Meade VS celestron.

5" ETX GOTO, and Celestron 5" single fork GOTO. Im sure these were debated some time back, but I never seem to have heard much of the ETX5". The celestron seems to be more attractive just because of the mount. I never liked how close the tube is to the base on the ETX. The celestron package looks lighter, and more compact.
This will just be a portable set up for me, and not my main scope. Anyone have any comments on these two scopes I would sure like to hear them. From what Ive seen in the past Maks sure impress a little more than a SCT. They both cost the same, and the goto doesnt mean too much to me. Id buy the old non goto single fork if I could buy one new. Its a shame they dont still offer it.
Tony.

I did plenty of research on the the 2 scopes before I purchased the Nexstar 5i. This little scope held it's own against the TeleVue 102 APO. See the review on cloudynights.com. The scope is very easy to set up(less than 5 minutes). The construction is top notch (metal vs the ETX Plastic). Plus you get a free tripod and computer hand controller until 1-31-03 with the Nexstar. The cost would be $300.00 more with the ETX. I have been very pleased with the views. Especially after replacing the standard prism diagonal with a StellarVue Enhanced Mirror Diagonal. Purchase the Celestron, you won't be disappointed. Good Luck & Clear Skies, Luis!

Well, the ETX is a Mak (as you've implied) and Mak's are generally about as close to APO like views as you can get.

Still, I think Celestron's are generally better built. The focusing on the ETX will be hard at azimuth unless you're a little girl. I think you'll also appreciate the fact that the Celestron does not use an integrated flip mirror like the ETX. I dislike the flip mirror on my NexStar 4.

In addition, I think the starpointer that comes on the NexStar, while cheap and horrible, is a lot more practically useful and more suitably matched to its telescope than the ETX's finder. It's not a Telrad, but it's easy to use and it's handier than a tiny finderscope.

You'd also be getting Starbright coatings on the NexStar 5. Does that ETX have UHTC coatings?

On another note, I've heard that the ETX series of telescopes uses plastic gears. I can't substantiate that so don't listen to me