Price: £122.54
Eyepieces: 24, 20, 16, 12 & 8mm settings; 1.25-inch fit
Supplier: Telescope House
Telephone: 01342 837610
Website: www.telescopehouse.com
The Meade Series 4000 8-24mm Zoom Eyepiece has easily readable text on the barrel to mark the five magnification choices, incrementally graded in 4mm stages, including a 20mm setting, unlike four of its counterparts.
Barrel rotation was also smooth when selecting them.
The rubber eye cup effectively keeps out stray light and folds down for better eye relief when using glasses.
The multicoated optics gave good contrast, but there was a faint internal reflection from bright stars.
The rear internal lens assembly lies deeper inside the nosepiece than most of the eyepieces, which is good if your filters have deep threads.
Results of the field of view test on the stars Altair and Arcturus were the best in this review.
The view at 24mm was pin-sharp across 95 per cent with only the slightest trailing off at the edge.
We easily resolved the double star Izar in Boötes into two members using the 8mm setting.
Deep-sky views were the sharp and detailed.
The globular cluster M13 was stunning, even at the highest magnification of 187.5x, while the Whirlpool Galaxy had mottling along its spiral arms when we coupled the zoom to a Dobsonian telescope.
In short, this is a very good zoom eyepiece that delivers plenty of detail.