Meade ETX 80 - thoughts?

[Gradie]

So the research continues!

I took my wife to Telescope House in Lingfield at the weekend (having previously been to Atronomia on my own) to show just how big a basic telescope can be. The result - anything larger than a 130p newtonian is out of the question for now, and even the 130p was pushing it!

The two we looked at most were the Meade ETX 80 and a 114 Meade Newtonian (can't remember the model). She really liked the ETX, and I certainly agree that the portability aspect (fitting in a rucksack) would be extremely handy.

My concern though is that the £280 asking price goes mostly on the GoTo mount and that the optics might not be up to scratch, which leads to my questions:

1) What is the Meade ETX 80 like optically?

2) What alternatives are there that would give me better views without increasing the size?

3) What alternatives are there that would give me views just as good, but save me money (the ETX80 is right at the top of my budget, and any money saved now would be able to go on accessories later).

This will be my first scope so the main focus will be visual use, starting with the planets and moon detail but with a desire to move on to DSO's. When not in use the scope will live indoors probably under a bed, and I also want to be able to travel with it as the immediate vicinity around my house has quite a lot of lighting. That, and the sanity of my wife, mean size is an important factor!

I have previously expressed imaging desires via my existing DSLR, but I doubt there is any real point with my current budget and size constraints - I'd probably do just as well pointing my camera skywards and sticking to short exposures.

I do have a Manfrotto 055XPROB and 498RC2 head for my camera, so if these can be of any use on a lighter scope let me know!

[andrew63]

Hi

The etx80 optically is not it strong point, as you point out a lot goes on the mechanics - its best for low power wide views but not ideal for planets or moon.

Have you thought about something like this - very compact, will give nice views of planets and you could put it on your tripod! They are well regarded and a lot of people use a telescope like this for a quick portable set up. They are also available on a proper mount.

First Light Optics - Celestron C90 Mak

Andrew

[Gradie]

Indeed I had not thought of something like that. My online research has been heavily biased towards Skywatcher (I'm blaming people here!), but presumably the C90 is similar to the Skymax 90, but supplied with the erect-image diagonal? Budget wise I could go to the Skymax 102, or possibly even the 127.

Is there any difference between the Skymax 127 when bought as an OTA in its Black Diamond livery, and the blue version on Supatrak mount or plain black version on GoTo?

[tiredboy]

For what its worth, apart from a couple of manuufacting issues (one involved a replacement and the second me tightening a screw!) I'm really happy with my ETX-80. It's great to have something that I can carry as hand luggage on a plane without getting any second looks and have up and running easily and quickly.

[Gradie]

I trust Meade and/or the retailer were perfectly good with replacing it?

I'm highly unlikely to take whatever I get on a plane - overseas holidays usually involve an extensive SLR outfit and/or heavy dive gear! But UK holidays definitely, and certainly the backpack element seems attractive, as does the GoTo for instant satisfaction - there's about a week between my birthday and going to the Lakes, so not long to learn the night sky! I am trying with binoculars, but grey cloud seems to look like grey cloud, whatever I look through!

[tiredboy]

I (well my wife!) purchased from harison telescopes. They were very helpful and would have replaced it but didn't have any in stock so refunded and I purchased a replaceemnt on a trip to New York.

I know what you mean about lugagge which is why a lightweight hand lugage option is great for me. The goto takes a bit of getting used to (or reading the instruction manual and taking time to set it up properly!) but once it's done it seems to be great. The only negative I would say is a lack of a finder scope which would be useful in aligning the scope (or using without the goto if you want to learn the sky). Personally I like the idea of being able to learn my way around the skly when pointing things out to friends but (at least for now) using the goto to get me where I want to go in the quickest time possible when I'm looking through the scope!

[andrew63]

Celestron or Skywatcher are all manufactured by the same company called synta - optically the will be identical just come with different bits and pieces. But of course when you go from 90 to 102 then 127 things get less and less portable.

Depends on your needs but all the scopes that you mentioned are used by a lot of us here. They are great value for money.

It's always a difficult choice choosing! When you get to 50 post you can also buy from the members here on the used section which is well worth considering.

andrew

[Gradie]

It's good to know I'm looking at the right scopes at least, even if there are a lot of them! Will probably buy new for the first scope, mainly because it's not me doing the buying. 50 posts seems so far away!

Do I take it from your comment that all the Skymax 127's are optically equal?

[andrew63]

Yes they will all have the same optics - buy the way, the 127 though still nice and compact is quite a bit larger than say the 90s. It would be good to have a look at the different versions before you buy.

andrew

[Gradie]

I've actually seen the 127 and yes, I agree it is a fair bit larger than say the Meade - I've not seen the C90 but will definitely look at them all again first. Perhaps the 102 would be a happy medium, or perhaps I'd lose out on the portability and not gain much aperture wise, thus failing on all aspects!

Back to the Meade - can it be used (and has it any value as) a guidescope if, in future, I progress into imaging with a larger scope? It's a long way off, but it would certainly be a factor if I new it had long term value, and I've noticed a lot of people use ST80's as guide scopes which aren't dissimilar (although substantially cheaper).

[Si W]

It would make a good guide scope as it an F5 and quiet light to piggyback on another scope. As you said the ST80 is cheaper.

Edit:Plus the ST80 comes with tube rings.

[Gradie]

Ahh, and I suppose tube rings would be fairly necessary for fixing to an imaging scope?

I'm starting to lean towards the C90, or similar, as I think the possibility of using it for terrestrial viewing would actually come in handy. I'm a big wildlife lover, so there's definitely an option there, although I guess to realistically get any use out of the scope for terrestrial viewing it would need to be very portable (so the C90 largest), otherwise it just wouldn't come out with me. How much am I sacrificing if I go for a multi-purpose scope?

One thing I have just thought of with regards the ETX80 is that if it's focal length is 400mm, does that mean it will be pretty much identical to a 70-200 F2.8 lens with 2x teleconverter? A quick google suggests I can get a right-angled finder for my DSLR for around £50 that would make a cheap alternative for wide-field, so maybe a high focal length telescope is the best option right now.

[Charon]

I have had nothing but trouble with my etx80 from day one, I bought it over in the UK and stupid me did not test it until I came back here (Crete) and the GOTO software has a problem and does not work, However using it manually I have seen Saturn, Great Nebula in orion and the Moon and it is ok. Just watch out for these gremlins in the GoTO.

My two bobs worth .

Derek

[Backscatter]

I have had my ETX 80 AT-TC for close to 3 years now and have enjoyed using it very much. These models are very similar, with the ETX 80 AT-TC BB Backpack Edition having a little lighter tripod, backpack and dew shield.

As mentioned, low power/wide views, but in general, I believe the optics are more than acceptable for the price point. With mine I can see the rings of Saturn, major cloud band divisions and moons of Jupiter, the Moon is spectacular and I can make out some DSO’s.

The goto has consistently performed for me with little or no issues (mostly mine). I have trained the drives twice (even though it is recommended more frequently). Setup for me is about 5 minutes; this includes moving the unit outside, hooking up power (AC or DC power pack) leveling, aiming north and auto-aligning. The easy align (2 star) method works about 99% of the time. The Auto-star hand controller has some nice features, including brief descriptions of the object being viewed i.e. distance, location, luminosity, size etc. I obtained a red dot star finder, but this is not really needed as the search function will get you to you alignment stars fairly quick.

Quality control does seem to be an issue for some of these units, but I have had no problems as of yet, and I received a replacement (my own fault, but under warranty) within 2 weeks from Meade.

I have not used the other scopes mentioned in this thread, so I can’t compare to those. Some people have had horrible issues with their 80’s but so far, mine has been great. So return policy where purchased is important.

I hope this helps. Good luck in your choice.

PS,

I am NO expert.

PPS,

Get a barlow, the built-in flip is a pain and the weakest point (IMO).

[wrinkly]

Gradie,

What part of Surrey?

If you're near Croydon, pm me and you can have a look at my Digimax-90, the Synta with different label and see the two bags, one for the tripod, it packs into. Should the clouds ever clear, you might even get to have a peek. No! Not one of those horrible little dogs.

[Gradie]

I'm in guildgord, should probably update it now that I know the forum isn't full of crazies! Croydon is perhaps a bit far but thanks for the offer and ill keep the offer in mind.

The comments on quality remind me of another thread where the recommendation was not to buy 2nd hand for a first scope as you wouldn't necessarily know if anything was wrong with it. Sounds like that's just as applicable when buying new!

Sent from my Desire HD using Tapatalk

[andrew63]

Good luck with your choice Gradie. It might be worth seeing if there is an astronomy group near to you. You can then see what things look like in different scopes and your ideas could drastically change!