Meade Telescopes. Which one to buy?

Paul Lawler wrote in message .125.206...
Alexander Avtanski wrote in
:

bill kline wrote:

I'm considering getting a Meade ETX series Astro Telescope and was
looking for some feedback as to which one to buy or even another mfg.
The use will be for my father-in-law mainly, so once set up it ideally
needs to be "user friendly". I'm no rocket sceintist, but after some
brief research I think I can get this set up for him to use.
He has always wanted a telescope and now has the scratch to invest in
one, so I want to make sure he is getting what he wants.
Any suggestions are welcome.
TIA

One thing that is often not considered is the ease of use: time
to set-up, portability, etc. I have an 8-inch Orion reflector
on EQ mount and I like it very much. However, for casual
observing from the patio after work, lugging the heavy tripod,
setting-up, etc. was too much for me. So, in addition to it, couple
of weeks ago I got a small Orion StarBlast (4.5-inch f/4 tabletop
dob). Now I'm using it almost every clear night, while I use the
big scope mainly for "serious" night-long observing. I take a
look outside, if it's clear I take it out and in 30 seconds I'm
set at the eyepiece.

I concur completely. The ETX is (unfortunately) NOT user friendly. You
will get much more bang for your buck with a medim sized (4-10") reflector
on a Dobsonian mount.

I think alot of you are avoiding the fact that many new amateurs are not
star hoppers nor do they want to be. In such a case, a Dob will definitely
not give them more pleasure.
-Rich

(Richard) wrote

I think alot of you are avoiding the fact that many new amateurs are
not star hoppers nor do they want to be. In such a case, a Dob will
definitely not give them more pleasure.
-Rich

As someone who owns and uses both an ETX and a Dob, I have no dog in this
fight (if you take my meaning) and am certainly NOT attempting to avoid any
facts. The OP specifically said it was for his father in law and needed to
be very user friendly. He didn't specify his father in law's age, but my
father in law couldn't run an ETX if his life depended on it.

There is no escaping the fact that an ETX is NOT a trivial scope for the
"average" non-computer, non-science oriented person to set up and align
properly, and even when aligned provides less than spectacular (to be kind)
views of most DSOs, owing in large part to its long focal length.