Which Meade?

[glencree123]

I bought an Etx90 EC 7 years ago, and now feel the need to buy a larger Meade scope. There lies the problem? I have a budget of £2000 ,however i cannot decide on which Meade!I am a novice,and cannot really understand the main pros and cons when i research the ETX against the LX range.I want this scope to allow me to really pick up astronomy as a hobby and allow exciting stargazing,so it must have the capacity to accomodate my skills in stargazing as they develop. Perhaps someone out there has been in my position and can offer some advice on best prices and their experiences.

Here's hoping?

P.S Home is in NE England

[kniclander]

just out of interest, why does it have to be a Meade?

[glencree123]

Hello there

Very good question. I am quite a brand loyal person, and as i have had no real problem with my existing Meade, my natural instinct is to keep to the same brand. However as i have not really researched any other scope suppliers, i have only kept to Meade's information,and if there is another make that really blows Meade away, with regards to what i would like to achieve with a scope, and others agree, then i will go for it.

Hope to hear from you soon.

[Cloudwatcher]

You can purchase a lot of scope for £2,000........... from a 16" Lightbridge Dob to the fully automated 6" EXT LS with built in camera.

Do you have a particular field of use in mind?

[greenkat]

Hi there

I have had (and still have) 2 Meade scopes, the ETX70 & ETX90.

Opticaly I think they are both very good, especialy the 90, but to be honest, the mounts suck. I didnt realise how bad they were until I got myself a skywatcher HEQ5pro for upgrading my 150mm reflector. I dont know how noisey the mounts are for the Meade LX range, but the ETX ones are soooo noisy.

If I had 2 grand to spend, I would look at the Skywatcher range on the Heq5pro or Heq6pro mounts (depending on how portable you want it) with the tube of your choice (you dont mention if you prefer refractor, reflector ect)

I'm sure others on here will give you more (and probably better) advice, but I agree with Kniclander, dont narrow yourself to Meade

Hope this helps

Greenkat

[RobH]

You should be able to pick up a good secondhand 10" LX200 classic for under £1000. This is still portable, unlike the 12 inch, but has good light grasp.

There's no advantage paying extra for an LX200GPS, as all you really get here is a built-in GPS and bigger database.

If you connect to a laptop and use planetarium software, you won't be using the database anyway, and putting in the correct date and time manually is easy.

If you want to get into astrophotography, you will have enough left from your £2k to gat a wedge, camera and guidescope etc.

The newer LX200ACF scopes have much flatter optics for photography, but there's no great advantage visually, and you are looking at £2.5k for the 10 inch ACF new.

Cheers

Rob

[kniclander]

Hello there

Very good question. I am quite a brand loyal person, and as i have had no real problem with my existing Meade, my natural instinct is to keep to the same brand. .

fair enough. I would get a 5" triplet apo (5000 series I think) but it all dpends what you want to do with it...tbh I dont know anything about meades but good luck

[glencree123]

Hello CW

Sorry,however i dot really understand the full meaning of "field of use"?

[glencree123]

Hello Everyone

Many thanks for all the information that you are sending.I can see that there obviously are other REAL alternatives out there.My head i have google search on one session looking at scopes mentioned, and this on the other. I shall get there eventually.

Very many thanks for helping me.

[FLO]

Glen, why not hang around a while here on SGL before spending anything. The chances are you will chop and change your mind a number of times then when the really dark nights return you will have a much better idea of what to buy. You will probably also find that you don't need to spend as much or might even opt for two scopes, many of us have three or more.

HTH

[Jarndyce]

Glen, why not hang around a while here on SGL before spending anything. The chances are you will chop and change your mind a number of times then when the really dark nights return you will have a much better idea of what to buy. You will probably also find that you don't need to spend as much or might even opt for two scopes, many of us have three or more.

HTH

Sound advice!

[glencree123]

This is what i need! The best advice i have had in ages has been from this short two hour session.

Many thanks

[greenkat]

I agree, dont rush it , and get a supply of headache tablets, you may need them by the time youve considered the choices

lol @ 3 or more, I'm up to 5 already

[greenkat]

"field of use"

are you interested in any particular field ?

Lunar & planets?

Galaxies & nebula?

Photography?

ect

[vlebo]

Glen, why not hang around a while here on SGL before spending anything. The chances are you will chop and change your mind a number of times then when the really dark nights return you will have a much better idea of what to buy. You will probably also find that you don't need to spend as much or might even opt for two scopes, many of us have three or more.

HTH

Thats exactly what I did , and it took me 3 months to decide what to finally get and since I am only using my equipment for visual use I like to think I made a good choice. If you look at my signature I bought everything in one hit from FLO apart from the Meade eyepiece set and Revelation diagonal , which I already had. Whenever I can I am up and running with either scope in about 5-10 mins and get some fantastic views of Planets and Galaxies with both.

[Bigwings]

I can understand brand loyalty sometimes when its about service or value or ....whatever. BUT a sensible buy is about getting the right tool for the job at the best price and having it perform well. These are not functions you get from a label....

In this field many suppliers get the same products from manufacturers with different badges.

A few years ago I offered a customer a good deal on £139k's worth of surgical instruments. She elected to stay with her current brand and paid 30% more. The order was placed with my "competitor" and that night he placed the order with us...the manufacturer.

The advice to stay listen and think before buying is very very good. There is a wealth of experience & help on here. Mind I always buy SEBEN.....only joking

[Psychobilly]

If there are any plans for astrophotography I would go with a decent GEM mount rather than a fork mounted scope - I didn't - impulse buy on a CPC800 as it was in the shop - and you end up having to buy or make more accessories to be able to use it for imaging....

A decent mount is an investment as it will serve you well and handle a whole range of different scopes...

Peter...

[m.tweedy]

Where in the north east do you live? A local astro society may be a good starting point to see the different types of scope in use.

[glencree123]

Hello M.Tweedy

I live Just north of Whitley Bay.THe main problem i find is that there are no Astronomy Shops in the North East of England to have a visit or chat with.

Best regards

Glencree123

[glencree123]

Hello

I live just north of Whitley Bay. One of the main reasons i am struggling finding a suitable scope is that there is no shop in the North East to bounce questions and physicall look at telescopes available in my price range(i am a novice at this game also which does not help also).

Glencree

[Scuba]

Hi Glencree.

I have the Meade LXD75 8"SCT which I bought about 5 years ago now. First let me say that although it doesn't get used very often it has never let me down and the optics are very good. However one of the reasons it hasn't had a great deal of use is the loud coffee grinder noise of the mechanics whilst slewing. Even on "quiet slew" it's too loud to use in the garden in the early hours of the morning. I've recently bought a Skywatcher Mak 127 Synscan AltAz setup. This is very much a grab and go scope. It's quieter and just fits my criteria of being not too noisy. Needless to say I'm out every cloudless night now. BTW I'm NOT suggesting you buy a small Mak. This setup suits me.

Also, when I bought the Meade, the consensus by the tinkerers was that the metal used in the gears was of "coke tin" standard ie. very soft. I don't know if their still made this way. As I've said I've never had any trouble.

I've also "heard", take with a pinch of salt, that the LS with ACF is going to a couple of hundred more than advertised. Without ACF will be at that price. Just something to look into if your going that road.

I know it may sound like I don't like Meade but the opposite is true. They've given me many hours of happy observing.

Clear skies.

Dave.

[dark knight]

Some great advice there, I'd invest in the mount, as has already been said something like a Synscan EQ6,,that will still leave plenty for a decent optical tube and any accessories.