ed unez
member
Reged: 10/04/06
Posts: 34
Loc: El Paso, TX
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Anyone seen this?
http://www.techdigest.tv/2008/11/mead_etxls_back.html
Ed N.
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ed unez
member
Reged: 10/04/06
Posts: 34
Loc: El Paso, TX
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More:
http://www.gadgetreview.com/2008/11/auto-star-gazing-comes-home-with-the-etx-ls-telescope.html
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1_old_dog
sage
Reged: 09/07/07
Posts: 435
Loc: Smoky Mnts
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Nope I haven't until now. Here's a little more hype on it, but still no real specs.
http://tinyurl.com/66rqtl
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old stuff but good stuff
http://chu65nang67.us/nam/vietnam.html
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Clive Gibbons
Mostly Harmless
Reged: 05/26/05
Posts: 13461
Loc: Oort Cloud
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If those are 1.25" accessories on the back, it looks to be at least 6" aperture. 
It's the "ACF" optical design.
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A few telescopes of dubious value.
Understanding wife, two curious cats and one sadly departed.
"Semper ubi sub ubi"
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StarWars
Postmaster
Reged: 11/26/03
Posts: 13815
Loc: CyberSpace
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Quote:
If those are 1.25" accessories on the back, it looks to be at least 6" aperture.
It's the "ACF" optical design.
Looks like the ETX-150LS ....  
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Sony Digital Media player..
MX 460 earbuds
Celestron 2x Barlow Lens
Orion Collimation Eyepiece
Rigel Quick Finder
Assorted Bino's 
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AlexDJ30
sage
Reged: 09/02/08
Posts: 276
Loc: Monterrey, Mexico
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I wonder if this new scope can do polar aligment??? (I supouse that yes), i think its cool having lot of gadgets on it, i just hope the internals are remade with metal gears and have better tracking motors than the ETX Pe and AT.
Now i wonder too what kind of ccd cam it have (eclipse cammm strange name) ?? I supouse it should be something like the DSI 1 or 2 (for budget purpose)... and i wonder too the price tag they will sell them (i supouse would be in the 700 dls to up)
Nice to see a new addition to the ETX family
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Equipment:
- ETX 125 AT
- C6 ASGT
- WO 66mm SD
- 2.5X ED Barlow, 8-24mm Zoom Eyepice
- Canon EOS Rebel XSi
- Celestron Nextimagen
- Orion Starshoot CCD cam
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Starlighter
Post Laureate
Reged: 08/03/07
Posts: 4494
Loc: Sunny California
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Finally, an ETX I could buy! It's supposedly coma-free. And it aligns itself with built-in GPS. And it has a camera built-in!
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Celestron C4-R 102mm achromat
Celeston Nexstar 6SE SCT
Meade 80mm APO Triplet
Televue NP-101
Televue TV-85
Vixen A70Lf
Vixen A80Mf
William Optics 66mm Zenithstar Patriot
Celestron CG4 EQ mount
Orion Skyview Pro AZ mount
Vixen Portamount
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Starlighter
Post Laureate
Reged: 08/03/07
Posts: 4494
Loc: Sunny California
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I doubt it's a Mak. If it's using Meade's ACF technology, it's a modified SCT. That means it will need periodic collimation. Maybe they've gone one better and made it electronic like on their larger RCF model. If so, I'll be ordering one.
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Celestron C4-R 102mm achromat
Celeston Nexstar 6SE SCT
Meade 80mm APO Triplet
Televue NP-101
Televue TV-85
Vixen A70Lf
Vixen A80Mf
William Optics 66mm Zenithstar Patriot
Celestron CG4 EQ mount
Orion Skyview Pro AZ mount
Vixen Portamount
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nytecam
Postmaster
Reged: 08/20/05
Posts: 5758
Loc: London UK
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Quote:
I wonder if this new scope can do polar aligment??? (I supouse that yes)
From recent smaller Meade scopes I suspect 'no' eg altaz only [but hope I'm wrong].
Reference to 'two stars' suggests a wideangle camera, perhaps covering a few square degrees, will record, self centre and synch the scope removing user input for initial alignment - that would be great.
Looks like the Meade cam could also slide into the main scope for imaging - fab
I'm sure such a system would work - I've swapped my regular 8x50 optical finder for a short-focus lens + CCD to cover 12 sq deg of sky. It's easy to find an alignment star and when centred and synched swap the cam onto the main scope for the rest of the evening's session - unless an eyepiece needed 
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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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StarWars
Postmaster
Reged: 11/26/03
Posts: 13815
Loc: CyberSpace
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Looks like the ETX-LS will compete with the 6SE and 8SE ...
The 6SE and 8SE owners don't worry about polar alignment.. 
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Sony Digital Media player..
MX 460 earbuds
Celestron 2x Barlow Lens
Orion Collimation Eyepiece
Rigel Quick Finder
Assorted Bino's
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MtnGoat
Pooh-Bah
Reged: 02/18/07
Posts: 1213
Loc: Columbia Gorge, WA
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what a beast. I mean, it's real cool and full of neat stuff...but given the company's dire straits, is this a money maker or a prestige showpiece?
Also, I am no mount expert, but that thing doesn't look beefy enough to me to tip over and run in polar mode. That OTA doesn't look outrageously massy, but it's no lightweight, and that single sidearm sure doesn't look like much. Used in polar mode, I'd guess flexure city.
Me, I'm a fork guy. If you're going to run half a fork, you may as well keep the other side as well. Don't care for this single sided trend, just seems like they do it because it looks different and cool, while ignoring basic fundamentals of physical design. On a small refractor, that's one thing..but that thing is at least 6ish and primary and corrector and cells can't be all that light.
Edited by MtnGoat (11/14/08 08:02 PM)
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MtnGoat
Pooh-Bah
Reged: 02/18/07
Posts: 1213
Loc: Columbia Gorge, WA
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Oh yeah, I posted a comment to the first site for the poor guy who can't get his ETX to work. We'll see if it makes it past the moderator. Told him to go to the experts..Weasner and here at CN.
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"Ignorant people think it's the noise which fighting cats make that is so aggravating, but it ain't so; it's the sickening grammar they use." Mark Twain
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Starlighter
Post Laureate
Reged: 08/03/07
Posts: 4494
Loc: Sunny California
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Quote:
Looks like the ETX-LS will compete with the 6SE and 8SE ...
The 6SE and 8SE owners don't worry about polar alignment..
Don't expect Celestron not to issue a new version of the SE. Who knows? Maybe it'll be a two-fork job. That would be really funny if each maker reversed and issued what their competitor did regarding the mount.
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Celestron C4-R 102mm achromat
Celeston Nexstar 6SE SCT
Meade 80mm APO Triplet
Televue NP-101
Televue TV-85
Vixen A70Lf
Vixen A80Mf
William Optics 66mm Zenithstar Patriot
Celestron CG4 EQ mount
Orion Skyview Pro AZ mount
Vixen Portamount
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nytecam
Postmaster
Reged: 08/20/05
Posts: 5758
Loc: London UK
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Quote:
....that thing doesn't look beefy enough to me to tip over and run in polar mode. That OTA doesn't look outrageously massy, but it's no lightweight, and that single sidearm sure doesn't look like much. Used in polar mode, I'd guess flexure city.
In engineering terms altaz wins as there's far less strain and flexure in the system. The vast majority of scope users including here on CN are visual with no intention to image [and sometimes opposed to imaging] so the need for polar is almost quirky and would thus hardly effect scope sales.
That's my take on the market but it's a shame if an inbuilt cam on a scope is only used for initial alignment when it could do much more in polar 
My e-finder pic below
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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 (11/15/08 11:33 AM)
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jgraham
Postmaster
Reged: 12/02/04
Posts: 6764
Loc: Dayton, Ohio
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The ETX line has never been about imaging, thouh they certainly can be used for basic deep sky imaging and do a fine job at solar system imaging.
It's fun to search the web for information on the ETX LS and guess what it's going to include. It sounds like it has a built-in CCD camera, possibly a DSI derivative, whose primary function is to locate and center the alignment stars during the LNT alignment procedure. The camera can then be used to take pictures of what you see through the scope. The key there is ‘what you see’ which is a fairly easy thing to do using short exposures.
Another feature that caught my eye is that after all these years it looks like there’s finally a place to put the handbox! 
It’ll be fun to see the complete details on the telescope and the price. It looks gadget-heavy, which isn’t necessarily bad but it could drive the cost up.
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-John
================================================
Homebuilt scopes from 4.25-16.5"
Meade LXD75-N6/SN6/SC8, DSX-90, ETX-60BB, ETX-125PE, DS-2130
Orion StarBlast, BinoViewers, Coronado PST
Rebel XT/XTi, DSI Pro (I, II, & III), DSI, LPI, Electronic Eyepiece, Phillips SPC900NC
Tasco 60mm Refractors
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rmollise
Post Laureate
Reged: 07/06/07
Posts: 4598
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Quote:
I wonder if this new scope can do polar aligment??? (I supouse that yes), i think its cool having lot of gadgets on it, i just hope the internals are remade with metal gears and have better tracking motors than the ETX Pe and AT.
Now i wonder too what kind of ccd cam it have (eclipse cammm strange name) ?? I supouse it should be something like the DSI 1 or 2 (for budget purpose)... and i wonder too the price tag they will sell them (i supouse would be in the 700 dls to up)
Nice to see a new addition to the ETX family
Will it have better gears? Maybe, maybe not. About all I know at the time (in addition to what is on the web) is:
It's an ACF scope, which means this is an SCT, not an MCT, I assume. It has GPS.
I speculate this is a 5 - 6-inch SCT.
I wonder will this replace the MCT ETXes?
I'm leery of Meade bringing another tech-heavy thing to market at this time.
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Uncle Rod
Rod's New Book:
Choosing and Using a New CAT
Available now!
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rmollise
Post Laureate
Reged: 07/06/07
Posts: 4598
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Quote:
I doubt it's a Mak. If it's using Meade's ACF technology, it's a modified SCT. That means it will need periodic collimation. Maybe they've gone one better and made it electronic like on their larger RCF model. If so, I'll be ordering one.
Be very careful what you wish for. The motorized collimation/focusing on the (now discontinued) LX/RCX 400 was one of the common failure points. And at the price level this one is likely to occupy? Shudder. 
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Uncle Rod
Rod's New Book:
Choosing and Using a New CAT
Available now!
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rmollise
Post Laureate
Reged: 07/06/07
Posts: 4598
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Quote:
Me, I'm a fork guy. If you're going to run half a fork, you may as well keep the other side as well. Don't care for this single sided trend, just seems like they do it because it looks different and cool, while ignoring basic fundamentals of physical design. On a small refractor, that's one thing..but that thing is at least 6ish and primary and corrector and cells can't be all that light.
Well, there's some truth to that. But the NS 8SE and its ancestors are nicely stable on the single arm...and don't forget the storied Quantum MCT or yore also used a One Arm Bandit.
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Uncle Rod
Rod's New Book:
Choosing and Using a New CAT
Available now!
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GJJim
scholastic sledgehammer
Reged: 09/09/06
Posts: 907
Loc: Western CO
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Meade ETX-LS, development code name: Blivot.
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johninderby
member
Reged: 11/10/06
Posts: 58
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Well given Meade's recent track record of releasing new stuff before it has been properly developed and all the bugs worked out it would make me a bit cautious about running out and buying one as soon as it is released.
Taking a closer look at what images I was able to find the construction seems to be all plastic, but then again to implement the MySky technology it would have to be. Comparing the OTA size to the HC I would guess a 5 to 6 inch aperture.
It's a bit of a high risk strategy for Meade. if they pull it off it would save the company, get it wrong and its final nail in the coffin time.........
John
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