Customer Reviews

Meade ETX90AT Telescope w/884 Tripod and Software

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

This was my husband's big present for Christmas, something he has always wanted. While unwrapping and unpacking, he heard a rattle in the spotting scope. Upon investigation, he fished out a broken set screw and discovered that it had sheared off the outside of the spotting scope. Another screw was badly damaged. The eyepiece covers had all been left off when shipping. Also, all the settings were loose and had to be reset. Meade does not have an 800 number and you are put on hold interminably when you try to contact them. All in all, he likes the scope BUT was very disappointed in the quality of the manufacturer and lack of customer service. What a disappointment for Christams day!

Okay, I know nothing about telescopes. But my husband and I bought this last summer because he thought it'd be fun to star gaze. When we did, it was truly one of the most wonderful experience ever! It allows you to observe celestial objects in brilliant resolution. It wasn't complicated and simple to use. But you do have to read the manual.

I will recommend it for beginners.

The Meade ETX90EC lives up to its billing. It's a high-quality piece of gear that exudes craft and workmanship. The bundled package w/Autostar and Tripod gives you most of what you need. If you have any intent of doing terrestrial viewing, you should consider the 45 degree erecting prism. Also, the package does not come with any power adapters. If you plan to be out for a long evening of star gazing, you will probably want the adapter that lets you plug into a cigarette lighter. I wish Amazon had the UHTC version available, but no luck. Finally, I haven't been able to find the correct T-mount adapter for this scope on Amazon. I do want to use it for photography eventually. The main thing I would say is that this is not a toy, but it is ideal for beginners to intermediate enthusiasts. I've had more fun in just a couple sessions than I've ever had before.

I ordered the EXT 90 AT on New Years day 2010 directly from Meade. I also ordered the tripod, AC and DC power adapters, the aluminum case and a set of extra lenses and filters. When it arrived about a week later, out of the box, the hand-held controller did not work at all. Because Meade can only be contacted by phone during weekday business hours, it took over a week to actually speak to a live body during the time I was not working. Eventually they did send me a controller and cord that worked. I had to return the bad one to them at my expense. As I work full time and also travel, I was not able to get outside to try it out until early March. I had watched the video several times as well as read the manual cover to cover to be sure I knew how to set it up so it could find the various objects. No matter how careful I was to follow the directions to set up and align it, it has never been able to find anything. When it starts skewing to find the first star in the menu, it just keeps going until it reaches the stops and the motor just keeps trying to skew but without moving the tube. I have called Meade for help and all they could/would say is to calibrate the drive motors. They gave me a specific page number in the manual that was supposed to describe this function. However, since I had to call them while I was at work, I did not have the manual with me. Sure enough, it was not in the manual where they said it was. I eventually found a reference to calibrating the motors, but there is no such option in the menu of the controller. While trying once again to align it, the gears in the the motor apparently stripped because it now makes a grinding noise while the motor runs but does not move the tube. My next step will be to try out Meade's one year warranty. To be continued.

I've only used my telescope a couple times, but it has been great. It takes a little while to get used to it, and I highly recommend reading the manual. Also, Meade has a deal going on that you will probably want to check out (http://www.meade.com/promo.d/plosslpromo.html). You will definitely want to take them up on this offer.

I'm totally unfamiliar with telescope technology, but I bought this for my husband, who isn't. He has been completely delighted. He watched the introductory DVD immediately (it is thorough and easily understood). This is one of the best gifts I've ever given him.

I was excited to get this telescope with the tripod and controller at a really good price brand new....but it's been a rocky experience and I would never recommend it to anyone else. I personally would not buy another Meade telescope no matter how good a deal I got. I've treated this thing very careful, it's never been moved from my home or mishandled, I've used it maybe a total of a dozen times or so, and yet hardly anything on it works properly at this point. The autostar doesn't work (seems to be some kind of hardware failure), the scope itself won't focus sharply (I assume it needs calibration but my attempts to do this haven't had much success), when I did have a working Autostar I found it near impossible to get it properly aligned and tracking correctly. There's virtually nothing about this scope that I have found easy or reliable, and I wish I'd saved up until I could afford something better. Trying to get support from Meade is next to impossible and repair costs are most likely going to be too large a percentage of the cost of the scope as to be worth paying. I'm hoping to maybe find an astronomy buff near me that might have more knowledge to get the thing working enough that I can actually use it.