Meade LS 8-Inch ACF (f/10) Advanced Coma-Free Telescope

by Meade

Product Details

• Product Dimensions: 21.5 x 16.5 x 31.8 inches ; 61.2 pounds
• Shipping Weight: 75 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Shipping: Currently, item can be shipped only within the U.S.
• ASIN: B0031DW312
• Item model number: 0810-03-10
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #17,114 in Camera & Photo (See Top 100 in Camera & Photo)
  • #46 in Camera & Photo > Binoculars, Telescopes & Optics > Telescopes > Catadioptric
• Date first available at Amazon.com: December 19, 2009

Product Description

Aperture: 203.2mm(8-Inch). Focal Length: 2032mm. Meade’s revolutionary LS LightSwitch series of telescopes use advanced technologies like GPS, LNT and ECLIPS CCD imaging to do what no other consumer telescopes have done before: take all the hassle out of using a telescope. Simply flip the switch and the LS automatically aligns itself. Astronomer Inside then takes you on a guided multimedia tour of the best objects in your sky. The aluminum mount is lightweight and portable, yet has a rigid structure with precision worm-gear drives for the ultimate in tracking and pointing accuracy. All this combined with Meade’s Advanced Coma-Free or Schmidt-Cassegrain optical systems provide the stargazer with the most sophisticated, yet easiest to use telescope ever. AutoStar III — TOTAL CONTROL The easy-to-use hand-held controller lets you select from a huge object database, with over 100,000 celestial objects. Just select an object and push the “GoTo” button and the telescope will automatically put your object in the eyepiece. The AutoStar III also gives you complete control of the Astronomer Inside multimedia features only available from Meade. FEATURES: LightSwitch Technology The LS knows where it is in time and space even if you don’t. Just flip the switch and be ready to explore the cosmos. Innovative technology is applied to make using the LS simple, easy and fun. Astronomer Inside Learn the secrets and details of the objects you observe while you are viewing them with both audio through the built-in speaker and video (if connected to a video monitor or TV).

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

15 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Finally!, November 13, 2010

By 

Daniel C. Mcgauley (Austin, TX United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Meade LS 8-Inch ACF (f/10) Advanced Coma-Free Telescope (Electronics)

Someone finally made an easy to use telescope. My Meade etx-90ec got probably 4 hours use in the last 10 years. We used the etx-ls for 4 hours already in one night. The alignment process is very simple and takes about 8 min. You don't even need to be around for the process. Mine came with software version 1.6a, the very latest as of today, and I've had no issues. You can buy a cheaper scope and you can buy a better scope, but this will be the most used scope. Great job Meade. There are a lot of features I'd like for this scope, but overall it's just about perfect.

UPDATE (12/13/2010):
Telescope broke rather quickly. It was working great, then one day it just started giving a power error and the LCD stopped working. I tried to get it up and running again, but ended up having to send it into Meade (what a pain to ship it back!). Hopefully things work out, because the scope was awesome while it worked.

UPDATE (1/5/2011):
Got the telescope back. It's even more broken then before I sent it in. I was having power errors before, so I went to check that repair, but the scope can't even find GPS satellites now. I called the company I ordered it from (not amazon), and it's past their 30 day return window, so I'll have to deal with Meade more to get it fixed.

Meade's response was to ask me to reload the firmware onto the telescope and to try to realign the camera. I don't quite know why realigning the camera would have any affect whatsoever on acquiring GPS satellites, but their customer service agent said it's just the way it works. Which, translated in my head means, "please just figure this out on your own since this is my first day on the job." I don't understand how a telescope that is designed to just work out of the box and take care of itself now requires me to be realigning CCD cameras and putting the exact same firmware on it that it already has on it. I'd also like to point out that when the telescope was returned to me there was a checklist where their QA department tested everything. Either they aren't doing their job or the telescope got damaged being returned.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The real deal, November 23, 2010

By 

dcastro - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Meade LS 8-Inch ACF (f/10) Advanced Coma-Free Telescope (Electronics)

Just got this today. I was rather worried given the feedback on earlier versions. But the firmware version 1.6a does just what they promised. Well packaged, it arrived in great shape and did not need collimation. The set assembles easily and quickly and is not a heavy load - I can carry the entire assembly in both arms without straining. The startup was a bit scary because it asked to reload firmware but after that the software runs fine. GPS was less sensitive than my car GPS and would not align in cloudy skies but did just fine when I tried it later in the evening. The Goto works like a dream and slews to objects just fine, though it will need centering once I figure that out. I bought the Meade 4000 eyepiece set and it got the kids and I up and running observing Jupiter immediately. Overall I am totally satisfied with this purchase and would highly recommend it. It is also a relief as I live in Singapore and would not be able to return it easily if it wasn't working. Well done Meade! (just need to sort out the firmware message)

Update 31/7/2011
Turns out the firmware message did mean a problem. The firmware did crash in the end. However I would say that the Meade telephone support is not half bad. This is important as I do not want to send the telescope back if I can avoid it. Basically needed to reload the firmware. I did this using a microSD card in a miniSD adaptor (2GB)- downloaded the firmware through the Autostar software then transferred the card to the telescope miniSD slot and turned it on. Once the firmware reloads, the telescope is back to normal. Just a point to note, you may have to download the firmware more than once to get it properly set up on the miniSD card. I suggest keeping a dedicated miniSD card with the telescope so it can be ready for use if required - not had to repeat the firmware reinstallation since I did it but you never know. The version is still 1.6a, which does the trick just fine. As it is an automated telescope, it helps to be somewhat computer literate just in case something happens.

18 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars wrong out of the box!, March 31, 2010

By 

vivere (Detroit Metro, MI USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Meade LS 8-Inch ACF (f/10) Advanced Coma-Free Telescope (Electronics)

I received my Meade LS 8" ACF two weeks ago fom another dealer, but I only took it out yesterday, 3-30-2010. Upon switch on, the handbox controller read:
"LS 1.4a
Flash error
Reload firmware".
In spite of this message, it proceeded to align, supposedly finished the alignment, but was way off. I shut it down, and repeated the procedure.
Same error appeared, but the alignment seemed better, so I did a "goto" Mars.
Mars was not in the field of view (FOV) of the supplied 26mm eyepiece. I managed to get Mars in the FOV after 7-8 manual movements at speed 5.
Next "goto" Saturn: nothing in view, could not get to Saturn although I could clearly see Saturn with naked eye.
I tried the Meade webside to see if I could reload the firmware LS 1.4a. It does not exist. Meade's customer service says they do not have the firmware either, and the only option is to send the scope back for a replacement!
Is this a joke or what?
If the new one works it promises to be fun.