Re: New Meade S5K ED

This has been an interesting thread. I always appreciate the info on telescope design that I pick up here.

Here are my two bottom lines:

For me finances are the main issue. I would buy the best 6" apo available, if I had the cash. I can't afford one, so my humble second-hand FS-102 and my CR150/Chromacor combo (good but not excellent) will need to do.

Second, I will NEVER - did you hear that? - NEVER - buy another Meade product! After needing to spend nearly $600.00 to ship a brand new 12" LX200 back to the factory for "repair," and having fiddled with an LXD55 mount until I almost pulled my hair out, I have given up on buying anything from them. If I tallied the wasted cash, I'd be much closer to that high end apo!

IMO the best approach to this hobby is to save your pennies and buy the best, even if you can't get it right away. If you like frustration, go ahead and buy the S5K ED. You MAY get something worthwhile. I'm going to stick with AP, TMB, TEC, Tele Vue, TAK, etc. or I'm buying nothing at all.

Ed Kessler

Boy Edwin,

Am I ever with you there. I stopped buying Meade products long ago. Seemed like everything I bought from them simply did not work as advertised. This was true of equipment owned by friends as well. In addition, producst I bought would break constantly.

Take care,
john

If finances are your main concern, then purchases from AP, TEC, TMB, Tele Vue, Tak do not make sense to me. They are selling top quality, and price is a secondary consideration with those scopes.

If finances are a concern as they are with me, there are others besides Meade; Celestron, Synta, GSO, etc.

Also, I am not a business expert, but I fail to see how a company could sell a telescope to hundreds (thousands?) of amateurs or "department store" amateurs just once. That does not make business sense. Meade would not be in business if their products are a poor as everyone claims.

I have purchased a number items, telescopes and accessories, from Meade. They have always been helpful, fast, responsive, and the products are always as advertised, never more, and certainly not less.

I do agree with you, this has been a very informative and interesting thread! I appreciate everyone posting what they think.

Keith

As Tom Clark, publisher of Amateur Astronomy said, "Always buy the cheap one first. It's good for the economy if you buy everything twice."
Bill Meyers