky. It is extremely annoying that it was designed like this. With repeated use, I imagine that I will eventually remember to be careful where it, but until then...annoying.

I've finally found the eyepiece for my 10" dob! After I got over the shock of how big it is and used it for a while...I'm totally sold on it. I had heard that these didn't rate well with the faster scopes but I'm very happy with this one. My rule of thumb for judging eyepieces is M13 I was very satisfied with the rich open undistorted view I received tonight. I especially like the eye relief and being able to saddle right up to it and lean my eye in without distortions. I did notice a faint orange glow around the extreme edge at times but to no consequence to my viewing pleasure. The eyepiece is very well made, it has a very smooth eye cup function and very comfortable on the eye. I was also pleasantly surprised that it works very well with my inexpensive x2 2" Zhumell Barlow. I thought for sure I would see a lot of distortion but it magnifies this eyepiece nicely. I have had to purchase several different eyepieces to say...Finally! With this eyepiece I feel like I'm looking out from the space station into the heavens and loving every minute of it! For the price, one can't go wrong on this Eyepiece. Very well shipped in a heavy duty container, this is an eyepiece that's made to last a life time and so is the box. I would recommend this to anyone that's looking for a good overall eyepiece for planetary or deep space.

I gave this a good test run in a 4" f/5 Televue Genesis hours after it arrived on my doorstep. Any eyepiece that claims to be a premium eyepiece simply must do well in fast optical systems...and it did. Contrast was excellent with minimal ghosting on planets. Color tone seemed pretty neutral. The eye relief is more than a Type 6 Nagler and just under that of an Ethos--almost (not quite) enough for eyeglass wearers but I was able to see the full field of view with my thin eyeglasses. At this low a focal length, though, my own eye's astigmatism wasn't a factor, so I preferred using it w/o glasses, and the eye relief was plentiful in that regard. The eye relief is adjustable, and eye placement wasn't critical, either; it felt cozy. Sharpness, both on- and off-axis, was excellent. Premium eyepieces have an intangible, je-ne-sais-quoi "oomph" to focus that's hard to describe, but you know it when you see it, and the 5.5mm Meade had it. Stars are tiny, tiny pinpoints. M13 was resolved and I had a clean split of both Epsilon-1 and Epsilon-2 Lyrae with the 5.5mm Meade in the Genesis--that's just 91X, for those keeping score at home. Off-axis astigmatism is very minimal; stars were tack-sharp until the very edge of the field stop (>95% from the center to the edge). The Genesis is an f/5 refractor free of coma, comparable to the view in an f/4.3 reflector equipped with a Paracorr. In other words, a severe optical test, and it passed with flying colors. If I could find any faults with it, there are two very minor quibbles, one mechanical and the other optical. One is the excessive barrel grease that Meade has insisted on using since, I dunno, the Pleistocene Epoch, which is an issue when the eyecup is adjusted to change eye relief. The eyepiece also has a little lateral color on the brightest (2nd magnitude or brighter) stars starting from around 80% out from the center to the edge, more so than a Delos or Pentax XW, but quite a bit less than other widefield eyepieces I've used or looked through. Neither of these points really detracts from its performance, which is why I'm still giving it five stars. On balance, it's a great eyepiece that FAR exceeds its price point in terms of performance. Not a "great eyepiece for the money"; just a great eyepiece. Why Meade has it priced as low as they do, I dunno, but I'd suggest grabbing one before they come to their senses. My eyepiece case has only five other eyepieces, and of those, three are Televues and one is a Pentax XW. The 5.5mm Meade 5000 UWA has earned its place into the case and can hold its head up high among the others. HIGHLY recommended.

I will openly admit I am a Televue snob. For years I assumed that nothing compared to a TV eyepiece and most of mine now are TV. That is until I tried this baby on a whim. Figured if it turned out like all the others I have tried over the years it was easy enough to send back to Amazon. Well this thing isn't going anywhere. It is now my most used and favorite eyepiece in my 600mm refractors. The views are stunning and the widefield is amazing. There is some field curvature in the Meade that the TV does not suffer from but it's hardly noticeable. At 1/5 the cost of the TV 16mm Nagler eyepiece I also own, this thing is an absolute steal. It rarely moves from my 120mm refractor now.

I was in a very dark area of Washington state this weekend and popped this new EP into my 12" LX90. Absolutely stunning views. It's the perfect size for all observing for me. FOV and magnification are just right. I also purchased the 4000 56mm and used it for about a minute and it went back into my accessories case. The contrast and image quality of the 20mm 5000 were too far superior to bother with it. I got this for $100. Though I'm glad I didn't, I would pay $300. I handle it like it cost $1000. It's seriously that good. It is a beast. I call it the hand grenade. But I like that. It feels solid, looks impressive, and feels great in your hand. Other reviews can give you the nerd specs. I am am avid backyard astronomer who, in one purchase, made all 6 other EPs I own take permanent residency in my acc case. Buy this EP. Buy it now. Not because it's a great deal but because it's a very high quality lens. Go. Hit purchase now.

I bought this looking for better images for viewing Saturn and Jupiter with a Zhumell Z130 scope. Build quality of this lens is great but it’s very big. The axel grease is an issue as just about every review mentions but manageable. The wide angle can be nice for viewing planets but still requires frequent adjustment tracking because I found the quality decreased noticeably toward the edge, most notably color bleeding. The thing that ultimately caused me to return it was the when viewing Jupiter, there was lens flare across the entire lens, much worse than any of my other lenses in the same focal range. It was also no sharper and had worse contrast. In short, it provided no better visual images of Jupiter and Saturn than my other lenses than are 2-3x less expensive. Maybe this lens requires a better scope to see its true potential. For me, it wasn’t worth the price.

Very sharp aa clear as if not more so than my 5mm nagler

Excelente calidad y precio

Was good

This is an amazing EP. I believe its actually better than its TV counterparts. Sharp all the way to its huge AFOW. High power viewing in most telescopes Perfect for unguided Dobs as your target (usually planets) stays in your field of view longer. This EP is also very colour neutral, compared to rivals which seem to colour the images in a more yellow cast Some reviews complain about the lubricant used when rotating to raise the eye cup. I can tell you that this is largely untrue. Just raise and lower the cup a few times while wiping with a clean tissue. After a few minutes its no problem at all. I believe that this EP destined to become a "must have" in terms of collectability. It won't be around forever so don't be shy. Prices have been going up due to virus restrictions. If 5.5mm is too short a focal range consider the Meade 8.8mm UWA which is very similar. Lastly the boxes they come in are excellent too. Very professionally looking. The top comes off easily with to top dark foam staying in the lid. About the best I've seen in my 20+ EP collection. You may change your telescopes but a good EP will serve you forever. This one is a keeper

As sharp as any nagler maybe better.