Telescope Reviews: Need help with scope differences

I've owned both Celestron and Meade SCT's within the past twelve months and have dealt with each's customer service. As for optics there isn't any difference between the two. Any differences that may exist in units you may use are likely caused by variances in manufacturing as both are mass produced products. Celestron's are mass produced in China, while some Meade's are made in Mexico and a few still produced at their plant in California.

There is a difference in their coma free lens and I would recommend getting the Celestron HD or Meade ACF upgrade. Meade's are made of aluminum and weigh more than their Celestron counterparts, which are made of fiberglass. In theory the aluminum should cool faster, but cool down time on both is lengthy in my experience.

Celestron CPC means the scope is mounted on a fork, HD means they have coma free (flat field) optics, which are excellent. These are also good for astrophotography. Meade LX90 and LX200 are both fork mounts. The 200 series are more expensive, but they are heavier and handle the weight of 10 inch and larger bodies. They are also a bit better for astrophotography, although you can do astrophotography just fine with the LX90 for shorter exposures. You can also put a wedge on them. With Meade the ACF optics are coma free. If you are looking for an 8 inch scope the Celestron CPC HD or LX 90 ACF will do just fine. I would shy away from the Celestron NexStar 8 inch as the scope is a bit heavy for the mount and tripod and you get a lot of vibration. People buy vibration pads to put under the tripod. This scope is not suited for astrophotography imo.

Meade puts their carrying handles in the front facing toward you, which makes it harder to pick up and carry their units. This is especially true with 10 inch and above units. Celestron's handles are to the side facing out and you get better leverage, which makes it easier to pick up and carry their units. But for an 8 inch scope there probably isn't that big a difference.

Most folks prefer the Celestron hand control because it has a dedicated key to enter Messier or Caldwell numbers. On the Meade you have to scroll through a list of objects by name until you come to the one you want to view and then select goto. But, the Meade has other advantages that you might want to consider. The GPS in Meade finds the two brightest stars in the sky for you and slews to them so all you have to do to align is center them and hit enter. With Celestron you have to know the name of the star to align. On some of the newer Celestron's I've read they're adopting Meade's system so if you decide to get a Celestron, check out this out. Also, Meade offers Tonight's Best, which puts up a list of objects the computer deems to be best for viewing. You can still enter objects manually, just not as easily as with Celestron.

Intangibles. Celestron is owned by Tasco (a telescope toy manufacturer), which went bankrupt a decade ago and was bought by Bushnell, another toy/Walmart optics, telescope company. Should that matter to you? That's up to you to decide. On the other hand, I keep hearing rumors that Meade is fighting to stay out of bankruptcy and should they file for bankruptcy who knows what their future might hold.

I've dealt with customer service with both companies and neither is anything to write home about. I found Celestron's CS to be deplorable and the worse of any company I have ever dealt with. They simply were unresponsive and didn't seem to care. Meade's service was incompetent and not overly interested in the consumer, but in the end they did come through, whereas Celestron would have left me holding the bag if not for a superb vendor who came to the rescue. Frankly, if I could have found an SCT made by another company that I could have afforded I would have bought from them. In the end I got rid of the Celestron (too many problems with it and customer service that didn't care) and went with a Meade. I've been happy with the telescope and what it does, but I know if Meade files for bankruptcy I may never be able to get any service, should I need it in the future.

Everybody who has owned either scope will have a story to tell about why one scope is better than the other one. These are only our individual experiences and your mileage may vary. Oh, batteries are definitely not included and there will be a lot of assembly required. Good luck with your decision.

Edited by Jon_Doh (08/17/12 08:56 AM)