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I went to 3 Wallys. I ended up with 2 of the ETXs for $50 and they all had the 70mm refractors for $25. The 70s all come with an imager for PC, Autostar Suite, 2 eps and a Barlow. I grabbed 8 of em'

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Now i'm feeling jealous

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Meade ETX 90 UHTC, 497 Autostar, 884 tripod, right angle finder.

CALIBRATE MOTORS and TRAIN DRIVES!

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What are your plans with all those scopes?

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What are your plans with all those scopes?

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E-Bay?

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No...That's bogus. I have noticed a bunch of the ETXs and 70mm ers have mysteriously appeared there though.

I got the spares incase someone here wants one for cost plus shipping and to have a couple for door prizes at our star party in June.

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What are your plans with all those scopes?

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E-Bay?

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No...That's bogus. I have noticed a bunch of the ETXs and 70mm ers have mysteriously appeared there though.

I got the spares incase someone here wants one for cost plus shipping and to have a couple for door prizes at our star party in June.

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Good for you mate - you are clearly a good sort

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Meade ETX 90 UHTC, 497 Autostar, 884 tripod, right angle finder.

CALIBRATE MOTORS and TRAIN DRIVES!

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What are your plans with all those scopes?

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E-Bay?

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No...That's bogus. I have noticed a bunch of the ETXs and 70mm ers have mysteriously appeared there though.

I got the spares incase someone here wants one for cost plus shipping and to have a couple for door prizes at our star party in June.

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I didn't mean any offense. I agree with the others - that is very noble of you.

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Rob

Bausch & Lomb Legacy 10x50
Meade ETX 125-AT

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After seeing a thread about a post-Christmas blowout at Walmart on a department store 70mm alt/az refractor I dropped by our local store. They had that model at the discount price so I grabbed a couple. Then I noticed that they had the ETX-60AT backpack with no price marked so I scanned it. $50. I grabbed it.

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Well, I had a chance to check out "Lamb0"'s ETX-60AT. It was interesting (and might be worth the $50), but don't expect too much. Optically, it was merely "OK", as at high power, it showed a little astigmatism (not very useful beyond 80x or so). For moderate to high power on the moon, my "cheap" Celestron 80mm f/5 "short tube" refractor just ran rings around it, although at low power, the image was fairly nice.

Mechanically, well, to be kind, it was just a little disappointing. While it did align and "Go-To" the area near objects, it has some tracking problems which we haven't yet pinned-down. Even when just tracking, it is rather noisy (*much* more so than the LX-200's), as John commented that it sounded like a noisy radio-teletype (RTTY) signal we used to hear on our ham radio equipment. Once it finished a Go-To, if you tried to center an object manually using the slewing buttons, after you did, the silly thing would then decide that it wanted to move things back to the old "de-centered" location! The clutches aren't very strong, as we found out when I tried to put my old 14mm Meade Ultrawide (a.k.a., "the Glass Hand Grenade") in the scope with my Tele Vue Powermate, and it slowly sank under the weight. Still, it did only cost $50, so John probably got his money's worth (definitely *not* worth the list price of over $200). Maybe some time I will take a look at the lens cell to see if the objective is wedged or pinched, as the astigmatism should not be there. Clear skies to you.

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David W. Knisely
Hyde Memorial Observatory
http://www.hydeobservatory.info
Prairie Astronomy Club
http://www.prairieastronomyclub.org

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Well, I had a chance to check out "Lamb0"'s ETX-60AT. It was interesting (and might be worth the $50), but don't expect too much.

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So how good is this scope..inquiring minds want to know.

Does anyone have ANY test results or reviews?

Thanks

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It is a fair low-power performer, but it tends not to be quite as good at powers much over 80x or 90x. The one I have tested has quite a bit of astigmatism at higher powers, although it gave a halfway decent view of the Orion nebula. It was noisier than the NexStar 130GT I reviewed for Cloudynights, and has a few issues as far as the intial alignment, but that wasn't exactly a show stopper. Clear skies to you.

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David W. Knisely
Hyde Memorial Observatory
http://www.hydeobservatory.info
Prairie Astronomy Club
http://www.prairieastronomyclub.org

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For $249 (what I paid) I thought the ETX-60BB was worth it, for anything less it's a bargain. If I could find one of the ETX's for sale locally I'd snap it up.

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Agreed it's easy to rubbish somebody else's scope but price does come into play when it's out of your own pocket Optically they may not be perfect but my ETX-70 that I use as an astrograph has, in the last year, given me more pleasure totally disproportionally to its cost and would give these fancy short refractors a good run - see my ETX-70 homepage below

There is an aditional benefit for a small scope especially of short focus - cool-down and 'seeing' conditions, that can plague larger scopes, is almost completely absent - rather like binoculars

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Nytecam 51N 0.1W
Meade 30cm LX200+ETX-70+e-finder+C8+Ha+CaK PSTs SBIG SGS+homebuilt spectrographs
Starlight SXVF_M9+Lodestar CCDs/Canon 300D DSLR/Fuji E550
My observatory build-ETX-70 imaging-my videos

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Hello all,I am a new member and also new to this hobby. I am wondering if you guys can help me make a choice between ETX60 and 70AZ. I would also like to use it for nature/wildlife viewing too.

Looks like ETX60 has very good optics but focus length is quite a bit shorter, also it is 60mm vs 70mm from 70AZ. As I am a weekend photographer, I knew numbers are not everything, so I would like to hear from your guys who have experience with both scopes. Thanks! Dong99

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I've no experience of the Meade 70AZ but am very familiar with the ETX-70 and think the current ETX-60 deal is exceptional value. The '60' has a slightly smaller aperture and light grasp eg ~75% of the '70' [eg 60*2/70*2] but nothing to worry about and either ok for coupling a DSLR/SLR to the rear port via Meade #64+'T' ring - if somewhat 'tail' heavy - see my ETX-70 homepage below/solar system/sun+moon

Bird viewing [and afocal camera to the eyepiece] via the top flip mirror port should be fine [focusing down to ~15 ft] although the heavy goto base has little merit in this field but motorised slewing/centering helps

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Nytecam 51N 0.1W
Meade 30cm LX200+ETX-70+e-finder+C8+Ha+CaK PSTs SBIG SGS+homebuilt spectrographs
Starlight SXVF_M9+Lodestar CCDs/Canon 300D DSLR/Fuji E550
My observatory build-ETX-70 imaging-my videos




Edited by nytecam (01/20/08 02:19 PM)

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NyteCam,I took the invitation and visited your ETX-70 page. Very, very nice! Now,, you have just set yourself up for a slew of questions here, ya know! Mark J.D.

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Bring 'em on Mark

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Other than aperture, is the ETX-60 much the same as the ETX-70 and 80 models? Mark J.D.

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Mark - essentially identical short focus refractors [except as described] and quite different from the ETX-Maks that somehow share this forum only joking

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Nytecam 51N 0.1W
Meade 30cm LX200+ETX-70+e-finder+C8+Ha+CaK PSTs SBIG SGS+homebuilt spectrographs
Starlight SXVF_M9+Lodestar CCDs/Canon 300D DSLR/Fuji E550
My observatory build-ETX-70 imaging-my videos

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From what I've seen the on-axis image is as good as you'll get from a 60mm f/5.8 achromat; pretty sharp images with a tad of color (the color shows up a lot more in images taken with this telescope). I suspect apparent poor optical performance comes from using the visual port; how well this port works will depend on how well aligned the flip mirror is. On mine it was off a bit causing the images to show some astignmatism (stars looked like colorful comets at high powers). The fix was to tweak the detent (visible though the camera port) that determines where the flip mirror locks in place. You can tell how well the flip mirror is aligned by looking through the camera port, then switching to the visual port. If the flip mirror is aligned properly the two images should be centered (thouh the erecting prism Meade includes for use on the camera port as a mild Barlow built into it so the magnifications will be different).

For $249 (what I paid) I thought the ETX-60BB was worth it, for anything less it's a bargain. If I could find one of the ETX's for sale locally I'd snap it up.

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Seems that the quality control on the Wal-Mart ETX 'specials' appears to vary widely.

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Mark - you really have to ask what quality control can you expect for $50 scope with goto pointing All the five ETX-70s I've looked at showed astigmatism to a lesser or greater degree [one was diabolical!] and I did query the flip-mirror [in particular its thickness and possible 'warping'] with threads on this forum but without response. Most problems are minimal and ok if lower powers used or if the scope is used as a widefield astrograph.

Certainly for the moon and most terrestrial use any astigmatism goes largely unnoticed with most users and I suspect Meade know this. If the scope can be tweaked then higher powers will give better satifaction on stellar targets and planets - small that they will appear.

I was puzzled that the same ETX-60/70/80 flip-mirror system is used in the ETX-Maks and wondered if the slow f/13 Mak beam means any warping or slight misalignment went unnoticed. Does it

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Nytecam 51N 0.1W
Meade 30cm LX200+ETX-70+e-finder+C8+Ha+CaK PSTs SBIG SGS+homebuilt spectrographs
Starlight SXVF_M9+Lodestar CCDs/Canon 300D DSLR/Fuji E550
My observatory build-ETX-70 imaging-my videos

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Seems that the quality control on the Wal-Mart ETX 'specials' appears to vary widely.

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Mark - you really have to ask what quality control can you expect for $50 scope with goto pointing All the five ETX-70s I've looked at showed astigmatism to a lesser or greater degree [one was diabolical!] and I did query the flip-mirror [in particular its thickness and possible 'warping'] with threads on this forum but without response. Most problems are minimal and ok if lower powers used or if the scope is used as a widefield astrograph.

Certainly for the moon and most terrestrial use any astigmatism goes largely unnoticed with most users and I suspect Meade know this. If the scope can be tweaked then higher powers will give better satifaction on stellar targets and planets - small that they will appear.

I was puzzled that the same ETX-60/70/80 flip-mirror system is used in the ETX-Maks and wondered if the slow f/13 Mak beam means any warping or slight misalignment went unnoticed. Does it

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Yes, you are quite correct here. For the $50 I paid, I can't expect much. Those who purchased this model for the $200 they were originally selling for, may have higher expectations.
The real point though, is Wal-Mart probably paid Meade closer to the $50 each. For Meade to see any profit on these, just getting them assembled and into a box would have to be near break even for them.
Some years ago, I watched a PBS 'Frontline' program on how Wal-Mart has a reputation for pressuring their suppliers for the absolute lowest price possible. I just can not imagine Meade making much on this load of scopes Wal-Mart bought from them.

All of your comments here are well taken. I do indeed need to keep my expectations in perspective. As you say, for a wide-field, low mag 'go-to', this is still a bargain. I think I am more interested in this little thing for the gadget factor,,, as John Ingraham mentioned earlier. I do intend to have some fun with this and even to try and tweak the best performance from it. After all, if I make a mess of it, I am only out the $50.

Thanks for your thoughts on this.
Mark J.D.

[below zero again tonight, Jet Stream nearly overhead, stars practically blinking on and off from the turbulence. Think I'll sit this one out and stay inside.]

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I imagine Walmart probably dealt directly with the manufacturer in China, and Meade got a small stipend per scope, making the deal sweeter for them than if they'd had to warehouse and ship the scopes to Walmart.

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Usually these things are made from the good parts of returned faulty scopes - kinda refurbished.

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Seems that the quality control on the Wal-Mart ETX 'specials' appears to vary widely.

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Mark - you really have to ask what quality control can you expect for $50 scope with goto pointing All the five ETX-70s I've looked at showed astigmatism to a lesser or greater degree [one was diabolical!] and I did query the flip-mirror [in particular its thickness and possible 'warping'] with threads on this forum but without response. Most problems are minimal and ok if lower powers used or if the scope is used as a widefield astrograph.

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LOL...what makes you think that you get better QA on more expensive telescopes?

In almost all cases you won't...all products get the casual once over and they are then shipped to the store to be sold. The customer is the QA department.


The Big Box store concept which applies to almost ALL consumer products is based on the assumption that one box is the same as the other and the consumer will accept the MINIMUM level of QA.

And most consumers never return defective items.

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Usually these things are made from the good parts of returned faulty scopes - kinda refurbished.

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Would you mind providing a cite for that claim?

I seriously doubt this is the case.

If the argument that Meade is hardly able to make a profit making the scope once, how would they make a profit doing reworking it again?

Sounds like ETX bashing to me.

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FREAKING WHAT? I find that very offensive I've spent years promoting the ETX series, I love these little babies, and trying to solve users problems and issues. The problem is that the number of returns on these scopes is way too high owing to tight margins. Meade would rather get something back on spare parts than nothing.

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Meade ETX 90 UHTC, 497 Autostar, 884 tripod, right angle finder.

CALIBRATE MOTORS and TRAIN DRIVES!

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Usually these things are made from the good parts of returned faulty scopes - kinda refurbished.

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Would you mind providing a cite for that claim?

I seriously doubt this is the case.

If the argument that Meade is hardly able to make a profit making the scope once, how would they make a profit doing reworking it again?

Sounds like ETX bashing to me.

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FREAKING WHAT? I find that very offensive I've spent years promoting the ETX series, I love these little babies, and trying to solve users problems and issues. The problem is that the number of returns on these scopes is way too high owing to tight margins. Meade would rather get something back on spare parts than nothing.

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I am not trying to offend you...I am asking for any proof that you might have for the statement. I too would like to know who is salvaging Meade scopes...all of them...and I seriously doubt it is Meade.

As for my remarks, I am stating what I preceive to be the truth. I don't think the ETX has any more defects than any other Meade scope.

Once a product is manufactured, the last thing a manufacturer wants to do is handle that box again...more labor costs...and remember that labor is in China. Any returns that Meade gets back will likely be dumped to a reseller in the United States who will attempt to resell the same item again without fixing it. What doesn't sell is usually scrapped and written off a tax loss. Now some companies will salvage larger lots of surplus goods that can't be sold to an unsuspecting public which will finally be disassembled and resold as parts...to places like Surplus Shed.

So I agree with you that Meade does get something out of the defective scopes...and that is figured into their business plan to account for a certain number of defective scopes that are returned. Every other company does it too...including much more expensive scopes.

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