Meade ETX125EC Telescope w/ UHTC, Autostar Controller (497) and Tripod (884)

Rating:
Summary: Meade EXT125EC /uhtc w/ autostar
Review: A novice to astronomy i bought this unit with extra bells and whistles, thinking it would be a good intro to astronomy. I am completely disappointed and would never recommend it to anyone for any purpose other then a door stop. Unless you already have some knowledge of telescopes avoid it at all costs. Set up is difficult to impossible, and what eventually appears is not much better then what you can already see on a clear night. As far as i am concerned this purchase was a waste of money.

Rating:
Summary: Very nice for a beginner
Review: I've bought mine when I did not know anything about astronomy. It is an amazing toy for an intelligent person. I thought that my 10 year old son will play with it, but it is over his head, I am actually playing with it. It is a completely automatic scope, i.e. after alignment is complete, it will guide you through the sky, and show you anything which is in it's database and above the horizon. The scope comes with a hand-held device "Autostar" which is a computer with a built database and 2-line alphanumerical display. It is menu-driven, and very easy to understand and operate after reading a manual for 10 minutes.
In order to complete an alignment, the telescope goes to where it "thinks" a bright start is and it tells you which start is it, and you have to align the scope to point to that start exactly. In order to do it, you have to have some idea about bright stars and constellations above you. The telescope was reasonably easy to drive from my lab-top, after I've got an Autostar software from Meade and a connecting cable. I had some trouble with the main mirror - when I focus the scope, the image moves somewhat, so I guess, for a higher quality one has to spend more money. What this scope is NOT good for is astrophotography. Even though I was able to mount my digital camera on it, and even take few pictures of Saturn, Jupiter and moon, results are not impressive, you need a bigger scope, more rigid mouts and tripod, and preferably, on German mount, not on a fork mount. But this 5-in scope is just not designed for that, so be realistic. However, when used as a beginner's scope, it is very good, and lot's of fun. However, one has to have lot's of patience, some knowledge of sky. Meade customer service is OK, easy to reach and helpful. I am now thinking about buying a bigger one.

Rating:
Summary: My childhood dream- works like a champ!
Review: Like many of you out there, I have dreamed about owning a telescope since I was a little boy. The time finally came to fulfill that dream and after a great deal of research and sweat, this was the telescope for me. I purchased from Oceanside Photo and Telescope (Amazon did not stock it at the time) and they were very helpful with timely delivery. I had owned a cheap, "Wal-Mart" scope before and it was an exercise in frustration to see anything at all. As far as optics go, one gets what one pays for. I wanted a top-quality scope but also one that was fairly portable. Buyer beware: a scope with enough light gathering power and focal length to be really versatile tends to be one that is best left in place. This one seems to be as close to a no-compromise scope as it gets. It has more than adequate light gathering ability, the design allows an impressive focal length in a very small package, the optics are first rate, and it is reasonably portable.
My first attempt at getting it up and running failed- my fault because of impatience. I didn't take the time to align it properly and (no surprise) couldn't find anything. The manual says to take your time and do it as carefully as you can and they're not kidding. PLEASE take your time and do it right. Once I got the hang of the whole process it was quite easy and the Autostar system would place the scope pretty close to dead-on target everytime. The scope itself is made very well and the limiting factor in everything I've tried to look at has been atmospherics and light pollution, not the scope. Necessary accessories- my opinion- would include the AC converter (comes with a jack for auto use. The scope will work with batteries (needs eight AA's) but is very slow and the batteries get used up fast), a few extra lenses (it comes with one low-mid power lens), and possibly the dew shield. I found the even a little condensation really spoiled my view and the water can damage the optics. I would also advise anyone to talk to someone knowledgeable or invest in a good basic book before investing in lenses so you don't end up wasting a lot of money. Back to the scope: This scope is a precision, professional quality instrument and if you can afford it and take the time to learn how to use it, you will not be disappointed.

Rating:
Summary: My childhood dream- works like a champ!
Review: Like many of you out there, I have dreamed about owning a telescope since I was a little boy. The time finally came to fulfill that dream and after a great deal of research and sweat, this was the telescope for me. I purchased from Oceanside Photo and Telescope (Amazon did not stock it at the time) and they were very helpful with timely delivery. I had owned a cheap, "Wal-Mart" scope before and it was an exercise in frustration to see anything at all. As far as optics go, one gets what one pays for. I wanted a top-quality scope but also one that was fairly portable. Buyer beware: a scope with enough light gathering power and focal length to be really versatile tends to be one that is best left in place. This one seems to be as close to a no-compromise scope as it gets. It has more than adequate light gathering ability, the design allows an impressive focal length in a very small package, the optics are first rate, and it is reasonably portable.
My first attempt at getting it up and running failed- my fault because of impatience. I didn't take the time to align it properly and (no surprise) couldn't find anything. The manual says to take your time and do it as carefully as you can and they're not kidding. PLEASE take your time and do it right. Once I got the hang of the whole process it was quite easy and the Autostar system would place the scope pretty close to dead-on target everytime. The scope itself is made very well and the limiting factor in everything I've tried to look at has been atmospherics and light pollution, not the scope. Necessary accessories- my opinion- would include the AC converter (comes with a jack for auto use. The scope will work with batteries (needs eight AA's) but is very slow and the batteries get used up fast), a few extra lenses (it comes with one low-mid power lens), and possibly the dew shield. I found the even a little condensation really spoiled my view and the water can damage the optics. I would also advise anyone to talk to someone knowledgeable or invest in a good basic book before investing in lenses so you don't end up wasting a lot of money. Back to the scope: This scope is a precision, professional quality instrument and if you can afford it and take the time to learn how to use it, you will not be disappointed.

Rating:
Summary: A Great Versatile Instrument
Review: This is a great instrument for beginners and amateurs alike. Highly portable and easy to set up, which is important in light polluted areas such as Natick, MA. This allows me to get up and go to dark sky areas for fantastic viewing. Even in light polluted suburbia, the Moon, Mars, Saturn, Jupiter, Andromeda Galaxy, and the Orion Nebula are clearly visible as well as many other Messier objects. If you're a beginner, don't expect to see the flag on the Moon, Hubble Space Telescope can't even see that, or canals on Mars. Do expect to see amazing craters during crescent Moons and polar ice caps during Mars opposition. Jupiter is impressive to look at due to it's shear size. You can make out cloud belts and the famous eye of the 300 year storm. Jupiter's four largest moons show up as small points of light and they change location each night. It's as if you're looking at a miniature solar-system. Saturn and it's rings are among the most beautiful objects to observe. On very clear nights you can make out the Cassini division in Saturn's rings as well as it's largest moon, Titan. Andromeda Galaxy is viewed as a fuzzy cloud with more detail observable in darker skies. Use a CCD camera to overcome your eye's limitation by capturing the color and detail that are shown in pictures. The Autostar is an excellent educational tool with detailed information on each object. It allows you the hands-on experience of learning which makes it fun. Follow the instructions carefully for configuring the Autostar. The more accurate the motor calibration, the easier it will be to align to the stars. It helps to set your watch to the atomic clock which can be found at www.time.gov and use that for the time entered. This will give an accurate position of the stars according to the Earth's rotation. Make sure your telescope is pointed "True North" and follow the instructions for the fork arm location on the telescope. Learn the locations of a few stars during the different seasons in order to make the alignment procedure simpler. I found that if I placed the telescope slightly to the East of "True North" then each time the star it was aligning to was in my 26mm eyepiece. Don't be afraid to pick up the tripod and move it clockwise or counterclockwise until the star your aligning to is shown in the eyepiece. Then you can use the motor to center the star in the eyepiece. The less you use the motor for aligning the more accurate it seems to be and the faster it slews to the object.

Rating:
Summary: Meade EXT125EC /uhtc w/ autostar
Review: This is an awesome scope that is so much fun to use and makes it easy as can be to learn about astronomy. It comes with everything you need to see some of the most amazing outerspace objects, nebulas, other galaxies,and more. I can not say enough how easy and fun you will have with this scope. You can use it for terrestrial or space exploration. The only negative to the scope is do not expect to get many hours out of the AA batteries. Some things to do: first is buy an electronic focuser or a focus extender (flexible kind), I have the electronic focuser because it was just easy to use. Next, buy rechargeable batteries NiMH, or build you a 12volt power supply like I did with a lead-acid battery and small battery box. It will last you for several weeks of viewing and plenty of power. The price is not cheap, but remember you get what you pay for these days. I started with a lesser scope and had to upgrade a month later to this one. Just do it right the first time and get the ETX-125 now instead of wasting your time and money with other smaller scopes. Again, this is an awesome scope you will be proud you purchased and impress your friends!

Rating:
Summary: Awesome Telescope!!!!! Beginner or Expert!!!!!
Review: This is an awesome scope that is so much fun to use and makes it easy as can be to learn about astronomy. It comes with everything you need to see some of the most amazing outerspace objects, nebulas, other galaxies,and more. I can not say enough how easy and fun you will have with this scope. You can use it for terrestrial or space exploration. The only negative to the scope is do not expect to get many hours out of the AA batteries. Buy rechargeables, or build you a 12volt power supply like I did with a lead-acid battery and small battery box. It will last you for several weeks of viewing and plenty of power. The price is not cheap, but remember you get what you pay for these days. I started with a lesser scope and had to upgrade a month later to this one. Just do it right the first time and get the ETX-125 now instead of wasting your time and money with other smaller scopes. Again, this is an awesome scope you will be proud you purchased and impress your friends!