Meade 12.4mm Series 4000 Super Plossl Eyepiece - 1.25"

what you might expect

I purchased this eyepiece on a whim. I have a 12.5 MM Celestron Ultima EP that satisfies any need in this range. However, as I was purchasing a similar EP to plug a hole in my collection I just decided to add this one to my order. More than anything else, I was curious. It is a standard 4 element plossl design listed as being multicoated. The first thing one notices when a product arrives from shipping is the packaging. Not which is done by the dealer, but how the company protects its product. Meade does a fine job. I have purchased several EPs from Meade and all of them were packaged in the same manner. This shows me that Meade respects their products, even those at the lower end of the price range. The EP has a very nice appearance and a solid feel. The eye lens is the size one would expect for this FL eyepiece while the barrel lens was properly secured. The lettering was painted on the eyepiece body and not stamped in as I would like. There was a detachable eyecup. I have used the EP with two telescopes; my 80MM 7.5 APO and a 8" F6 DOB. It was used alone and paired with a TeleVue 3X barlow, a Celestron 2X Ultima barlow, and a TPO 5X barlow. It performed well in every instance. A slight problem with "blackouts" occurred when used with the 5X, but this is common with almost any similar focal length EP when used with a barlow of that magnification. The eyepiece produces good views. There was a little edge distortion, but not to the extent to distract from the view. I have not noticed any ghosting or significant glare. Thus, one would believe the provided multicoating is adequate for most observing tasks. It seemed to work better when used on brighter objects especially the planets. Jupiter was well displayed in both scopes. It provided good details at 97X, the mag produced when used with the DOB. With the APO at 48X the views were very sharp but due to the smaller aperture lacking in great detail. When barlowed with the 3X and 2X, the views were very nice with a significant increase in detail. Views of DSOs were not a good as one would expect. The EP has the typical FOV provided by the plossl design which is generally not a problem at this FL. The EP did as expected on brighter DSOs such as the Orion nebulae, M82 or M82, and Open Clusters. However views of dimmer DSOs were disappointing. I could not account for this problem unless there is an unknown issue per the coatings. When all things are considered, including the minimal price,this is a product as one would expect. It provides average to good views on most objects. I would not recommend this as a primary piece of equipment, but to fill a hole in your collection or for use on the road it will do fine.