Meade's Telescope Development
Meade's telescope development began in 1977. There first in-house
manufactured telescopes that Meade developed were models 628 and 826, 6 inch
and 8 inch reflectors. Meade's goal was and still is, to provide American
amateur astronomers with a quality product at a reasonable price, plus to
consistently update their telescopes.
Meade was faced with a six-month backlog because their development of the
6" and 8" reflecting telescopes was an instant success. The Meade staff
worked overtime shifts, and added additional personnel. This resulted in
being able to ship all of the back-ordered telescopes within 3-months
instead of the projected six. This developed into Meade becoming a company
that astronomers could really trust.
In 1978 Meade Instruments was ready for a new challenge, and to move up
to the next level. Meade now wanted to expand into the Schmidt-Cassegrain
telescope market. It took three years for the development of their original
Meade telescope model 2080 8" Schmidt-Cassegrain. Meade believed that their
development of the Schmidt-Cassegrain design would have amazing advantages
for the serious amateur.
In September 1980 the Meade telescope model 2080 was announced, and Meade
developed and grew rapidly. Each year since then has seen new and improved
Meade telescope developments. Meade became known as the leading manufacturer
of serious telescopes by 1986.
