In praise of Meade

Lately, it seems almost fashionable to find fault with Meade. With this in
mind, I hereby offer some positive feelings and interactions with the
company.

1. For much less than a thousand dollars they furnished me with a fine 12.5
inch dobsonian. Sure, there is room for much improvement on the instrument,
but the optics are great and the mount is stable enough. I'm not alone in
my belief that the Meade 12.5 inch Starfinder Dobsonian represents the most
"bang for the buck" on the market.

2. When I phoned them to complain about what I perceived to be a faulty
eyepiece which came with the scope, they sent a replacement at no charge
with a note attached asking me to return the faulty one at my convenience.
How many companies would take that risk?

3. The Magellan 1 DSCs I purchased are held to the altitude bearing by way
of a small #4-40 set screw. This tiny screw is tightened by a .05 inch
allen wrench which will eventually round off the very small edges to the
hole in the set screw in which the diminutive wrench is inserted. I phoned
Meade to ask if more could be purchased from them. A few days later, I
received a small envelope containing several at no charge. This gave me
time to locate a complete hardware store locally where I bought a lifetime
supply for under three dollars.

4. When I accidently stripped the threads to the specially designed nut
which secures the bottom end of the azimuth encoder of Magellan 1 to the
ground plate of the mount, they sent me a new one for free. . .this after
the warranty had expired.

5. Having trouble figuring the correct secondary offset, I phoned them
again. A couple of weeks later a letter arrived from Meade with the precise
amount of offset to apply.

It could be that they have changed this helpful policy which was extended
towards me. It could be that those who knock Meade are a vocal minority of
unhappy customers who exist amongst a highly satisifed majority. Me? I
couldn't be more content with my Meade product and their support service.

Am I alone?


Martin