Rating: Summary: Best First Telescope Review: It's a great price. It gives clear views and the objects are very detailed when looking through a high magnification eyepiece. Also it is easy to operate and it's a perfect first telescpe for people who are just getting started in amateur astronomy. It's hard to keep the telescope lined up with the object while changing eyepieces and it's hard to move it indoors and outdoors because of its size.Those are the only bad things I could find.
Rating: Summary: STOP BUYING THIS SCOPE Review: Look, as an amateur astronomer I can tell you most beginners would be much better served buying a different telescope. While the price may seem attractive for a "computerized" scope, the reliability of its electronics are poor, and the optics are below average (the most important part). If you are truly serious about getting yourself or someone else into the hobby, please spend a little more and buy a 6" or 8" reflector on a dobsonian mount. This will enable the user of the telescope to actually learn the sky first! Any dobsonian by Orion, Celestron, or Discovery telescopes should do. I hope this helps.
Rating: Summary: Meade DS 114/AT Review: Once aligned, the object is very difficult to center. Focusing moves the object out of view...if it locates it. The motor drive stopped functioning correctly after 2 hrs of use. Pretty dissapointing!
Rating: Summary: Not the ideal choice Review: The DS-114EC is Meade's version of the traditional imported 4-1/4" scope with Meade's new computerized pointing system. As such, it has all the advantages of the latter but retains the drawbacks of the former.A 4-1/4" reflector is a very small scope to begin with, and the secondary mirror obstruction reduces the light gathering to that of a smaller scope. The computerized mount isn't terribly stable., and you have to be very careful not to set it vibrating when you touch it. When you're spending in the neighborhood of [price], you have a lot of options, one of which is the wide variety of 6" to 8" dobsonian-type reflectors available from Meade, Celestron and many other manufacturers. They're more rugged, more stable, and have two or three times the light gathering aperture. Add to that a copy of a good star guide like "Turn Left at Orion" and you'll have a package that will deliver more enjoyment for a longer time.
Rating: Summary: Cheap now or forever hold your eyepieces Review: This telescope is an excelent buy at the moment for [amt]. The review that states you should save yourself the trouble by buying a Newtonian/Dobsonian telescope did not meantion that the average price is around [amt] for a cheap telescope. Dobsonians ARE quality telescopes for their price, but if you just want to get started and don't care too much about all the tecnical stuff (but eventually want to know what it's all about) you should start with this telescope. I am happy with mine, although, I bought it a year ago near the price Amazon lists at above [amt], but I've been happy with it because of its nice electronic control, which is necessary to keep track of objects you are viewing at high magnification (adjusting the telescope by hand is difficult). The scope comes with TWO eyepieces instead of one. Each eyepiece has a magnification of 36X and 101X for the 25mm and 9mm pieces respectively. Add a 2X or 3X Barlow lens and you can double or triple those magnifications. Note that Meade suggests a maximum of 325X magnification is the limit of the scope.
Rating: Summary: Cheap now, or forever hold your eyepieces. Review: This telescope is presently a very good buy for its maximum magnification power capability and versatility with the electronic control. Standard 9mm and 40mm focal length eyepieces are included allowing one to see Jupiter and Saturn clearly. With these eyepieces and the 910mm focal length of the telescope, one gets a magnification of 101x and 23x for the 9mm and 40mm eyepieces (mag. power = telescope focal length divided by the eyepiece focal length). With the manually operated electronic control, one can track objects while viewing them without having to move the telescope by hand. This comes in handy since most images viewed through the telescope are inverted making it confusing at first to track the image by hand. Note that the manufacturer's suggested maximum magnification power for this telescope is approximately 325x, which can be closely accomplished using a 3x Barlow lens (tripling the telescope focal length) and the already supplied 9mm eyepiece (this gives a magnification power of 303x).
Rating: Summary: Cheap now, or forever hold your eyepieces. Review: This telescope is presently a very good buy for its maximum magnification power capability and versatility with the electronic control. Standard 9mm and 40mm focal length eyepieces are included allowing one to see Jupiter and Saturn clearly. With these eyepieces and the 910mm focal length of the telescope, one gets a magnification of 101x and 23x for the 9mm and 40mm eyepieces (mag. power = telescope focal length divided by the eyepiece focal length). With the manually operated electronic control, one can track objects while viewing them without having to move the telescope by hand. This comes in handy since most images viewed through the telescope are inverted making it confusing at first to track the image by hand. Note that the manufacturer's suggested maximum magnification power for this telescope is approximately 325x, which can be closely accomplished using a 3x Barlow lens (tripling the telescope focal length) and the already supplied 9mm eyepiece (this gives a magnification power of 303x).
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