Meade ETX-90 worth it as a beginners scope?

[Gravitas]

Someone is posting a Meade ETX-90 on its original fork, base, Autostar handset, 25mm and 10mm Wide Angle eyepieces for around £180 when converted back to UK currency.

Current owner says it was bought around a decade ago.

I'm aware of the limitations of it as a relatively small aperture maksutov, but thats ok for now. 

I'm more worried about the possiblity of buying a lemon and needing to sink time and money into fixing or adapting the motor control. 

On balance, is it worth it?

[Carbon Brush]

I assume you are a relative beginner?
The general advice most of us would give is be very wary.
There is a lot of trash on sale used on ebay, facebook and the like.

As for the ETX90. nice enough scope, I used to own one.
But now they are all quite old, the general condition has to be in doubt.

Welcome to SGL.

[RT65CB-SWL]

Hi @Gravitas

I am going to be brutally honest here. The optical side is OK, but don’t expect Questar performance. The mechanics side let them down.

If you do decide to purchase it, the first thing I would do, is de-fork it. It can be done, it is struggle, but on the underside the flip mirror mousing, there are two 1/4” UNC threaded holes. So grab yourself a slotted Vixen compatible dovetail bar and affix that… don’t over-tighten. Then attach to a descent EQ or alt-az mount.

Below are a couple of images of my ‘re-modded’ ETX-105.

[Elp]

You do realise Meade has ceased trading (well the original company ceased a long time ago but were acquired) as of last month and their future is currently unknown. So parts availability may be an issue. As with anything else, the older it is the more difficult it is to find spares.

Edited August 16 by Elp

[bosun21]

I would pass on it. Being a decade old and the electronics being suspect with those scopes is a red flag to me. Being a beginner I don't think that deforking the telescope is something that you would want to have to deal with. You can buy a new Skywatcher Maksutov 90 or 102mm for a similar amount of money. Then there's also a refractor or reflector to consider.

[Stu_53N_002W]

I have a Meade ETX90 and it's brilliant. It's not really. I've also got a Celestron Astromaster 114EQ with optional motor. It's brilliant, not really. I could list quite a few telescopes that I have and although they're all brilliant, had I spent wisely, I trully would have a brilliant telescope.

£180 is the staring cost. Their discription may, although trueful as far as they know, may not be factual. I recommend passing unless you really want a Meade. Then it'll be which version. Original with single motor or one of the many varieties of the later versions. Collecting is a money pit.

I do have a SvBony MK105 and it's brilliant. Came new with warrenty. I think it was £220 without any mount or eyepiece.

On balance, not worth it as a telescope that has a future that money isn't wasted on.

I'm keeping the Meade though as it's in bits and the Astromaster's mount is a good pratice equtorial mount and scope to get used to and understand.

[Gravitas]

Thanks for the points of view.  The state of play where I am (Norway) makes this a fairly compelling alternative even in light of a whole host of downsides, namely the weak krone, import tariffs and general expense of new astro gear. 

The guy wants about 2500 NOK / 210 EUR for it.

Closest I could find for a like-for-like new would be to get a Skywatcher Heritage 90 Mak with goto for about 310EUR not counting import.  

A Celestron Astromaster 130 with an RA motor drive is about 5000NOK / 424 EUR.

Similar alternatives are in the same sort of region. Even though it could well turn out to be a monstrosity, it is still only around half the price of a brand new scope with (admittedly dated) features that are a lot better. Makes it hard to simply walk away from. 

[Cosmic Geoff]

Can you persuade the seller to send you a video of the  ETX 90 mount working? That shouldn't be hard with a smartphone.

[McQ]

Short answer, no. I never owned one but I read a lot of reviews about them and decided for myself that they are not worth it unless very, very cheap. Optical quality was nothing to write home about. The electronics were unreliable. I ended up buying an Orion 90mm Mak instead, which is good for planets and not much else, but I rarely use it. If you are a beginner, I would suggest a general purpose scope (f/5 - f/8) larger than 4", on an AZ mount.