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The Meade Instruments (also shortened to Meade) is an American multinational
company A company, abbreviated as co., is a Legal personality, legal entity representing an association of people, whether Natural person, natural, Legal person, legal or a mixture of both, with a specific objective. Company members share a common p ...
headquartered in
Watsonville, California Watsonville is a city in Santa Cruz County, California, located in the Monterey Bay Area of the Central Coast of California. The population was 52,590 according to the 2020 census. Predominantly Latino and Democratic, Watsonville is a self ...
, that manufactures, imports, and distributes
telescope A telescope is a device used to observe distant objects by their emission, absorption, or reflection of electromagnetic radiation. Originally meaning only an optical instrument using lenses, curved mirrors, or a combination of both to observe ...
s,
binoculars Binoculars or field glasses are two refracting telescopes mounted side-by-side and aligned to point in the same direction, allowing the viewer to use both eyes (binocular vision) when viewing distant objects. Most binoculars are sized to be held ...
,
spotting scope A spotting scope is a compact high-power telescope optimized for detailed observation of distant objects. They are used as portable optical enhancement devices for various outdoor activities such as birdwatching, skygazing and other naturalis ...
s,
microscopes A microscope () is a laboratory instrument used to examine objects that are too small to be seen by the naked eye. Microscopy is the science of investigating small objects and structures using a microscope. Microscopic means being invisibl ...
, CCD cameras, and telescope accessories for the consumer market. It is the world's largest manufacturer of telescopes. Besides selling under its "Meade" brand name, the company sells
solar telescope A solar telescope is a special purpose telescope used to observe the Sun. Solar telescopes usually detect light with wavelengths in, or not far outside, the visible spectrum. Obsolete names for Sun telescopes include heliograph and photoheliograph ...
s under the brand "Coronado".


Origins and history

Founded in 1972 by John Diebel, Meade started as a mail order seller of small refracting telescopes and telescope accessories manufactured by the Japan-based Towa Optical Manufacturing Company. Meade started manufacturing its own line of products in 1976, introducing 6" and 8"
reflecting telescope A reflecting telescope (also called a reflector) is a telescope that uses a single or a combination of curved mirrors that reflect light and form an image. The reflecting telescope was invented in the 17th century by Isaac Newton as an alternati ...
s models in 1977. In 1980, the company ventured into the Schmidt-Cassegrain market that up to that time had been dominated by
Celestron Celestron is an American company based in Torrance, California, United States, that manufactures telescopes and distributes telescopes, binoculars, spotting scopes, microscopes, and accessories manufactured by its parent company, the Synta Technol ...
Corporation. Meade has a long history of litigation with other companies over infringement of their patents, particularly with its once bitter rival Celestron. In August 2008, Meade modified their line of Schmidt-Cassegrain telescopes with changes to the optical surfaces in design they call "Advanced Coma-Free optics" (ACF Optics). Past production sites include 16542 Millikan Avenue in Irvine, which was used in the 1990s. Meade production was consequently moved to a new build plant in 6001 Oak Canyon, located as well in Irvine. The Oak Canyon plant was in use for about a decade until 2009, after which production was moved to an expanded plant in Tijuana, Mexico. In October 2013, Meade Instruments merged with Ningbo Sunny Electronic, a Chinese manufacturer, and Joseph Lupica became CEO of Meade.Meade Instruments Corp. completes merger agreement with affiliates of Ningbo Sunny Electronic Co., Ltd.
Retrieved December 14, 2013
In February 2015, Victor Aniceto succeeded Lupica as president. On November 26, 2019, in the
United States District Court for the Northern District of California The United States District Court for the Northern District of California (in case citations, N.D. Cal.) is the federal United States district court whose jurisdiction comprises the following counties of California: Alameda, Contra Costa, Del ...
a federal jury found that Ningbo and Meade suppressed competition and fixed prices for consumer telescopes in the United States in violation of federal antitrust laws (case# 16-06370). Optronic Technologies, Inc. was awarded $16.8 million in damages. On December 4, 2019, Meade Instruments Corp. filed bankruptcy in the
United States District Court for the Central District of California The United States District Court for the Central District of California (in case citations, C.D. Cal.; commonly referred to as the CDCA or CACD) is a Federal trial court that serves over 19 million people in Southern and Central California, m ...
as case number 19-14714.


Products

Products produced by Meade include:


Catadioptric cassegrains


ACF telescopes

ACF (''Advanced Coma-Free'') is an altered version of the Meade's previous schmidt-cassegrain telescopes that replaces the traditional spherical schmidt-cassegrain
secondary mirror A secondary mirror (or secondary) is the second deflecting or focusing mirror element in a reflecting telescope. Light gathered by the primary mirror is directed towards a focal point typically past the location of the secondary. Secondary mirro ...
with a hyperbolic secondary mirror. In the new design the full aperture corrector is slightly altered in shape and combined with a spherical
primary mirror A primary mirror (or primary) is the principal light-gathering surface (the objective) of a reflecting telescope. Description The primary mirror of a reflecting telescope is a spherical or parabolic shaped disks of polished reflective metal ...
. Meade's literature originally describe their ACF as a variation on the Ritchey-Chrétien telescope, although it does not use the two hyperbolic mirror combination in that design (being more of an ''aplantic'' design). ;Models * LX90-ACF, 8" to 12" * LX200-ACF, a series of LX200 with ACF Optics 8" to 16" *LX400-ACF, 16 to 20" f/8, w/ robotic equatorial mount *LX800


Maksutov telescopes

Meade produces a line of
Maksutov telescope The Maksutov (also called a "Mak") is a catadioptric telescope design that combines a spherical mirror with a weakly negative meniscus lens in a design that takes advantage of all the surfaces being nearly "spherically symmetrical". The negative ...
s under their ETX series (Everybody's Telescope). They were first produced in 90 mm (3-1/2") Maksutov Cassegrain telescope in 1996. They range in size from 90 mm to 125 mm.


Newtonian telescopes

* Schmidt-Newtonian telescopes (6 to 10 inches). * LightBridge
Dobsonian telescope A Dobsonian telescope is an altazimuth-mounted Newtonian telescope design popularized by John Dobson in 1965 and credited with vastly increasing the size of telescopes available to amateur astronomers. Dobson's telescopes featured a simplified ...
s (currently 8, 10, 12 and a 16-inch model) * Meade Model 4504: 4.5" (114mm) equatorial reflecting telescope


GoTo telescopes

Many Meade telescope lines are classified by the self aiming computerized alt-azimuth and equatorial mounts they come on, a technology commonly called a "
GoTo GoTo (goto, GOTO, GO TO or other case combinations, depending on the programming language) is a statement found in many computer programming languages. It performs a one-way transfer of control to another line of code; in contrast a function ca ...
" mount. ;Models * LXD75, including Newtonian, Schmidt-Newtonian, Advanced Coma-Free, and achromatic refractor telescopes * ETX-LS, 150mm (6 in) and 200mm (8 in) F/10 ACF telescope on a single-fork arm with integral GPS and 'Eclips' camera for self-alignment. * DS-2000 Series, 80mm (3.1") refractor, 114mm (4.5") and 130mm (5.1") reflector on altazimuth Goto mounts * LX80, LX90 * ETX-70, ETX-80 * LX85, including Newtonian, Schmidt-Newtonian, Advanced Coma-Free, and achromatic refractor telescopes


Solar telescopes

In 2004, Meade acquired ''Coronado Filters'' from founder and designer David Lunt, who produce an extensive range of specialty telescopes that allow views of the
sun The Sun is the star at the center of the Solar System. It is a nearly perfect ball of hot plasma, heated to incandescence by nuclear fusion reactions in its core. The Sun radiates this energy mainly as light, ultraviolet, and infrared radi ...
in Hydrogen-Alpha, and formerly, at ''Calcium K line'' wavelengths. The Meade Coronado telescopes are called "Solarmax 40" or higher depending on the model.


Other products

* Achromatic refractors (5 and 6-inch) * Meade also sells under the "Meade" name imported low to moderate cost reflectors and refractors intended for the beginner retail market.


Telescope accessories

Accessories produced by Meade include the series 5000 eyepieces that are comparable in construction to those of Chester, New York-based Tele Vue Optical's "Nagler" (82-degree field of view), "Panoptic" (68-degree field of view), and "Radian" (60-degree field of view) eyepieces. Meade sells Deep Sky and Lunar digital imagers for telescopes. They also market the ''mySKY'' & ''mySKY Plus'', multi-media
GPS The Global Positioning System (GPS), originally Navstar GPS, is a Radionavigation-satellite service, satellite-based radionavigation system owned by the United States government and operated by the United States Space Force. It is one of t ...
devices guiding users to the sky, similar to the competing Celestron
SkyScout The Celestron SkyScout was a model of handheld consumer electronic instrument for astronomical orientation and education, similarly to the competitor product mySky by Meade Instruments. The general class of zero-magnification sky-orientation scopes ...
.


Litigation

In November, 2006,
plaintiff A plaintiff ( Π in legal shorthand) is the party who initiates a lawsuit (also known as an ''action'') before a court. By doing so, the plaintiff seeks a legal remedy. If this search is successful, the court will issue judgment in favor of the p ...
s including Star Instruments and RC Optical Systems, manufacturers of traditional Ritchey-Chrétien optics and telescopes, filed a civil lawsuit against Meade, several dealerships, and other individuals in federal court ( New York Southern District). The complaint was against Meade advertising their RCX400 and LX200R models as "Ritchey-Chrétien." The plaintiffs claimed these models did not use true Ritchey-Chrétien optics and therefore Meade and its retailers were committing
false advertising False advertising is defined as the act of publishing, transmitting, or otherwise publicly circulating an advertisement containing a false claim, or statement, made intentionally (or recklessly) to promote the sale of property, goods, or servic ...
infringing on the plaintiff's market. In January 2008, Meade settled, with a "small" amount paid to the plaintiffs and the requirement to rename the affected products, not using any initials that might suggest Ritchey-Chrétien. On September 27, 2006, Finkelstein, Thompson & Loughran filed a class action lawsuit against Meade. The complaint alleged that, throughout the Class Period, defendants misrepresented and omitted material facts concerning Meade's backdating of stock option grants to two of its officers. A settlement of $2,950,000 was reached in December, 2007.


Financial problems

Meade has had financial problems in the past and has survived with the help of its founder, John Diebel, purchasing back the company. However, Meade in the past few years has run into another round of financial woes, since Diebel sold the company again. The previous CEO since May 2006, Steve Muellner had announced various bad news for the company since he had the lead role for Meade. Meade's Irvine, California manufacturing plant was closed, with manufacturing moved to a new plant in Mexico, and a majority of the administrative positions were cut. Meade's customer service line has also been affected by the move to Mexico, including shorter operating hours and the elimination of the callback option. Meade is also looking at other options for the uncertain future of the company. No matter what the future was holding for the company, Muellner and some of the board members signed an agreement to cover themselves financially. In April 2008, Meade sold two of its three non-telescope product brands (Weaver/Redfield) to two companies for a total of $8 million. However, as compensation for divestiture of these two brands, out-going VP of Sales, Robert Davis, received a $100,000 bonus from the company. On June 13, 2008, Meade sold their last non-telescope brand Simmons to Bushnell for $7.25 million. Also in 2008, Meade's stock value fell below one dollar, bringing up the possibility of Meade being delisted from the stock exchange. On October 3, 2008, Meade eliminated Donald Finkle's Senior Vice President position with the company providing him with one year of salary as severance and certain other benefits. Meade announced on January 29, 2009 that it had sold Meade Europe, its European subsidiary, for 12.4 million dollars, thus relieving much of Meade's debt. However, that reduced the company's assets greatly. Further changes and unknown stability of the company was announced on February 5, 2009, with the resignation of Steve Muellner, chairman of the board Harry Casari and fellow board member James Chadwick. Former CEO Steven Murdock was reinstated as Meade CEO. On March 5, 2009, the company announced the resignation of CFO Paul Ross and the assumption of the position by John Elwood. With his resignation, Ross receives a severance in the lump sum of $260,000. During the summer of 2009, Meade announced a 20:1
reverse stock split In finance, a reverse stock split or reverse split is a process by which shares of corporate stock are effectively merged to form a smaller number of proportionally more valuable shares. A reverse stock split is also called a stock merge. The "r ...
in hopes of raising the value of their stock. By July 8, 2013, Meade Instruments was tipping their hand on whether to recommend selling the company to a Chinese co. or a San Jose venture capital firm, plow ahead alone, or possibly seek bankruptcy protection. In September 2013, Sunny Optics Inc, a unit of the Chinese firm Ningbo Sunny Electronic Co Ltd, completed the acquisition of the entire share capital of Meade. In November 2019,
Orion Telescopes & Binoculars Orion Telescopes & Binoculars is an American retail company that sells telescopes, binoculars and accessories online and in-store for astronomy and birdwatching. It was founded in 1975 and has corporate offices in Watsonville, California. A large ...
won a lawsuit against Ningbo Sunny Electronic Co Ltd for price fixing and anti-competitive practices costing Sunny Ningbo an estimated 20 million dollars in settlement. Meade under Ningbo Sunny ownership was shortly after declared bankruptcy. On June 1, 2021, Orion Telescopes & Binoculars announced the acquisition rescue of Meade Instruments, following the approval of the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Central District of California.


References


External links

*
Meade Instruments Then and Now
*The ACF design {{Authority control Instrument-making corporations Telescope manufacturers Retail companies based in California Companies based in Irvine, California Manufacturing companies based in Greater Los Angeles Manufacturing companies established in 1972 Retail companies established in 1972 American companies established in 1972 1972 establishments in California Companies formerly listed on the Nasdaq American subsidiaries of foreign companies 1997 initial public offerings 2013 mergers and acquisitions