Meade 90AZ-ADR Altazimuth Refractor Telescope

Comments about Meade 90AZ-ADR Altazimuth Refractor Telescope:

For the price of this scope it's pretty good. It's lightweight,easy grab-n-go. It shakes when you try to focus and use the slow motion knobs but it dampens down in under 5 seconds. The eyepieces are OK and the diagonal is plastic. I tried a quality dielectric diagonal and couldn't notice any difference with the stock one. The Moon and Jupiter are great but noticed a lot of chromatic aberration on Mars and Venus. Haven't seen Saturn yet. I've looked at a few Globular Clusters,Nebulas and the Andromeda Galaxy and this scope does pretty good on them. If you don't want to spend a lot of money this scope is very serviceable

Comments about Meade 90AZ-ADR Altazimuth Refractor Telescope:

We've got great city and port views of Seattle and wanted a telescope mainly for terrestrial viewing. The telescope works pretty much as expected: images are sharp and bright and it's easy to find objects. Our main complaint is the unsteady tripod and mount which allow the scope to shake whenever you touch any control, or even the eyepiece with your eye. We bought an 8-24mm zoom eyepiece otherwise we'd end up using only the 25mm eyepiece, since at 100x (with the 9mm) there's lots of interference from heat waves, haze, and tripod shake. A powerful binoculars probably would be more suitable for our purpose. One clear night soon we'll point it towards the sky and see how it works for its intended purpose....I'd recommend it with the caveats listed.

Comments about Meade 90AZ-ADR Altazimuth Refractor Telescope:

Great buy, super sharp moon and star views.
One thing you will need to do is replace the
star diagonal. Very low quality. They had to
cut costs somewhere and this is where they did.
I also had to re-align the dovetail with the
cradle. Easy to do. I also suggest that you
purchase a lens and filter kit- the Zhumell
kit is great. A decent diagonal will cost
around 60 dollars.

Comments about Meade 90AZ-ADR Altazimuth Refractor Telescope:

Easy to use for young teen while still having a large enough aperture to keep dad interested. This is a perfect "urbanite" scope. We keep it assembled so we can just "grab it" and head out to the yard. We have observed Venus, Orions Nebula, the moon, and plenty of star fields, and are quite impressed with the quality of the scope versus the cost.

Comments about Meade 90AZ-ADR Altazimuth Refractor Telescope:

This is my first telescope. I live in Los Angeles, where the light pollution is horrendous for amateur astronomers. I wanted a telescope large enough to get clear, bright views of the planets, yet simple enough to transport and light weight for traveling. Affordablity was also a concern since I have a tight budget.Assembly:The telescope is a breeze to put together, it won't you more than 10 minutes. Once it's put together, detatching the telescope from the mount requires only a twist of the mounting nob. This makes commuting with the mount and telescope quick and easy.Viewfinder:The only pang of frustration this telescope gave me is the view finder. It was a little tricky to align it correctly, but I eventually got it just right. It's sensitive though, so I have to re-align it every time I set it up. Not really a big deal, but just had to mention it. Also, for some reason the glass is slightly tinted. I'm no astronomy expert, but I can't imagine why it would be so. Stars and planets that are already faint become nearly obscured when you use the view finder. Again, it's a small issue, but didn't want to leave you with any suprises.Tripod:The tripod is not as sturdy as an equatorial mount, but since I had to consider traveling (I have to drive out to Malibu), I was suprised by how light-weight it was. It's less than 10lbs. The controls work well, allowing you to adjust the telescope's ascention and declanation to the precise second. It does tend to vibrate and shake a little when you're adjusting the control knobs, but it's not inconvienant or annoying. Since I bring it to the beach and set up on the sand, I'm pleased how steady it is, even with the sea breeze. If you have to consider traveling, the tripod can easily squeeze into any sized trunk.The telecope:Since it's a 90mm, it recieves a pleasing amount of light that will make you view of the planets and stars with crisp images. The first time I used it, I just looked at a single star, and was stunned by how clear it looked. I also saw a few other stars near it that I couldn't see with my naked eye. The craters of moon look spectacular, as if you're in a space ship that's hovering above the moon by a hundred miles. I have yet to see a planet, since it's been a little hazy these past few weeks, but I know it'll perform to my expectations. Needless to say, the telescope itself is also extremely light weight, and it just looks slick from top to bottom.The eye-pieces:I purchased the Zhumel eye-piece kit and just use those :P But, the eye-pieces (25mm, and 9mm) are of great quality.Overall:If you're like me, who wants a relatively in-expensive refractor, with a wide apeture, this telescope is easy to recommend. It's price is affordable, the images are bright and clear, and it's size and weight make it a great telescope to travel with. It has already provided me with a view of space that has always amazed me, from the moon craters to just the little points of light, and given me a deeper apprecation of astronomy, our planet, and even life itself. For [$], you're getting a lot of bang for your buck.I'm glad I bought this telescope.