When you are starting out in astronomy, it is by no means a simple matter to find the right brand and model for your first serious telescope. Choosing the perfect beginner’s telescope has never been easy. Truth is: telescopes are confusing. What you’ll discover as soon as you start investigating and asking questions is that you need to understand what you want to do with your telescope first. Then you’ll be able to pick the right instrument for your needs.
Start by figuring out what kind of a sky watcher you would like to be. If you can determine which profile most closely matches your interests and level of committment, it will be much easier to find telescope that fits.
For example, you might be a novice who wants a real telescope (not a cheap “toy”) that will allow you to see close-up details of the moon, Saturn’s rings, the moons of Jupiter, and maybe some deep-space objects like galaxies, nebulas, and star clusters. At the same time, you want a telescope that will be fun, easy to set up and move, and compact enough to take it to a local star party or on a camping trip.
If this sounds like you, a high-quality, compact telescope like the Meade ETX-80 Refractor might be just what you need. The achromatic refractor design makes for an ideal all-around scope. Combined with a solid tripod mount, the Meade ETX gives you razor sharp optics for viewing both earth and sky objects, in a portable package. It even makes an excellent long lens for astral photography. The 80 mm ETX is a relatively low-cost way for anyone to get into the backyard-astronomy game without frustration.
Meade also makes larger models in the entry-level ETX series, including the ETX-90PE and the ETX-125PE. The bigger the aperture of the telescope, the more light it will gather, and the more clearly you will be able to see distant objects. But nothing can beat the ETX-80 for portability plus enough light-gathering ability to see hundreds of the brightest astronomy targets in all their glory. This makes an unbeatable combination for many beginners.
Julia Gaudelli from Guildford Astronomical Society gives us a tour of her fantastic meade telescope at The Great Look Up to the night sky, held at the University of Surrey in Guildford on 28/08/09
Duration : 0:1:39
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I’m looking into buying a Meade ACF telescope, but I don’t know where the difference is between the LX400 and an LX200 model.
Call telescopes.com on the phone, they have some great sales people very knowlageable on there products. Ask for Kurt he helped me decide between a Vixen ED81Sf, WO Megrez 90, or Vixen ED80Sf…Got the Vixen 81
If you’re looking for the biggest bank for the buck in an entry-level astronomy telescope, you should take a close look at a Dobsonian reflector telescope. Meade makes an excellent line of Dobsonian mounted Newtonian reflectors, known as the LightBridge series.
The Dobsonian design offers great value in affordable aperture. That means you get superior light-gathering ability at a bargain price, so you can see the deep sky with great detail and brightness. This is perfect for the back-yard astronomy enthusiast who wants to see really faint objects such as distant galaxies, nebulas and star clusters… without spending a lot of money.
The Meade LightBridge Dobsonian reflector telescopes are easy to use, and beginners will have no difficulty setting up a LightBridge and finding prominent objects in the night sky. But they are not suitable for terrestrial viewing (such as wildlife observation) or astrophotography. They excel at providing the largest aperture for the money, and they are also lightweight and reasonably portable.
The LightBridge telescope is a truss-tube Dobsonian design that breaks down and sets up quickly, so you can take your telescope out to a favorite dark sky location without any hassle. The Meade name and technology gives you high quality optics, premium components, and ultra portability, all for about the same price as an ordinary dobsonian. Each LightBridge telescope comes complete and ready to stargaze with features like steel RA roller bearings, an advanced four-reticle red dot finder, a premium QX 2″ wide-angle eyepiece, a primary mirror cooling fan, plus altitude and azimuth tension adjustments that help keep your telescope on target.
Meade offers four models of varying aperture and size in the LightBridge series, ranging from 8 inches up to a deluxe 16-inch aperture design. Each comes equipped with a 26mm Series 4000 QX wide-angle eyepiece.
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