Meade 5000 ED 127mm Triplet F7.

5 Refractor Long Term Review

Phil Jaworek

Introduction
My astronomy had changed over the 5 years that I
owned a Celestron C11 SCT. In the early days I
was a visual only astronomer where aperture is
king and the C11 was easily up to the job. During
the period of ownership however I started imaging
and soon found imaging with smaller and faster
scopes much easier than with the C11. Pretty
soon the C11 was left in the cupboard and did not
get the use it deserved.

In 2009 I finally made the difficult decision to

change the C11 for a refractor big enough to do
justice to DSOs for visual work; good enough
optically for imaging; have adequate focal length
to provide decent image scale on galaxies and
planetary nebulae but more importantly, possess a
price that wouldn’t break the bank.

Thus in July of 2009 after a great leap of faith,

(due to lack of reviews), I purchased a Meade 127
5000 ED Triplet F7.5 Apo Refractor and sold the
C11.

Specifications
This being a long term review I have deliberately
st st
left out 1 impressions and 1 lights preferring to
concentrate on what the scope is like after 2 years
but for the sake of completeness I have included
specifications and a brief description. The Meade 127 EDT in visual mode on HEQ5
at SGL6

Extract from the Meade Web Site:

Optical Design: 3-element Apochromatic Refractor

Objective Lens Size: 127mm (5")
Focal Length, Focal Ratio: 952.5mm f/7.5
Optics: Fully Multi-Coated
Telescope Dimensions ((L x W x H): 33.3" x 6.125" x 6.125"
Tube Body: Aluminum
Dew Shield: Built-in Extendable
Optical Glass: FCD1 ED (Extremely Low Dispersion)
glass. Air spaced in lens cell.
Focuser: Machined 2" Dual Speed Crayford style
focuser
Diagonal: Series 5000 2" Enhanced Diagonal
Telescope Weight (with diagonal): 17.7 lbs.

PJ addition:
Internal Baffles 3
Typical Price 2009 £1200 inc case and 2” diagonal
Typical Price 2011 £1699 inc case and 2” diagonal
Brief description
OTA is gloss white and is complete with a fixed Crayford style dual speed focuser finished in
black high gloss anodising. The draw tube is graduated with a white millimetre scale and
provides approximately 4” of travel.

A finder bracket is fitted to the focuser body

by means of a blue anodised rotating ring
allowing the finder to be rotated to achieve a
comfortable viewing position.

The gloss white 8x50 straight through finder

is fitted with a graduated reticule. The
reticule is illuminated by a red LED powered
by a button cell. Illumination intensity is
adjustable.

A 6” long retractable Dew Shield is finished

with an anodised blue locking ring, colour
matching the finder ring. A turned aluminium
dust cap screws into the end of the dew
The unusual rotatable finder bracket. Also shown is the
shield to provide objective lens protection. illuminated reticule finder, a nice touch.

2 cast aluminium tube rings are supplied, fitted with a cast carry handle and a cast
Vixen/Synta fitting dovetail bar. The carry handle has a ¼” wide axial slot providing a handy
fixing point for accessories such as camera brackets etc. The dovetail bar is only beveled for
a short length therefore it may not fit all mounts. Rings, handle and dovetail are painted with
a black satin finish.

Mechanics
Finish.
The gloss white paint finish is quite rugged and is good for a scope in this price
bracket. There were a couple of minor cosmetic blemishes when new but hey this
was a 5” Apo at just over a £1200 so I reckon these can be forgiven. Generally the fit
and finish are good and perfectly functional, in 2 years the paintwork has acquired
only a couple of small nicks despite being used at star parties and in the field.

The interior of the dew shield is painted matt black but there were a couple of
smudges of white paint to be seen as if someone had handled the dew shield before
the top coat had cured. This was easily solved with a small brush and a tin of matt
black paint. The dew shield is prevented from slipping fully down the tube by a large
internal spring clip, this has started to show signs of rust after 2 years of dew laden
nights; again this was easy to remedy and can be removed for repainting easily.
Focuser
The gloss anodised finish looks good and has proved as rugged as the paintwork,
after 2 years it still looked as good as new.

Unfortunately the draw tube is

developing the inevitable tram lines from
the Crayford bearings. This may be due
to my adjusting the grip of the focuser a
little too much to avoid slippage when I
fit my camera and filter wheel. But even
with the tram lines the focuser still works
smoothly.

The focuser is excellent for visual work

the two speed adjustment is handy for
teasing out fine planetary detail and has
a positive feel. The focus lock works
well ensuring the draw tube does not
shift even with a large load on the back,
however there is a tendency for the
focus to shift slightly when locking. Now
this isn’t too much of a problem when
visual observing but I did have some
frustrating moments during imaging, The focuser and finder bracket. Tramlines on draw
eventually opting not to use the lock at tube are typical of this type of focuser but do not
affect performance
all.
The only thing I would change about the focuser is to make it rotatable to allow image
framing with a camera without focus shift.

Unfortunately my Revelation binoviewers would only reach focus when barlowed but
this was easily solved by adding a couple of longer fl eyepieces to my eyepiece case.

Finder & Bracket

The finder fits onto the focuser assembly with a very novel bracket. Because the
focuser does not rotate the manufacturer gets round this by fitting a rotating ring to
the focuser on which the finder bracket is screwed. Thus the finder can be moved by
loosening a single lock screw on the focuser ring, rotated to a more accessible
position and then locked. This is an unusual but perfectly functional system.

Optics
Lens & Cell
The three element objective has a fine
green tint indicative of the coatings used.
There are no push pull collimation screws,
therefore collimation is factory set and
cannot be adjusted.
Despite 2 years of use and the inevitable
transportation knocks, star tests and
occasional checks with a Cheshire eyepiece
reveal the collimation is still spot on.

CA
For visual work the lack of colour is
exceptional for a scope in this price range,
the lunar limb shows no fringing and
planetary detail is clear, contrasty and sharp
even at high magnifications.
The business end showing the green coating
tint. 2 of the 3 internal baffles are clearly visible
 I may be too picky here but I think with very long exposure images there is a very
slight blue tint detectable to brighter stars but the stars are not bloated in any way.
This is no real problem because a quick tweak in photoshop using Noels actions or
colour balance sorts the star colours easily.

My modifications over the 2 years of ownership

Most new owners will want to change the supplied dovetail bar straight away because
the mounting area is too short for some mounts, the HEQ6 for one. I have 2 dovetail
bars which I swap depending on what mount I am using, CGE spec for my
observatory mount and a standard 8” Vixen style bar for my HEQ5 mount.

I have replaced the carry handle with a length of ADM mini dovetail bar. This still
provides a convenient
handle but provides a
quick connection fitting for
my guidescope.

After seeing and testing

a Moonlite Focuser on
someone else’s scope I
knew then I just had to
have one, I was smitten, ADM MDT rail doubles as handle and guidescope mount
so in January 2011 I gave
into temptation and bought the large format version for this scope. The Moonlite is
rotatable and has a non image shift focus lock so as well as looking superb in
anodised blue to match the Meade trim it sorts the little quirks of the stock focuser.
Don’t get me wrong here, the stock focuser is well designed and functional and
should last a lifetime for visual use but I crumbled and treated myself to a little luxury
which has turned a good scope into a superb scope.

The finder is occasionally swapped for a SW 9x50 finder home modified to right angle
viewing. This little modification helps with any scope and saves bending and
backache when trying to locate objects near the zenith.

Performance
Cool Down
Cool down time is quite short but does benefit from a ½ hour or so to acclimate and
get the best views.

Lunar and Planetary

Visual
This scope excels on lunar, the 5” aperture gives plenty of resolution and the image
brightness enables very high magnifications (400x and above) to be used when
seeing conditions allow.
I regularly use planetary filters to tease out fainter detail, because of the bright image,
these can be used easily without loss of definition on lunar and the brighter planets,
Mars, Jupiter and Saturn particularly.

My C11 had the aperture advantage and image scale wow factor but the
unobstructed view through the Meade has the edge on contrast I reckon.
A good example of this is recently we had some non-astro friends around for an
st
evening meal. The night was clear with a glorious 1 quarter moon and Jupiter riding
bright and high. Our guests expressed an interest in looking through my scope and so
without hesitation I set up the Meade and showed them the moon. They were
enthralled but then I turned the scope to Jupiter and slotted in a TMB 6mm planetary
eyepiece (158x). I then asked them to describe what they could see. Each said they
could see stripes and a large blob, (belts and the GRS) but then after a few seconds
there was an exclamation as they found the sharp and clear black dot of an IO
shadow transit.
 Testament to good optics I think when beginners can spot detail like that after a
few seconds at the eyepiece.

TMB planetary eyepieces work very well in this scope but my favourite is the Meade
5000 5.5mm eyepiece, this is just that bit clearer and of course has a wider true field
of view.

Imaging
I do enjoy using the scope with my Canon 1000D for taking full frame lunar shots, the
focuser holds the camera securely and the fine focus control enables easy focusing
using the cameras live preview mode. I have also been known to use my QHY5 ccd
guide camera to take more detailed shots of the moon with or without barlow lens to
good effect.

I must admit to not ever having tried imaging any planets with this scope. I tried web
cam planetary imaging when I had the C11 but never really took to it because of an
acute lack of patience when it comes to processing. This will certainly change in the
near future.

Deep Sky
Visual
This is where I thought I would miss the aperture of the C11 but the Meade has
performed well, the 5” aperture gives plenty of light grasp and still pulls in
the fainter detail. For example the C11 could pull in the Veil Nebula unfiltered but I
can still detect the brighter regions unaided on a good night with the Meade; filtered
there are no problems and its easily seen.

Globulars are spectacular in this scope, the sharpness of M13 is something to

behold. Obviously the image is not as bright as with the C11 but a good eyepiece, and a
comfortable observing position will tease out thousands of stars resolving the core
beautifully. Over the years I have learnt the correct way to observe; take your time
and look properly at the object and you will be amased at what you’ve been missing
with quick glances at objects.

Nebula
The view of M42 is a show stopper in any decent scope and in the Meade it’s the
same but slotting a Hbeta filter in the view reveals loads of detail, fainter outer
swathes of the nebula pop into view and I can spend hours on this object alone.

Galaxies and fainter stuff

I used to use the C11 for spring galaxy bagging with a Mintron video camera to see
how many faint and obscure galaxies I could find; I am pleased to say I can still do
the same with the Meade. I took the Meade and Mintron combo to a recent star party
(SGL6) to do the just this and I must say I was not disappointed. Over 2 clear nights I
lost count of the number of galaxies I caught in the Virgo and Coma regions.
I understand this set up was giving the equivalent to what could be seen with the
unaided eye in a 16” Dobsonian. Not bad for a 5” scope eh?

Double/Multiple Stars
Since “going refractor” I have discovered the pleasure to be had from double star
observation. Through the Meade in-focus star images are perfect little bulls eyes
indicative of well corrected optics. If truth be told my favourite double star scope is a
30 year old 4” F15 achromatic refractor but the Meade is quickly becoming a firm
favourite, the extra 1” of aperture helps when resolving very close doubles.

The Trapezium is easily split with the E&F stars visible with medium magnifications.
Porrima which is now starting to open up shows dark sky between the components at
200x. Epsilon Lyra splits into 4 components under 100x and the excellent colour
correction makes identifying component colours easy, Albireo and Izar for example.
Imaging
This scope is easy! It is so well behaved compared to my old C11. With the Meade
one can concentrate on imaging and not worry about initial focus, focus drift due to
temperature or even dewing because the long dew shield keeps this at bay in all but
the wettest of nights.

With a DSLR or CCD camera focusing is very simple. The graduated draw tube aids
setting the approximate focus point then the smooth and positive fine focus control
comes into its own. I use a Bhartinov mask for CCD focusing and a STI Stiletto
focuser with the DSLR and can honestly say I have never had any trouble achieving
focus.
Once focus is achieved I no longer lock the draw tube as this shifts the focus slightly.
With the focuser tension set to a firm position the friction in the focuser is enough to
stop focus slip even with a camera and filter wheel fitted and the scope pointed at the
zenith.

If you are not using a 2” diagonal between the scope and camera you will need a 2”
extension tube to achieve focus which is quite common for refractors.

The image scale is ideal for the objects I want to capture with this scope. For
example M81 takes most of the chip up on an Atik 314L+ whereas both M81 and M82
can just be crammed into the field of view when using a Canon 1000d.

M1 in RGB with
Atik 314L+. Slight
cropping.

M81 Luminence channel only.

Through Atik 314L+. No cropping
 Field flatness is very good– Initially I used the scope with a Canon 1000D DSLR and
did detect a slight coma at the edge of the field of view when imaging at the focal
plane.

Uncropped full frame M35 taken with Canon 1000d at focal plane, no flattener, showing slight coma in bottom left
and right of frame but nothing that cannot be cropped out. Does this scope really need a flattener? IMHO no.

I therefore rashly purchased a WO MKIV flattener / reducer which cured what little
coma there was completely but at the expense of slowing the F ratio even more. This
was because the MKIV I purchased was an early version which flattened but didn’t
reduce, in fact it actually increased the FL by a small amount. Also the MKIV was big
and heavy so much so that with the added weight of the camera the focus would
sometimes shift when not locked. For those reasons I think I must have used the
MKIV about a dozen times before selling it. Now I just crop the edges of any dslr
images to remove small affected areas.
Of course with the Atik 314L+ camera field flatness is perfect for the chip size, in fact
I often use my WO MKII flattener just to take the F ratio down to around near F6 for
some objects, this works only because of the smaller chip in the Atik.

Mounting
I was going to put this category under mechanics but I think it important enough to
warrant a section on its own.

At around 9 kilos with a 2” diagonal and a reasonable sized 2” eyepiece this scope is
no real heavy weight but the weight and its size at just over 6.25” diameter at the dew
shield and 39” long with the dew shield extended makes it quite a handful. Therefore
careful consideration must be made to the mount the scope is going to be used with
in order to get the best from this scope.

For imaging I use my observatory Celestron CGE mount. This is more than big
enough to handle the scope plus a 4” guide scope and accessories. I am sure an
HEQ6 sized mount would work equally as well but I would not advocate imaging with
anything smaller.

For visual work I use the scope predominantly on my HEQ5, (see image on page 1),
fitted with heavy duty home made ash tripod . This works quite well, the HEQ5 takes
the weight easily but the scope does look under-mounted and vibrations take a
 second or so to damp down. Things can be improved by using a short solid dovetail
bar and keeping the scope out of the wind.

Conclusion
I like this scope for so many reasons

• Optical quality – Excellent optics for the money, you will have to pay a lot
more to get optics better than this.
• Versatility - I can either use it in the observatory for imaging or use it in the
field for visual work. Its weight and size mean the scope can be transported
and set up easily without straining your back.
• Plenty of aperture to satisfy the visual observer in me.
• Crisp contrasty images giving superb lunar and planetary views.

So after 2 years of use I reckon this scope is as close to a general purpose scope as I can
get.

Do I regret swapping my C11 for the Meade as some foretold at the time?

No way!

Thanks for reading and clear skies.

© Phil Jaworek 2011