Rating: 
Summary: A lot of telescope for the price
Review: The ETX 70 AT is a great little scope, very portable and easy to use (with a couple of nights practice!). A Barlow multiplying lens (x3) is a must to get good sharp close ups of the moon and planets. A set of filters also helps for a sharper contrast and cuts down the brightness of the moon. Once you have mastered the Autostar alignment procedure any object can be tracked automatically, ideal for photos. I have used the scope with and without the tripod, but the tripod does give a much more solid base (ie. less vibration when looking at the object).
The manual focus can be irritating (about 15 turns) when switching between eyepieces or adding a lens. Deep sky views are a bit faint but this is after all an ideal beginners scope.
Rating: 
Summary: A Great Toy
Review: The ETX70 is billed as a beginner's telescope, but those entering the hobby of amateur astronomy are typically motivated by interest in planets, and for such interest this scope is, in a word, unsuitable. Planetary observation requires high power, and this is a low power scope. Although it is possible to see the rings of Saturn and the moons of Jupiter through it, the images are tiny. (On my own specimen, planetary discs are marred by unacceptable flares. Other owners tell me their scopes do not have that problem.) Thus, inexperienced purchasers are likely to be disappointed, and more's the pity because amateur astronomy is about much more than planets. The ETX70 is more suited to the deep sky. It is not so much a beginner's scope as it is a scope conscientiously intended for beginners, designed by experienced astronomers. Think of it as a powerful monocular with a computerized GoTo. Despite what you might think, the ETX70 is not a poor man's ETX90. Jupiter looks much better through the '90, but the Orion Nebula, the Dumbbell Nebula, and the Lagoon Nebula look much better through the 70. The '70 presents very nice low power, wide field views. The '90 presents dim, narrow, higher power views. Of the two scopes, the ETX70 is arguably nicer, because it excels at more objects. Also, the broad field of the ETX70's makes the GoTo mechanism function reliably. Some ETX90 GoTo's are less reliable because that instrument's tunnel vision can challenge the accuracy of its positioning system. (Accuracy varies among individual scopes.) Computerized scopes are, to say the least, controversial in the amateur astronomical community. I have seen amateurs who know very little of the sky, and spend nights punching buttons. That's a hazard. On the other hand, unconnected beginners face the hazard of never finding things in the sky and losing interest. If a beginner can get past the challenge of the GoTo mechanism, the computerized sky tours of the ETX70 can connect him/her with the sky. Before the GoTo will work properly, the scope must be aligned. For this purpose, it will help if the user can find at least the North Star. Three alignment systems are supplied: Easy Align, One Star Align, and Two Star Align. If you have 360 degrees of sky visibility, Easy Align is easy indeed. It is no more than the two star alignment method with the scope picking the stars. The user is called upon to center the stars, but the computer picks bright ones. In principle, you find the brightest star anywhere near where the scope is pointing, and center it. If that star is behind a tree, though, you're in trouble. You can have the scope choose another, but if you have a lot of trees, the Easy method can be quite difficult. Better to learn the identities of two bright stars far away from each other and from Polaris, that are visible from your backyard at the time of night you do your observing. (Of course you will need different stars at different times of the year and night.) Once you've done that, you can use the two star method. The increased accuracy of this method over the one-star method is worth the small extra effort. As long as the computer is doing the work, the ETX70 requires no tripod, but a foam rubber pad will help to hold the instrument steadily on, say, a picnic table. The tripod becomes more important when aiming the scope by hand, but it compromises the scope's portability. If you can get the tripod free, therefore, take it. Otherwise, think about it long and hard - or keep looking until you find one for free. Now for the problem: Most of the objects in the ETX70's database appear as faint smudges, and if you aim a larger scope at some of those smudges, they will become beautiful enough to make you weep. For the same money you can get a respectably large Dobsonian telescope with no GoTo, and you will see a lot more. A *whole* lot more. You will have to find the objects yourself (Check out the book, _Turn Left At Orion_) and nudge the scope as the earth turns. The scope will be less portable, and you will have to align the optics every time. The choice is yours. If you have money to burn, and never intend to become involved with the hobby, the ETX70 may be for you. If you like gadgets, the ETX70 may be for you. If you want a tour of the sky, and a very portable scope, the ETX70 may be for you. A new amateur probably has better options. An experienced amateur may wonder why someone bothered to put a GoTo on a monocular. I thoroughly love my ETX70 as a toy, but for serious observing, I use a telescope.
Rating:
Summary: Not a Televue but . . .
Review: This is a great little telescope for the money. Two previous reviewers (who gave it a low rating) had quality control problems with it. I've had none with mine but I have had 3 of them with my Meade 4" refractor. The Meade customer service people were wonderful in correcting these problems, but it seems their quality control could be better. Optically, this is an achromatic refractor with a very fast focal ratio. That means it's good for viewing extended objects like star clusters, Milky Way star clouds, large nebulae, pretty conjunctions, etc. Dark skies help alot -- the darker the better of course -- but good clear rural skies in Ohio are plenty wonderful. It doesn't have the aperture for dimmer objects but the brighter Messier objects, for example (and there's plenty of them!) are great. It isn't at its best on planets and the Moon but you can definitely see Saturn's rings, the phases of Mercury and Venus, Jupiter's moons and belts (the red spot is difficult at best) and the Moon simply can't help but look wonderful in any telescope! The Autostar is really good. It's best when you align it carefully: use the north star to point it to north and use a bubble level to level the tripod and tube. You can find brighter Messier objects, comets, asteroids, the planet Neptune, etc, so easily! (But of course not Pluto, quasars, black holes and some other ridiculous objects in the Autostar database.) And you get better at aligning it as you practice. Be sure to check out the "synchronize" feature (in the owner's manual under the "enter key"). As others have pointed out, the focus mechanism is bad, and the tripod is not terribly sturdy. Together they make higher magnifications (which are not optically optimum either) just about impossible. But 50X is still reasonable with a good 7mm orthoscopic eyepiece. Also a good 32mm eyepiece will eliminate the need to buy a finder and give you wonderful wide views. A dew shield is a must in Ohio (reduces glare too). It ain't a Televue, it's true, but for the price, this scope is hard to beat.
Rating:
Summary: Great Scope!
Review: This is a great scope. At first I had trouble aligning it because when I tried to center the star with the autostar it didn't move. Later I found out that I had the speed to like 64X or 8X. Which is very slow. Then I moved it to 0.5 and I got it to work perfectly. The first night I got it to work I saw jupiter and its moons and I saw the moon. If you would like to see more detail of planets I would suggest buying a 3X barlow lense. You may not see things like you would in a planetarium but hey this is an ametuers scope and for the money you can see things well enough to say you had a great night in the field.
|
