Meade vs. Celestron Telescopes?
James Asked:
Both of these manufacturers make an 8 inch Schmidt-Cassegrain telescope retailing at about the same price. If anyone has experience with the Celestron Telescope CPC or the Meade LX90, which would you prefer and why?
Thanks!
Reply:
've owned 25 different telescopes over the past 51 years, including four from Celestron Telescopes and three from Meade. On the whole, my experiences with Celestron Telescopes scopes have been consistently more positive than with Meade scopes. As a result, I currently own two Celestron scopes, a NexStar 6SE and a CPC 1100, and no Meade scopes (unless you count my Coronado PST, which was purchased before Meade bought Coronado). I've found Meade's quality control to be very uneven, whereas Celestron's quality has been consistently good.
Are you referring to the C11-SGT? This is one Celestron Telescopes I would strongly recommend you _avoid_. The optics are excellent, same as on my CPC 1100, but it is grossly undermounted on the ASGT mount, which is just adequiate for an 8" SCT, but not anything as big and heavy as an 11" SCT. This tube needs a much heavier mount, such as the Celestron CGE or the Orion Atlas:
US $95.88
From the page: “Celestron Telescopes – Great Videos About Celestron Telescopes, Telescopes Online”
Virtually all of the major brand scopes are imports. Meade, Celestron, Astro-Tech, Orion, William Optic. To call them JUNK is a big big mistake and completely untrue.
How do I know? Well here is the web site of one of our Astronomy club members using a Meade LX90 in alt az mode without a wedge, and a Meade DSI Pro Camera. These are all well made scopes for the price point, and can serve you well for many many years.
Here look at this web site– LX90
PS I doubt very seriously that someone on this forum who ACTUALLY OWNS as Astro Physics Scope would call these other scopes junk. The AP scope is beyond the finances available to most of us who are in the Astronomy Hobby. AND if we were going to spend that much money we would probably buy a comparable Takahashi scope and NOT an Astro Physics scope.
http://www.takahashiamerica.com/
If you're trying to get alt/az alignment, then yes. That's the alignment in which the base if the scope is level. If you don't yet know which is the North Star, or if it's blocked from your view, it would help to find out what the magnetic declination is for your location. In some places it's a long way from True North, but if yours is only in single-digit degrees, you can use the compass. Find it at one of these.
If you are approximately pointing north, and are about level (even eyeballing the level is usually enough), the scope will be able to find out where it is by you centring the two (or is it three for Celestron?) stars. Get them as close to the centre of your eyeiece as possible when aligning.
Celestron Telescopes – Great Videos About Celestron Telescopes, Telescopes Online
#10: Celestron AC Adapter for use with all Celestron computerized telescopes.
Did you know – we sell Celestron telescopes, we have several models available,
at http://www.nztelescopes.co.nz http://bit.ly/9OrhY6
thank u for this i didnt wanna break my baby
Telescope accessories store, selling brands like Meade Telescopes, Celestron Telescopes, Questar Telescopes, Vixen Telescopes, Discovery Telescopes, Takahashi Telescopes, and more.
Out of the two which is a better all around telescope 6″ Celestron StarHopper Dobsonian 8” Bushnell Voyager Dobsonian The 8″ will gather more light
if GALALEO did you can -i use binoculars-to see to moon
Hello Rocketgirl -
Well, I personally think you could do better. As a Celestron owner for several years, I am a bit partial to their products. But in this case, about half the money you are spending is going for the computer, so you don't have to know where to look to find things. At the risk of offending you and perhaps roiling up some water with friends that I know disagree with me, I will tell you about computer GoTo scopes for beginners.
1. You will not learn the sky very well if you use one of these type scopes. You will not need to learn it, and you will not devote the time and effort (it can be a pain in the neck) that it takes to actually know where things are up there and what to expect when looking for them. This is half the fun of amateur astronomy, once you get it, and you are sacrificing a lot of sincere enjoyment for the sake of instant gratification.
2. The computers are not easy to use. I have a Schmidt-Cassegrain, which is a little more difficult to set up than most scopes. However, I regularly can set up and find two or three targets while some guy next to me is still swearing at and rebooting his GoTo because it didn't align properly. Finally, he gets it to work, and it hums and slews around to look at M42, or Saturn, or something else that anyone can see by just looking up.
3. The money that you spend on the computer could go for better optics. You could probably multiply the light gathering power of your scope by a factor of four by leaving off the GoTo computer and getting a bigger aperture. This is very important, because if you want to find things or enjoy looking at them – ever – you've got to see them. The computer can do the pointing, but it cannot gather more photons. Only more aperture will accomplish that. You can find things without a computer – takes a little practice, but that's OK. But you can't see more things without aperture – and that's the whole purpose of the telescope.
I think GoTo or Pushto computers have a place – especially for folks who know the sky but have little time, or folks that spend a lot of time observing in badly light-polluted environments. But for a beginner – I think you are better off with an 8 inch aperture and no computer – so you can see things instead of watching the computer find them for you.
By the way, going to a local astronomy club is excellent advice. You should know what to expect at the eyepiece and at the cash register before buying. It might be different than you think. Take your time. You should know why you want the scope you are buying before you buy it.
Good Luck and Clear Skies.