Meade Telescopes

Why foist one of these onto your children? Get them one of the easier to use scopes with better eyepieces and larger aperture for them and they may actually develop an interest in astronomy! If they get so frustrated and give up because you can’t find or see anything, why bother!

The 102mm will be for my daughter. I had a Celestron 8" Compustar and thoroughly enjoyed it. Does anyone know if this will be delivered in time for Christmas? Only standard shipping listed for this…

Telescopes are a wonderful thing. Even relatively inexpensive ones like these can show you things you wouldn’t be able to see with just your eyes.

Personally, I own a Celestron 6" Schmidt–Cassegrain on an equatorial mount. It cost me around a grand, but don’t fall for the myth that more money = better viewing. These scopes are a great way to get into the hobby, and Meade is definitely a notch above the department store specials you may see during the holidays.

Ummm… I don’t know. I never suggested that you should. My assumption is that whoever is looking at these may not be looking for a $500-1000 scope.

There’s definitely a cost/benefit analysis when buying a telescope and I wouldn’t recommend starting off with something even moderately expensive because if you don’t like it, you’ll have nothing but an expensive paper weight sitting in your house.

RE: Astrophotography
Aperture is not necessarly everything when it comes to astrophotography, but it does help. I currently image with an 8" Newtonian attached to a German equitorial mount (the perfered mount for astrophotography). Also, don’t be drawn in by magnification-often times, the really interesting objects are very large in terms of thier angular size. For instance, our nearest galactic neighbor, The Andromeda Galaxy, is five times the angular size of our full moon and cannot fit within the field of view of my scope. If you check out astrobin.com, you will see the work of a ton of amature astronomers using everything from just thier DSLR, a kit lens, and a tripod, to a mount that costs more than most new cars and a total imaging set up that costs more than many peoples homes. When I got into the hobby about a year an a half ago, I thought I could get what I wanted for under $700, but the more I researched, the more I realized that I would ultimatly be unhappy with the rig and it would just sit in the garage. I currently have over $3000 invested (using that term loosly), but I am finally at a point where I feel like I can make the most of my equipment.

Well said.

How much can you see through the light pollution? As cities grow, proliferate and switch to halogen lighting, star-gazing means driving farther and farther from “civilization” to be able to really see anything. Then there’s smog. Look at the documented problems with visibility at the Grand Canyon. If it’s too polluted to see well across the canyon, how exactly do you propose to peer at nebulae and other objects a few to millions of light years away? There are good reasons we launched Hubble!
If you live in a remote area, astronomy is fun. If you live in a suburban or urban area, don’t expect to see scenes like the ones in photos. If you live in an area with fog, it’s amazing how the fog seems to materialize every time there’s an interesting astronomical event.

It really depends on your area. If you live in the heart of Manhattan, you’ll have trouble seeing anything short of the brightest objects (orion’s nebula, the Pleiades). If you live in the suburbs outside a larger city, typically viewing in the direction of the city will have similar problems. Where I live I’ve got great viewing in every direction except north, which is towards the city. It does make polar alignments slightly challenging, but not impossible.

You’re right. I used to stargaze when I was a boy; living in the middle of the Pacific may have spoiled me, visibility-wise. In suburban California, your statement that one can only see the brightest objects is correct. If you happen to live there and are interested in astronomy, the Griffith Planetarium in L.A. recently completed a pretty nice overhaul. Also the 2nd or 3rd weekend in May is the JPL Open House. Great event, and it’s free! Go see where the real Big Bang Theory guys work, and pick up some free stickers or posters!

If you go after something else – the goto and compu-nav mounts are different and not easily retrofitted to things like a stock Dobs.

For DSLR use, I’d recommend an intervalometer (check out the Android app; it’s a little more, but it is flexible to be a time-lapse intervalometer, remote, motion detector, etc) – that way you can take several 1 minute exposures (-- really, for faint objects 1 minute is the least you can do --) and align them later if you have a couple of bright guidestars in the field.

Dunno. I think mirrors are better (mainly for large diameter for large light gathering, but also for chromatic dispersion).

If you’re in/near the city, you need a cold, dry night to cut down the light pollution.

Dammit joecooool! Thanks for spoiling our fun. Woot! jacked the price on the 102. :stuck_out_tongue:

And dammit woot! You do not have to “check my ID” every random-x time! I missed getting this thanks to your idiotic intervention after I had clicked the Big Yellow Button. :stuck_out_tongue:

Woot! just made some pretty ponies sad for Christmas.

I ordered the NG70-SM 70mm Refractor Telescope on Dec 11th. Says it’s still awaiting shipping??? Better get it before Xmas!

Sorry to hear that you are still awaiting shipment of your order.

It usually can take up 5 days for shipping, so if you don’t see any update on your shipping status by tomorrow, please feel free to email Woot Member Services at support@woot.com and they’ll be glad to help answer any questions or concerns you may have.

Sincerely,
Forum Moderator

So mine was opened as a Christmas gift and not only was it used, it was broken. Now I have to send in the computer and who knows how long it will take to get the replacement parts.

Computer? These are telescopes. Regardless, we highly recommend whatever’s busted, contact the manufacturer and keep us advised if there are any problems.

Yes, the model 102 come with a computer guided system - which is the whole point of ordering that telescope.

I did contact them, I will have to send the part into them and then wait for them to send me the replacement part. They suggested it may take about three weeks.

I purchased a telescope from Woot on 12/11/12 and received the item a few days later. The Woot order number is 42770314

The specific reason I bought this telescope is because it has a computer on it that automatically locates celestial objects. When I set up the telescope, the AudioStar computer mechanism did not function. I called Meade technical support and after discussing the problems, they asked me to UPS back just the AudioStar computer. I did this several weeks ago and never got a response. I called Meade today and asked them what the status was and they told me that they had received the defective part back from me but they no longer had any stock to replace my defective part with. When I asked how long it would take to get the new part I was told they had no idea, that it could be a few weeks to maybe a couple of months to maybe never.

I no longer have the box because I was told it was a simple fix and they would have me up and running in a few days. Its now been almost a month since I bought the telescope. I’ve yet to be able to use it and have no idea when or even if I will ever get the part I need to fix it.

I need you guys to contact Meade on my behalf and either force them to fix this problem now or allow me to ship the telescope back without the box or computer for a full refund.

Sorry for the late reply and to hear that you experienced this issue.

I’ve forwarded your post onto Woot Member Services to see if they can’t help find you a solution to this issue.