Meade ETX90EC Telescope w/ UHTC, Autostar Controller (497) and Tripod (884)

Rating:
Summary: ETX90EC W/UHTC AUTOSAT & TRIPOD PURE FUN !!
Review: First Rate myself as a casual observor, wanted maximum portability, and the ETX90EC certainly does !! First night aligned the finder and used manual control, only using 47X Jupiter was beautiful and moons snapped into view nicely. Over all image(s) look Good to Very Good, nice and compact stars as they should be ! 2nd night (using Autostar) able to align on the 3rd attempt, viewed more in 1 hour, infact lost count ! Was locating many from horizon to horizon, simply amazing feat ! Noisy in operation and dislike the small finder and needs more info on use, otherwise would give 5 stars !! Was Pure Fun, LOVE IT !! questions feel free to inquire [e-mail]

Rating:
Summary: Rating Optics on ETX90EC Very Good Near Excellent !!
Review: Rate the Optics as exceptional on ETX90EC w/UHTC are near excellent!! Easily see the north star companion (9th magnitude), for the 1st time watched a Jupiter Shadow Eclipse (Jupiter's moon Io is prolific casting its lunar shadow on Jupiters surface) , small in my 97X, but jet black circle, beautiful !! Focusing is abit coarse, but fast ! Watched the Jupiter eclipse between two street lights !! Two Dark Bands on Jupiter stand out well, hint of polar markings, the bands are irregular show hints of detail !! Large Red Spot shows easily when in view. Saturn is low in horizon now, tho division not visible large Jet Black area between Planet and Rings ! Deep Sky Show Objects as M13 (Beautiful Huge Globular), M27 Dumbell Nebula appears elongated, the Goto Autostar Feature makes finding M5 (is located by itself with very few guide stars) a snap ! Very Strongly Suggest using a 40MM wide view eyepiece as makes life easier in the alignment process and Goto feature, note we are using a longer plus F/13 focal length. Also may need a 9MM or shorter eyepiece to reach over 100X for Planetary and the Smaller Deep Sky. Planet Uranus is a nice disc even in the 40MM 30X eyepiece ! Many of the Globular Clusters are easy, as well as some of the brighter Galaxies. Found two fantastic items that I wouldn't do without, a Palm IIIc with the Planetarium Program gives a fantastic visual star map, great visual aid at the scope, can find this on eBay, Planetarium is a Shareware about $24 and can purchase the Palm IIIC around $60 to $70 used. Last as dislike the small finder I purchased a Green Laser for coarse finding, as leaves a nice beam (not just a spot but a trailing beam!!) in night sky greatly makes things easier in lining up the guide stars using Autostar. Simply Strap it on with Large Rubber Bands ! Can find this here on Amazon under $70 (a good buy), as retail for $129 ! This is not a toy as very bright so use w/caution. Not unsual to see over 36 to plus 40 Deep Sky objects in just over an hour !! Star images are nice and compact, have owned a F/10 6 inch reflector, 6 inch Dynamax Schmidtt Cassegrain, but the ETX blows them away, fantastic, Best WARREN ..<>..

Rating:
Summary: Rating Optics on ETX90EC Very Good Near Excellent !!
Review: Rate the Optics as exceptional on ETX90EC w/UHTC are near excellent!! Easily see the north star companion (9th magnitude), for the 1st time watched a Jupiter Shadow Eclipse, small in my 97X, but jet black circle, beautiful !! Focusing is abit coarse, but fast ! Have yet to use it in a nice Dark Sky, watched the Jupiter eclipse between two street lights !! Two Dark Bands on Jupiter stand out well, hint of polar markings, the bands are irregular show hints of detail !! Large Red Spot shows easily when in view. Saturn is low in horizon now, tho division not visible large Jet Black area between Planet and Rings ! Have only 97X waiting for my 9 MM eyepiece. Star images are nice and compact, have owned a F/10 6 inch reflector, 6 inch Dynamax Schmidtt Cassegrain, but the ETX blows them away, fantastic, Best WARREN ..<>..

Rating:
Summary: Great product
Review: This is my second telescope and I took the opportunity of the Meade special offers. Shipping arrived on time, I was a little bit worried about shipping such an equipment, but packaging was great.
Strongly recommending buying the hard case.
This is a wonderful telescope, very easy to use, and I recommend this for anyone, even beginners. Calibration is easy, just a few clicks on the Autostar, and then you can start the great show. Planets and objects are bright and offer fantastic contrast (buy the optionnal UHTC it's worth).
Prepare not to sleep at all the first few nights, but you'll be amazed at what you can see.