Meade ETX90

Anyone own this scope that would like to review it? Looking for your personal experience with this model, I know I can find reviews on the net, just want some personal feedback.

Thanks

the jimmy wrote in post #11782988
Anyone own this scope that would like to review it? Looking for your personal experience with this model, I know I can find reviews on the net, just want some personal feedback.

Thanks

What are you hoping to do with it? Viewing, imaging Lunar/planetary or deep sky?

Nighthound wrote in post #11784122
What are you hoping to do with it? Viewing, imaging Lunar/planetary or deep sky?

I found what seemed to be a good price on a used one, I would turn your question around and say, what is it's strong points, what can I do with it?

That's also why I hoped to find someone who owned one

A good friend owned one but I have not. This Maksutov-Cassegrain would be a nice viewing scope but have limited photographic application. It's optically slow (nearly f/15) so if you plan possible long exposures then it's not a good choice. That combined with a poor tracking platform make deep sky imaging a stretch. The focal length of 1250 puts it at the low end for planetary imaging. Focal ratio isn't as important for planetary nor is very long exposure so it would work fine for both planetary and lunar but for planets you'd likely need to rig some extra magnification and that might get tricky as far as hardware goes. The fork mount will cause issues for imaging objects high in the sky as well, there's not enough clearance so your camera will hit the mount.

With all that said it's a very nice viewing telescope if imaging isn't part of your plan.

Nighthound wrote in post #11784528
A good friend owned one but I have not. This Maksutov-Cassegrain would be a nice viewing scope but have limited photographic application. It's optically slow (nearly f/15) so if you plan possible long exposures then it's not a good choice. That combined with a poor tracking platform make deep sky imaging a stretch. The focal length of 1250 puts it at the low end for planetary imaging. Focal ratio isn't as important for planetary nor is very long exposure so it would work fine for both planetary and lunar but for planets you'd likely need to rig some extra magnification and that might get tricky as far as hardware goes. The fork mount will cause issues for imaging objects high in the sky as well, there's not enough clearance so your camera will hit the mount.

With all that said it's a very nice viewing telescope if imaging isn't part of your plan.

Thank you Steve, I think I'll lay off this one, I do like to view and photograph thru optical devices.