opinion on Meade 105

I would be obliged if anyone here could post a quick yes or no,no on the
MEADE ETX 105 PE TELESCOPE !
I would be ever so grateful!
Fred

On or about 2006-03-10,
fred2 illuminated us with:
I would be obliged if anyone here could post a quick yes or no,no on the
MEADE ETX 105 PE TELESCOPE !
I would be ever so grateful!

Maybe.

It depends what you're after. I have one (not PE) FWIW. the quick setup &
GOTO is good for when you want to spend an hour or so in the garden looking
at several things. Though if you observe regularly, you'll learn pretty
quickly where things are anyway. The portability and no need to collimate
(usually) makes it easy to take to other sites, or on holiday. You can use
it for astrophotography, though there are undoubtedly cheaper ways to get
into that. There are other positives depending on what you plan to do with
it.

OTOH if you're serious, you'll want more aperture for most things. If you're
serious about photography you may want a more stable mount & drive. There
are probably telescopes which are easier to focus.

It's a reasonable compromise if you're only going to spend limited time
using it, but it will frustrate if you end up hooked! Have a look a
Weasner's ETX website if you've not found it already.

--
Mark
Real email address | I washed a sock.
is mark at | Then I put it in the dryer.
ayliffe dot org | When I took it out, it was gone.

"Mark Ayliffe" wrote in message
...
On or about 2006-03-10,
fred2 illuminated us with:
I would be obliged if anyone here could post a quick yes or no,no on the
MEADE ETX 105 PE TELESCOPE !
I would be ever so grateful!

Maybe.

It depends what you're after. I have one (not PE) FWIW. the quick setup &
GOTO is good for when you want to spend an hour or so in the garden
looking
at several things. Though if you observe regularly, you'll learn pretty
quickly where things are anyway. The portability and no need to collimate
(usually) makes it easy to take to other sites, or on holiday. You can use
it for astrophotography, though there are undoubtedly cheaper ways to get
into that. There are other positives depending on what you plan to do with
it.

OTOH if you're serious, you'll want more aperture for most things. If
you're
serious about photography you may want a more stable mount & drive. There
are probably telescopes which are easier to focus.

It's a reasonable compromise if you're only going to spend limited time
using it, but it will frustrate if you end up hooked! Have a look a
Weasner's ETX website if you've not found it already.

--
Mark
Real email address | I washed a sock.
is mark at | Then I put it in the dryer.
ayliffe dot org | When I took it out, it was
gone.

Thank you Mark,
Looking for a friend and yes we did find Weasner's ETX site. We had a bit of
controversial info from our local camera/telescope shop, they suggested
either the 90 or 125 and were a bit negative about the 105, hence me asking
here. He doesn't want to be to serious, but would of course appreciate a
reasonably competent piece of equipment for hobby purposes.
So thanks again, for you taking the trouble to respond.
Fred