This page will document announcements and news from and about Meade. I have no information beyond what is posted here. Please contact Meade Customer Service if you have any questions about the information on this page.

31 December 2011

Meade has posted a "40th Anniversary Meade History" web page.

Subject:	re: that Meade Stock Value item you posted a link to...
Sent:	Friday, December 30, 2011 19:58:17
From:	richard seymour (rseymour@wolfenet.com)
Here's a less-positive article that was written the next day
("capex" is capital expansion)

http://www.gurufocus.com/news/155835/meade-still-destroying-value

have fun
--dick

24 December 2011

Does Meade Deserve Its Valuation? Value Investors Think Not

18 November 2011

Mike here: Meade has revised the ETX lineup. It includes only the ETX-80 refractor and the ETX-90 Maksutov-Cassegrain. The ETX-125AT has been discontinued. More information is available on their web site (http://www.meade.com/etx and http://www.meade.com/etx/specifications). The ETX-90 appears to have a redesigned base. I would guess there are no azimuth hard stops as the control panel is now on the rotating portion of the base, just as with the past and current ETX refractor models. Hopefully, additional details will be forthcoming soon.

5 November 2011

Mike here: Meade sent me this Tweet late on 4 November:

Mike, ETX CONTINUES! An oversight when we rebuilt the site. Will be rectified on Monday.

4 November 2011

Mike here: Meade has apparently discontinued the ETX line. A check of their (new) web site on Friday, 4 November, showed this product listing:

Using their new web site search feature for "ETX" turns up nothing. This is the end of a very long and successful era. Thanks to Meade for the ride! Those of us with ETX telescopes will continue to enjoy them for many more years.

28 January 2011

Mike here: Meade has announced which telescopes will get the new AudioStar handcontroller. Here's the list on OPT's web site:

http://www.optcorp.com/ProductList.aspx?uid=1831

From: Twitter @MeadeInstrument 
Date: 2 August 2010
Check out the new www.meade.com website. We've updated our site with a
new look, features & GUI! Just went live!

From Meade:

Have just posted on Meade.com a USB to Serial Cable Driver for 64 Bit
Systems driver for Pictor software. Go to: http://www.meade.com/USB_Serial/USB_SER.html

23 October 2009

Mike here: Great news!!! Meade Instruments is now on Twitter! @MeadeInstrument

Subject:	New Firmware
Sent:	Tuesday, July 28, 2009 16:49:35
From:	Meade Customer Service
Did you know there are two types of #497 Autostar? The newest,
designated the #497ep, utilizes an updated chipset. However, in light of
the newer, faster, chipset, the #497ep firmware doesn't work with the
older #497 Autostar and vice versa.

Meade has just released a new firmware version for the #497EP, version
5BE2, which is accessible once you upgrade to the new Autostar Update
(ASU) Client.

If you have an older version of the Autostar Update (ASU) Client
(version 5.1 and earlier) the updater cannot tell the difference between
the two controllers. Go to the link below to download and install
version 5.6 of the Autostar Update Client Application. This new version
of the updater can detect which Autostar controller you have and
download the latest version for your Autostar.

http://www.meade.com/support/auto/Au2ver56.EXE

We would encourage all Autostar users to upgrade to the new client app.


Meade Customer Service

Mike here: Meade has begun shipping the ETX-LS! (http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Meade-Announces-That-Its-bw-15528163.html) Feedback on the ETX-LS is now coming in. Check the ETX-LS feedback page.

Mike here: Meade is moving! http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Meade-Instruments-Enters-New-pz-14336026.html

Subject:	Meade News...
Sent:	Friday, February 6, 2009 10:10:23
From:	richard seymour (rseymour@wolfenet.com)
Meade Instruments Announces Resignation of Steven Muellner
Thu. February 05, 2009; Posted: 06:26 PM

IRVINE, Calif., Feb 5, 2009 (GlobeNewswire via COMTEX) -- MEAD | Quote |
Chart | News | PowerRating -- Meade Instruments Corp. (Nasdaq:MEAD), a
leading designer and manufacturer of optical products, including
telescopes and binoculars, today announced that Steven Muellner has
resigned from his position as President and Chief Executive Officer and
as a director of the Company in order to pursue other interests. Steven
Murdock, a director of the Company since May 2006, has been appointed to
the position of Chief Executive Officer of the Company to replace Mr.
Muellner. Previously, Mr. Murdock was Chief Executive Officer of the
Company from June 2003 through May 2006. Mr. Murdock has agreed to serve
for one year at an annual salary of $1.00. Mr. Murdock was granted
1,250,000 options at an exercise price of $0.22 per share, with 750,000
of these options subject to stockholder approval at the next annual
meeting of stockholders.

As previously announced, the Company has sold its European subsidiary
and completed its formal review of strategic alternatives. Tim McQuay,
the new Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Company, commented,
"The Company's business objectives today are clear. We intend to use the
cash infusion from the sale of our European subsidiary to provide
working capital for our United States business, so that we can continue
to pursue our goal of making the Company profitable again."

The Company today also announced that Harry Casari resigned from the
Board of Directors effective Saturday, January 31, 2009, and that James
Chadwick resigned from the Board of Directors effective Wednesday,
February 4, 2009. "We appreciate the many contributions that Harry and
James have made to the Company while serving on the Board, and we thank
them for their many years of dedicated service," said Mr. McQuay. Mr.
Casari joined the Company's Board of Directors in 1997, and Mr. Chadwick
joined the Board of Directors in 2006.

(from  http://www.tradingmarkets.com/.site/news/Stock%20News/2162691/ )

Subject:	Meade Europe sold to Bresser GmbH
Sent:	Friday, January 30, 2009 10:23:36
From:	richard seymour (rseymour@wolfenet.com)
http://www.tradingmarkets.com/.site/news/Stock%20News/2150179/

(Pete Albrecht sent me the link)

have fun
--dick

Mike here: Meade now has an ETX-LS 6" ACF page:

http://www.meade.com/etx-ls/index.html

Mike here: Meade now has an online store:

http://www.shopatron.com/index/1323.0

Mike here: Just announced:

ETX-LS-ACF:

http://www.optcorp.com/product.aspx?pid=12322

Subject:	Meade investor call with fascinating data...
Sent:	Tuesday, April 22, 2008 14:34:17
From:	Richard Seymour (rseymour@wolfenet.com)
If you visit this page:
http://www.primenewswire.com/ca/news.html?d=140545

you'll see an "after the call" phone number and access code
(good until 30th April)

Quoth:
"A telephonic replay of the conference call will be available through
April 30, 2008 by dialing 800-405-2236 (international dial-in
303-590-3000) and entering passcode 11113223#. The webcast will be
archived on the Company's website for ninety days."

But you should read the entire press release.

Among the stuff said by Meade during the conference call:
(a) total rework of the ETX line... they said "we haven't done
anything significant to it since its introduction 10 years ago"
(i guess the "replaced plastic with metal" inside the forks didn't count?)

(b) LX400 (the ex-RCX) planned to be out before the end of 2008

(c) updated/upgraded/less-expensive MySKY II  in the pipeline

have fun
--dick

Sky and Telescope article on Meade

For information on Meade's rebates available through the end of 2007: http://www.meade.com/holiday07/index.html.

Subject:	Meade's new product
Sent:	Wednesday, April 4, 2007 20:54:59
From:	richard seymour (rseymour@wolfenet.com)
MySky

http://www.astronomics.com/main/product.asp/catalog_name/Astronomics/category_name/54QD07S9UCS88KDRHD9KL5EWL3/product_id/MYSKY

have fun
--dick

And:

More data:

http://www.buytelescopes.com/manufacturers/meade/mySKY_Compare_Chart_10.pdf
http://www.buytelescopes.com/manufacturers/meade/mySKY_SellSheet_04.pdf

(180 KB each)

have fun
--dick

Subject:	New Forums at Meade 4M Community
Sent:	Saturday, March 24, 2007 16:01:54
We have recently launched new forums on the 4M Community that may be of
interest to you. These forums include a general discussion area and
special sections for imaging, as well as Meade and Coronado telescopes.

If you are already a 4M Community member you will have to create a
seperate user and password to post articles.

Wishing you clear and dark skies,

Scott Roberts 

Subject:	Meade's future plans...
Sent:	Thursday, February 22, 2007 08:44:31
From:	richard seymour (rseymour@wolfenet.com)
In case you haven't seen this yet...
http://www.meade.com/nasdaq/investor_presentation.html

some of their planned (and already realized) actions are drastic.
For example, the "SKU Count" on slide 15 is "number of different
things/models sold" ... that's why the ETX105 is no more.

have fun
--dick

Subject:	Rebate from Meade
Sent:	Wednesday, November 22, 2006 10:06:43
From:	mhogansr@comcast.net (mhogansr@comcast.net)
I received an email from Meade today, as you probably did, offering a
$100 rebate on the purchase of a PE or LX90 scope.  The offer is on the
Meade web site so I thought you might want to post a notice for those
folks who frequent your site but may not check the Meade site too often.
Might be just the incentive someone needs.

Regards,
Mike Hogan

4 August 2006
A recent Meade Press Release:

Operational Cost Control Initiatives

Mike here: the following is not from Meade but is relevant to the ULTRA HIGH TRANSMISSION COATING (UHTC) info that follows.

Subject:	TEST RESULTS OF MEADE UHTC COATINGS
Sent:	Sunday, March 31, 2002 9:41:54
From:	sherrodc@ipa.net (Clay Sherrod)
Hello to all -

** Results of tests on UHTC -
An "apples-to-apples" evaluation and comparison **

As promised, I have finally had an opportunity to do a very thorough
test of the UHTC coatings from Meade....both actual scope tests on the
sky AND a lab test that I had done for me over the past three days,
courtesy of a couple of zealous grad students who also happen to be
amateur astronomers.....

These were done using:
- a 12" LX 200 classic, standard coatings for lab work; this was a NEW
(still in the box) telescope belonging to  one of the students;
- the ASO field scope, a 10" LX 200 classic, standard coatings and
optically one of the most perfect telescopes in the collection;
- new Meade LX 200 GPS with UHTC 10" scope just received for Supercharge.

You can find this final report on the Arkansas Sky Observatory (ASO)
website at:
http://www.arksky.org

I think that you will be - like I was - "very" interested in the
results. Frankly, I was amazed at what I have found.....

Dr. Clay
----------------------------------------
sherrodc@ipa.net
Arkansas Sky Observatory
www.arksky.org

Subject:	 Ultra High performance coatings for the ETX90 (etc)
Sent:	Sunday, March 17, 2002 23:33:32
From:	rseymour@wolfenet.com (Richard Seymour)
(from the LX200gps yahoogroup...
--dick)

Date: Mon, 18 Mar 2002 01:55:55 -0000
From: "optcorp" (opt@optcorp.com)
Subject: BREAKING NEWS  Meade UHTC Coatings

Breaking News from Meade

We just received a NEW Meade catalog at Oceanside Photo & Telescope 
and have found some interesting New NEWS inside.  Meade has developed 
a brand new "ULTRA HIGH TRANSMISSION COATING (UHTC).  This will make 
a remarkable difference in the transmission of light through their 
optical systems, from 11% to 21% per Meade documentation.

Meade will be charging extra for these coatings, you can order the 
following telescopes either with or without these High Performance 
Coatings.  ETX-90,105, 125 EC's, LX10, LX90 or LX200GPS.  If you 
CURRENTLY own a LX200GPS and want to upgrade to these coatings, you 
can.  Only these scopes will be upgraded and there will be a fee 
involved, through Meade.  If you own a LX200GPS and wish to do this, 
call Meade.  A cursory look at the new price lists (I am at home now 
and do not have them in front of me), looks like an 8" is going to be 
approx $300 more for these UHTC's, but please do not quote me.

I thought everyone would like to know this as soon as possible, so I 
have typed most of the information from the catalog below.  This is 
the first group to know about it, so Monday when Meade is open I am 
sure we will hear what the details of this upgrade will be.  
Remember, you do not have to have the new coatings, but it will make 
all your Deep Sky objects brighter!  It's like fitting a 9" scope 
into an 8" tube!  So look below for Meade's information on this 
subject, all typos will be mine I am sure!

Clear Skies,   www.optcorp.com
Mike Fowler   opt@optcorp.com
Manager         1-800-483-6287
Oceanside Photo & Telescope  

Meade Ultra-High Transmission Coatings (UHTC) Groups

An important optional feature to optimize the performance of your 
Meade telescope.

Image brightness and resolution in a telescope are crucially 
dependent on the reflectivity of the telescope's mirrors and on the 
transmission of its lenses.  Neither of these processes, mirror-
reflectivity or lens-transmission, is, however, perfect: light loss 
occurs in each instance where light is reflected or transmitted.  
Uncoated glass, for example, reflects about 4% of the light impacting 
it;  in the case of an uncoated lens 4% of the light is lost at 
entrance to and at exit from the lens, for a total light loss of 
about 8%.

Early reflecting telescopes of the 1700's and 1800's suffered greatly 
from mirrors of poor reflectivity  reflection losses of 50% or more 
were not uncommon.  Later, silvered mirrors improved reflectivity. 
But at a high cost and with poor durability.  Modern optical coatings 
have succeeded in reducing mirror-reflection and lens transmission 
losses to acceptable levels at reasonable cost.

Meade Standard Coatings;  The optical surfaces of all Meade 
telescopes include high-grade optical coatings fully consistent in 
quality with the precision of the optical surfaces themselves.  These 
standard equipment coatings include mirror surfaces of highly 
purified aluminum, vacuum-deposited at high temperature and 
overcoated with silicon monoxide (SiO), and correcting lenses coated 
on both sides for high light transmission with magnesium fluoride 
(MgF2).  Meade standard mirror and lens coatings equal or exceed the 
reflectivity and transmission, respectively, of virtually any optical 
coatings currently offered in the commercial telescope industry.

The Meade UHTC Group:  Technologies recently developed at the Meade 
Irvine coatings facility, however, including installation of some of 
the larges and most advanced vacuum coating instrumentation currently 
available have permitted the vacuum-deposition of a series of exotic 
optical coatings precisely tuned to optimize the visual, photographic 
and CCD imaging performance of Meade telescopes.  These specialized, 
and extremely advantageous, coatings are offered here as the Meade 
Ultra-High Transmission Coatings (UHTC) group, a coatings group 
available optionally on many Meade telescope models.

In Meade catadioptric, or mirror-lens, telescopes (Including the ETX-
90EC, ETX-105EC and ETX-125EC, and LX10, LX90, and LX200GPS Schmidt-
Cassegrains; and LXD55-Series Schmidt-Newtonians) before incoming 
light is brought to a focus, it passes through, or is reflected by, 
four optical surfaces; the front surface of the correcting lens, the 
rear surface of the correcting lens, the primary mirror, and the 
secondary mirror.  Each of these four surfaces results in some loss 
of light, with the level of loss being dependent on the chemistry of 
each surface's optical coatings and on the wavelength of light.  
(Standard aluminum mirror coatings, for example, typically have their 
highest reflectivity in the yellow region of the visual spectrum, at 
a wavelength of about 580nm.)

Mirror Coatings:  Meade ETX, Schmidt-Cassegrain, and Schmidt-
Newtonian telescopes equipped with the Ultra-High Transmission 
Coatings group include primary and secondary mirrors coated with 
aluminum enhanced with a complex stack of multi-layer coatings of 
titanium dioxide (TiO2) and silicon dioxide (SiO2).  The thickness of 
each coating layer precisely controlled to within +- 1% of optimal 
thickness.  The result is a dramatic increase in mirror reflectivity 
across the entire visible spectrum; at the important hydrogen-alpha 
wavelength of 656nm.  the predominant wavelength of emission 
nebulae  reflectivity is increased from 89% to over 97%.

Correcting Lens Coatings:  Meade telescopes ordered with the UHTC 
group include, in addition, an exotic and tightly controlled series 
of coatings on both sides of the correcting lens or correcting plate, 
coatings which include multiple layers of aluminum oxide (Al2O3), 
titanium dioxide (TiO2), and magnesium fluoride (MgF2).  Per-surface 
light transmission of the correcting lens is thereby increased at the 
yellow wavelength of 580nm., for example, to 99.8%, versus a per-
surface transmission of 98.7% for the standard coating.

The Importance of the UHTC group, becomes apparent when comparing 
total telescope light transmission, or throughput, caused by 
multiplier, or compounding, effect of the four optical surfaces.  
With each optical surface contributing significantly to telescope 
light throughput, the effect of all four surfaces combined is indeed 
dramatic, as demonstrated by the graphs on the facing page (coming 
soon at www.optcorp.com !), as well as by the table of the brightest 
nebular emission lines.  At the H-alpha wavelength of 656nm., total 
transmission increases from 76.9% to 93.1%, an increase of 21%; at 
the helium wavelengths of 588nm and 469nm.- strong emission lines in 
hot planetary nebulae- total telescope transmission increases by 18% 
and 19% respectively; at the two nitrogen II lines of 655nm and 
658nm. And at the sulfur II line of 673nm., transmission is increased 
by 21%.  Averaged over the entire visible spectrum (450nm to 700nm), 
total light transmission to the telescope focus increase by about 20%.

Observing with the UHTC:  Meade ETX, Schmidt-Cassegrain, and Schmidt 
Newtonian telescopes equipped with the UHTC present dramatically 
enhanced detail on the full range of celestial objects- from emission 
and planetary nebulae such as M8, M20 and M57 to star clusters and 
galaxies such as M3, M13 and M101.  Observations of the Moon and 
planets, since they are observed in reflected (white) sunlight, 
benefit in resolution and image brightness from the full spectrum of 
increased transmission.  The overall effect of the UHTC is, as it 
relates to image brightness and resolution, to increase the 
telescope's effective aperture.  Image brightness and resolution 
(i.e., the ability to see fine detail) of the Meade 10" LX200GPS are, 
for example, effectively increased by about one full inch of aperture.

Effects on CCD Imaging:  While the human eye loses sensitivity to 
light beyond wavelengths of about 700nm., CCD imaging chips remain 
sensitive to about 750nm. And longer, wavelengths at which the 
reflectivity of an aluminum coating is near its lowpoint.  
Importantly, however, the UHTC's total light transmission at 750nm. 
Is 83% vs. 72% for standard coatings, an increase of 83/72, or 15%.

Emission Line/Wave-length(nm.) Standard   UHTC  %Increase

H-alpha              656          76.9    93.1     21%
H-beta               486          75.3    85.8     14%
OXY III              496          76.5    85.4     12%
OXY III              501          77.0    85.4     11%
Helium II            469          72.5    86.1     19%
Helium I             588          79.5    93.5     18%
Nitrogen II          655          77.0    93.2     21%
Nitrogen I           658          76.7    92.8     21%
Sulfur II            673          75.7    91.8     21%            

*The % increase is obtained by dividing the UHTC-transmission by the 
standard coating transmission (column 4/column 3).

WHEW!  My fingers hurt! That was ALOT of typing!  Okay that's the end 
of the Meade document; I thought everyone would want to know about 
this as soon as possible.  If anyone has any questions about this 
please do not hesitate to call.  It really looks like Meade has taken 
a huge step forward in the throughput of light.  Also, if you own a 
LX200GPS and want to upgrade to this, call Meade customer service.  
They will walk you through what needs to be done and the costs 
involved.  OPT will definitely be stocking these upgraded scopes, 
more information will follow.

Clear Skies,   www.optcorp.com
Mike Fowler   opt@optcorp.com
Manager         1-800-483-6287
Oceanside Photo & Telescope

Subject:	AC adapter for ETX60/70
Sent:	Friday, April 27, 2001 15:22:13
From:	Meade Instruments
We are going to have an AC adapter for the ETX60/70.  We have placed
them on order and should have them in the first part of June.  People
can order them by calling customer service here at Meade.  The cost will
be $19.95 plus shipping or they can ask their dealer.  It will be call
the 546 AC Adapter. Having seen other people trying to do it for
themselves, this might help.

Thanks
Meade Instruments

Random Slewing Problem with DS and ETX Drives
Posted: 4 January 2001



Customers with this problem should contact Meade customer service and
possibly arrange for a return.  There were some causes that are customer
correctable and customer service can determine which can be corrected in the
field and which require a return.  If a DS telescope has the symptom, only
the motors may need to be returned.  In all events they need to talk with
customer service prior to any actions.



Phone: (949) 451-1450
Fax: (949) 451-1460

Go back to my ETX Home Page.