MEADE ETX- 80AT-TC / 0805-04-21 ETX-80MM ACHROMATIC REFRACTING TELESCOPE

by Meade

Product Features

• Please see the above description.

Product Description

 OPTICAL DESIGN; CLEAR APERTURE 80MM (3.15inch); FOCAL LENGTH, FOCAL RATIO 400MM F/5; MAXIMUM PRACTICAL VISUAL POWER: 275X; OPTICAL TUBE DIM: DIA X LENGTH; 3.6inch DIA X 14.5inch; INCLUDES 2 PREMIUM 4-ELEMENT 1.25inch SUPER PLOSSL EYEPIECES (SP 9.7MM, SP 26MM) FOR LONG EYE-RELIEF & WIDE VISUAL FIELD; BUILT-IN BARLOW LENS FLIPS INTO POSITION WHEN NEEDED FOR LUNAR & PLANETARY SURFACE FEATURES; INTERNAL TIME CHIP KEEPS PRECISE FACTORY CALIBRATED TIME & DATE; BUBBLE LEVEL/COMPASS TO MAKE INITIALIZATION FASTER; TELESCOPE MOUNTING FORK TYPE; DOUBLE TINE; RA & DEC MOTOR DRIVE SYSTEMS; 12V DC SERVO MOTORS WITH ENCODERS; SLOW-MOTION CONTROLS ELECTRIC, 9-SPEED BOTH AXES; AUTOSTARTM SUITE ASTRONOMER SOFTWARE ON DVD FOR PC, WITH INSTRUCTIONAL DVD; INCLUDES AUTOSTARTM CONTROLLER #494; INCLUDES PLANETARIUM SOFTWARE & INSTRUCTIONAL DVD

Product Details

• Product Dimensions: 31.6 x 22.9 x 9.8 inches ; 22.9 pounds
• Shipping Weight: 26.3 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• ASIN: B001TITYTA
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent little portable telescope, September 1, 2009

By 

CAH "CAH" (Ohio, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: MEADE ETX- 80AT-TC / 0805-04-21 ETX-80MM ACHROMATIC REFRACTING TELESCOPE

I purchased this scope when, after being out of the hobby of astronomy (more or less) for 20 years, I was bitten by the bug and got back in. I was looking for a telescope that was portable and had a goto ability. This little scope delivers. If you're looking for a scope that will deliver Hubble like views, you're not going to find it here (or in any amateur instrument). However, since June this scope has showed me eclipses on Jupiter by one if it's satellites (Io), one of the rare(of late) sunspot groups on the sun (using a solar filter I purchased elsewhere), Jupiter - Uranus - Neptune - Venus all in the same night. Beautiful star clusters, colorful double stars, a few galaxies (albeit, the galaxies were just faint smudges of light) and quite a few nebulae. If you're already familiar with using a binoculars for your astronomical viewing, think of this as one half of a giant binocular...the views will be similar, but with the added bonus of being able to increase the magnification by changing eyepieces.

If you do purchase this scope, I highly recommend that you also purchase the Meade 6.4mm eyepiece...this will offer greater magnification for viewing the moon and planets and for splitting very close double stars. For clusters and nebulae the included eyepieces are just fine (I use the 9.7 the most).

Is the scope perfect? No...the focus mechanism takes a little practice to get used to and requires too many turns to refocus when using the barlow. Also, the batteries don't last as long as Meade claims (figure about 5 - 10 hours of use). However, this scope is an excellent bargain...very good optics, highly portable, and a goto system that makes it easy to find your targets in light polluted skies or when time is short and you need to make the most of it. Highly recommended.