On Sat, 18 Feb 2017 20:29:26 -0500, R2D4 wrote:

A neighbor had a Meade 2080 they were about to actually toss out so I
got it just before the trash pick up on Tuesday. He said he was getting
rid of it because he's moving and had no time for sales, I gave him $100
anyway which, if it works ok, would be a steal. This appears to be the
F/10 model. With it came 9x60 finder with illuminated reticle,
equatorial wedge, drive and heavy tripod, a couple of eyepieces, drive
controller and power supply. There's also the diagonals for both scope
and finder and 2 to 1.25" adapters. One thing I did find out is that it
is a HEAVY beast, seems heavier than even the 9.25 I used to have on
GC-5. I sold off all my SCT's years ago and was never really going to
return to astro until I saw this giveaway.

Now the question: how do I check this out optically? I look through
the corrector and the primary seems fine, not sure how to see how the
secondary looks. So any advice here would be welcome as well as how to
test resolution, collimate, etc.

There appears to be one thing missing that I sort of need because I
can't see Polaris most of the time and that is the compass that snaps
into the base-- any idea where I can find one or is there a substitute
that will work?

There is a wide range of quality with the 2080s. They were really
pumped out back in the 1980s when Comet Halley was boosting amateur
astronomy, and Meade's quality control left a lot to be desired. I'd
start by seeing just how well it collimates (there are online
tutorials providing the details, but essentially you look at a star at
high power, in focus and on both sides, and adjust the three screws on
the secondary mirror). If you're interested in a critical analysis,
I'd suggest you pick up Suiter's book, _Star Testing Astronomical
Telescopes_.

A compass is only suitable for a very rough polar alignment. That may
be good enough for basic visual use. Any compass should do. Why can't
you see Polaris? If it's normally in your sky (you're not too far
south), it's bright enough that you should easily see it under almost
any conditions you'd want to observe.