- Includes AutoStar controller and deluxe field tripod
- 500x maximum magnification
- Equatorial fork mount, Flip-mirror system
- Maksutov meniscus corrector lens of Grade-A BK7 optical glass
- Includes a Meade Series 4000 Super Plvssl 26 millimeter eyepiece for 48 times magnification
Technical Details
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Product Description
Amazon.com Review
The ETX125EC brings the excellent optics of the original ETX-90 to a larger size, more suitable for serious observing. Maksutov-Cassegrain telescopes like this have a reputation for handling high power well, and I find this to be true of the ETX125EC. With a magnification of 200X, the excellent ETX optics easily show moon shadows crossing the face of Jupiter. When the night air is still and calm, I've even watched the moons themselves glide in front of Jupiter. (Ganymede, the largest moon, is the easiest.)
Compared to the smaller scopes in the ETX line, the five inch aperture of the ETX125EC brings out significantly more detail in the moon, the planets, and deep space objects. How much detail? The Ring Nebula, M57, looks like a pale smoke ring. The dark dust lane that shapes the Sombrero galaxy, M104, shows itself by dramatically flattening the south side of M104's glowing spindle shape. (You'll still need a little imagination to see a "sombrero.") Jupiter's "Great Red Spot" is visible (it's actually pale tan this year), and Saturn's rings take on detail and shading that you just don't see in a smaller telescope.
Ironically, the high powered optics of the ETX125EC are also its biggest drawback. While observing planets at 200X magnification or more, any vibration while focusing or tracking is also magnified two hundred times. The Series 4000 26mm eyepiece gives a one degree true field of view with an ETX-90. The same standard eyepiece reveals only 0.7 degrees and only half the viewing area with the ETX125EC. In practical terms, this means that the Autostar controller may not hit the target every time the way it does with the smaller ETX models. Meade's clever solution is the "spiral search," which helps to locate targets that wind up just outside the field of view--all you have to do is press "GO TO" a second time and Autostar will begin a search pattern to help you find your target.
This scope has proven popular among telescope enthusiasts for its flexibility. One friend who bought an ETX125EC as his first telescope doesn't bother with the Autostar--he likes to look at the planets, and he can find them himself, thank you. Another friend is an experienced observer with several big telescopes in the garage and bought one for it's portability--he's planning to travel east on a star gazing trek this summer and will use the ETX125EC as his traveling scope.
Some owners of this telescope will want to add Meade's #1247 electric focuser and anti-vibration pads to reduce vibration problems. Just be aware that eight inch Schmidt-Cassegrains from Meade or Celestron are more solidly mounted, yet don't cost much more than an ETX125EC souped up with accessories. --Jeff Phillips
Pros:
- Excellent optics
- Autostar computer
- Portable size
- Sensitive to vibration
Product Description
2/8/200615-19-32...
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
33 of 34 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A lot of scope for under $1000,
By
This review is from: Meade ETX125EC Telescope w/ Autostar Controller (497) and Tripod (884) (Electronics)
The ETX125 with Autostar is a very good telescope for a reasonable price. It is portable (not as much as the ETX90) and has a generous 5" objective in the small package afforded by the Maksutov-Cassegrain design of a lens and two mirrors. The optics are of high quality, as are most commercial Meade and Celestron scopes today. The included 26mm Super Plössl eyepiece gives it a magnification of 73x. A good first accessory would be a 15mm or 12mm eyepiece for higher magnification. The views of Mars and the Moon through this telescope are stunning. With enough practice, quite a bit of detail on Mars, Jupiter and Saturn is visible, in appropriate seeing conditions (steady skies). The mount is adequate for mounting the scope in altitude-azimith mode (as pictured), but a beefier mount is needed if one wants to use the telescope in polar mode for imaging. The Autostar is a great boon to this telescope, if one takes the time to learn to set up the telescope properly, and learns the locations in the sky of the stars the alignment routine uses for set up. Taking time to calibrate and train the drives really improves the pointing accuracy. One annoyance is the delay and backlash (initial move in the wrong direction) of the controls to move the scope. The focus knob can be akward to use with the scope in certain orientations. There is a third party accessory that remedies this, or one can get Meade's motorized focuser (I ordered this with my scope when I was purchasing it based on my experiences with the spotting scope version of the ETX90). Another annoyance I have experienced with the tripod is that the clips on the mounting bolts tend to slip off. Each of the two mountng bolts has a clip, washer and spring that can be difficult to find in the dark if the clip slipping causes them to shoot in a random direction. I bought this scope to use to observe/image the planets and moon from New York City, while my bigger scope is in a less light polluted site.
18 of 18 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
First thought,
By
This review is from: Meade ETX125EC Telescope w/ Autostar Controller (497) and Tripod (884) (Electronics)
I've only had the 125 ETX for a couple of weeks but here are some things I'd like to have known:
Quality: Seems very well made. Manual perhaps a little brief but there are some great webpages on the web about settings up and using this scope. Portable: 18 lbs for scope + 11 lbs tripode.... fairly easy to lift and walk with, even assembled together. Noise: On the balconey when slewing at full speed I'm worried about the neighbours, but very quite at slower speeds. So I'll probably look for a deserted bit of road to slew without worry. Moon: Sharp around 200 times magnification. With a 9.7 mm eyepiece. Even with barrow magnification doubler at 400x looked good. Deep Space: Andromeda galaxy seemd perhaps a little dimmer than in my 7x50mm binoculars, however the telescope showed a steadier much enlarged image. I'm guessing the math is telescope 125mm*125mm / 73 magnification = 214 sqmm per something binoculars 50mm*50mm / 7 magnification = 357 sqmm per something (Plus I get to use 2 eyes) Because this is a "fast" scope the lowest magnification I can get appears to be 48X which should make Andromeda as bright through the scope and still 7 times larger than the binoculars. I'd probably need a darker site that my backyard to see all 110 messier objects though. Summary: A great scope for planets a good scope for deep space objects. You need to plan to get a higher magnification eyepiece for the best planet viewing and maybe a lower magnification for deep space objects.
11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
a star of a scope, for its size,
By
This review is from: Meade ETX125EC Telescope w/ Autostar Controller (497) and Tripod (884) (Electronics)
I have this, also a Celestron 8 and a Meade LX200GPS-10". I use this one when I see something I want to see quick, or for just a few minutes observing. Easy to carry around, gives good images. When it's serious time, the Meade 10" is the one as it has 4 times the light gathering, but it's also heavy--have to carry the tripod out, then the scope, then attach the two. So for a nice look at the sky, and one that can be done quickly, with ease, this is a nice choice. Meade 10" gives great detail, it might show the features some of the reviewers have noted, but this 5" isn't gonna show a lot of details. Still, this is great to look at Orion, its nebulae, Pleaides, moon, planets, the bright stars, a few galaxies, bright moon around the planets. Also, I have a solar filter for this, so can quickly dash out to see if there are sunspots. Warning--the only solar filter that is allowable is one that fits over the front of the scope. Do not rely on one at the eyepiece--the heat may crack it and then your eye is toast. The solar filter over the front is essentially a mirror--you can hold it up before a 100 watt light bulb and you can barely see the filament, it relects away that much light. That still lets in all the sun's rays you need--DO NOT use anything at the eyepiece, get a good solar filter at the front of the scope (and don't forget to cover the finder scope, it can still concentrate enough rays to hurt an eye.) Uh, back to the 5" scope, it is a nice thing to have, I'd buy it again, Meade did a nice job with it.
And, a rating of this product in stars seems appropriate, I'll give it 5 for what it does. But this isn't going to show colored galaxies like you see in pictures, don't get your expectations too high for any amateur scope unless you are a real expert in taking long-duration pictures through it.
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