Hugely expensive new 6" Meade ETX-LS

[lulu57]

Just got The Sky at Night through the letterbox.

There's a 6" Meade in it, that you don't have to align - it does it for you - and it takes pics.

But it's £1299!

And it's a 6"!

I was having covetous thoughts, until I saw the price tag.

What's going on there?

Would you pay that for a 6"?

[Doc]

Here it is:

http://tinyurl.com/879j2r

It's very technical and that is not always as good thing.

[philf]

I think its like all of these things - it a little like a multi function printer - you pay more you get something that does multiple things but nothing wonderfully well - if you buy the separate bits it will be better overall but would be more expensive than this package.

Equally, multi function devices tend to fail more

So I'm thinking, if I were new to astronomy and had shed loads of money I'd be tempted (and I am new to this) but if I had any experience I wouldnt be tempted.

For example, the specs of the built in camera are

"wide-angle color 640x480 CCD imager for taking your own astrophotographs"

I'm thinking thats maybe not a good spec but, as a newbie, I cant be sure. The other thing that would worry me is how good is the "hands free" alignment for the money being pad - especially when it comes to tracking and doing photography - if it aint aligned properly, it wont photograoh well - thats what I've picked up here very rapidly.

I guess its a lot like all the questions asked about scopes on here .... depends what you want to do and how you like to work / play and I think most people would prefer the freedom to buy tehir own solution.

Phil

[lulu57]

It certainly is a lorra lorra money for 6" of aperture....but it does look as though Mr Data designed it.

(Ah, the 80s...when space heroines had truly big hair....)

[Doc]

Remember photography will be limted as it's not on a wedge it's only on one single fork.

[GazOC]

As Phil says, theres a lot to go wrong in that piece of kit.

[Whippy]

Indeed Phil, it looks a bit 'gadgety' but then I'm sure when GOTO first arrived people said the same thing about that.... Personally, if I was interested in one, I'd wait until all the bugs have been ironed out because it's inevitable there's going to be a few at first with the amount of technology that's inside it.

Would I pay £1300 for it? No, but I'm fairly sure there going to be people that will. If I could find a 6" APO refractor for £1300 though, I'd be all over it...

Tony..

[lulu57]

Wouldn't really buy it....shock at price outweighs Gadget Acquisition Syndrome in this case.

Can't afford it anyway - bought a Televue Ethos last week. That's why it's so cloudy.

[philf]

True - it could be being priced for early adopters (like plasma TV's were and most new technology is) where people who buy early pay a fortune and later people pay less and the early adopters have the joy of ironing out all the bugs

[narrowbandpaul]

6" apo for £1300....me too.

hell, i'd pay that for a 80mm apo (and you ceratinly would now...seen those TAK prices?!)

wouldnt give meade my money, but hey, that's me!

paul

[Disty]

For example, the specs of the built in camera are

"wide-angle color 640x480 CCD imager for taking your own astrophotographs"

I'm thinking thats maybe not a good spec but, as a newbie, I cant be sure.

Phil

[/]

[]

The specs also state -

'The camera does not shoot high power images through the scope optics, but rather takes complementary wide angle panoramas of what you are observing through the scope itself. This helps to put the close-up objects in context against the larger celestial background.'

so you would still need a DSLR or CCD camera to mount in place of the eyepiece for detailed imaging. Given that it's on an AltAz mount, it would need a wedge for any long exposure astrophotography.

So that's £1300 for a 6" SCT with GPS and one touch alignment. That's quite a premium for ease of setup, I would say.[/]

[narrowbandpaul]

a 640x480 chip used with a 6" mak cass will produce a field of view pluto wont fit in! (or something similar)

it could only be used for the moon.

it couldnt track long enough for deep sky work.

why do meade think that loading a scope with gadgets make it better. Better quality optics make better quality scopes!

paul

[philf]

Hi Disty

that was my point (but much better put by you) - the new technology is essentially zero star alignment - my understanding is you can do 1, 2 or 3 star alignment but for astro imaging you need to do polar alignment

I'm a newbie so please stay with me and dont laugh if I am wrong :oops:

My understanding is that one star alignment is quick and 3 star takes longer, 1 star is not as accurate as 3 star and that you need polar alignment for accurate tracking

So it seems to me that zero star alignment would possibly be very quick but least accurate of all and certainly no good for imaging as auto align isnt really for 1, 2 & 3 star alignment

So I know its new technology and I believe it will work (will auto align your scope) and so is great for beginners or if you jsut want a quick viewing session but for more accurate work I'd need convincing / an explanation of how it works and why it would be more accurate than existing technologies.

the other view is, they wouldnt put it out there if there wasnt a market for it and I guess we may all be using it in a few years but, consider this, I'm new at this and, until its delivered this week, do not actually have a scope of my own so could be considered someone about to buy for the first time and I have to say that, having shopped around, I dont think I would buy it as it seems to me a "complete package" and not easily expandable if I want to get into one particular area of astronomy or another later on.

In the words of Duncan Bannatyne, "for those reasons, I'm out"

Phil

[narrowbandpaul]

duncan bannatyne...legend. But grumpy, very grumpy.

yeah, making that scope good enough for astroimaging, would be more hassle than its worth, IMHO.

meade promise the world, but deliver little.

if you want to get into astroimaging, spend that money on an HEQ5pro or EQ6Pro...GEM with goto and autoguidable. Buy a guidescope and guidecamera.

That would be a wise investment...good set up that can track for a long time consistantly, and is versatile as to what scope is used for the actual imaging

[TheThing]

It's a foot in the door and you can't knock them for trying. The technology might not be up to putting in a camera as good as your average DSLR, but everyone has to start somewhere. I note that spotting scopes are beginning to come with cameras in built as well, for people who want to take close ups when birding, for example, without having to lug a scope, camera, adaptor, bracket etc, etc.

Same here. You might just want a scope with a camera to get set up quick and take a few shots of the moon. Limited space to store or time to set up would make this item attractive to you.

As with all things new, there will be teething problems and it is a tad expensive, but this will be resolved in thime and the price will come down (after G Brown personally bails us out? ( or :crybaby: !)) You'll probably find that the camera will get better in time too.

5 years from now, well all have them and wonder what the fuss was about!

I wouldn't knock it just yet. Give it time, wait for the reviews... then knock it!

In the same vein, my bro-in-law always has to be the first with gadgets. He bought one of the first DVD players on the market for £1500 and had it chipped to play all regions. At the time a certain electrical retailer was suggesting that DVDs were dead in the water! My first DVD player was £79 from Smiths (6 years ago) and it came with instructions to make it mulit region yourself! They are even cheaper now!

Like all things, price and reliability improve with popularity.

[Doug]

Hi Lulu

I was tempted to get this scope when it first came out

I joined a club and was put off and got the Lx90 8"ACF

The camera needs other things for pictures and Ive been told not very good

there is also a 8" coming out very soon check the adds

I did look at it at Telescope House and thought it was not as good construction as LX range also with the lights in my area 8" is best

Doug

Essex

[NickH]

There is a very in depth review of this coming soon :-)

The camera is for plate solving only really.. this is NOT an imaging platform scope as is...

[Capricorn]

The price has always been £1299 since it came out over here.

The camera is not really intended for imaging and if I recall is actually separate from the scope. Not 100% sure but I did read it somewhere, just seemed odd. So complaining that it isn't suitable for detailed imaging is a bit unfair, it was not intended to be.

Think someone on this site reviewed one about a week ago and found it to do everything it said it would. Stand it in the garden, switch on and tell it to align itself. Then it found everything they asked of it. That is what it is advertised as doing.

It's been out in the US for longer then here and from the reports on CN it seems to have few problems. Meade did issue a software update for it.

They are bringing out an 8 inch version for £1900.

[NickH]

The camera is separate from the scope and is purely for plate solving...the firmware update fixed the GPS issue.. I have had one for several weeks now...it's very interesting!

[Breakintheclouds]

I'd be really interested to hear what the people who sell these think of them. They must see a certain proportion of people who wander into their shops with money to throw around and who give a strong impression of just looking for a quick fix. In that situation this might be just the product. Plop it down in a field, press a couple of buttons and you're looking at things. Certainly I can see that appealing to a lot of people who would be put off by the idea of polar alignment!

[gary1968]

If I were a newbie again and had the money then yes I would be tempted. But, I have learnt a wee bit over the last 5 years, enough to know that a gadgety, gimicky thing like that would probably put more people off than encourage them to continue in the hobby.

For imaging there is no substitute for a good EQ mount and, say, a 80ed refractor.

Gary

[NickH]

I'd be really interested to hear what the people who sell these think of them. They must see a certain proportion of people who wander into their shops with money to throw around and who give a strong impression of just looking for a quick fix. In that situation this might be just the product. Plop it down in a field, press a couple of buttons and you're looking at things. Certainly I can see that appealing to a lot of people who would be put off by the idea of polar alignment!

Bingo...and it's NOT an imaging platform...not yet

[red dwalf]

this 6" version has been out for a few months, now there rolling out the 8" version !

got to be around £1800 i`d bet, i`d sooner have a 9.25" celestron on a cg5 gt mount and save a few quid, you get a camera thown in at opticstar for the price too

[Cornelius Varley]

Meade are also bringing out a non lightswitch version at $1099 and a Schmidt 6" at $999.

Peter

[NickH]

The optics are good enough for some serious imaging if this was an OTA only option...