With its state-of-the-art optical and mechanical performance, this Meade telescope is truly awesome. I have had the telescope for 3 weeks now and have had excellent results with its performance.

This is a truly user friendly telescope with a controller that works you through the process of setting up. It has a true level and north electronic sensors for automatic alignment. I watched in amazement as the LX200 slew to the first alignment star, a few more clicks and it was done.

I had no problems finding any object I wanted with just a tap on the autostar control pad which is standard equipment on this Meade telescope. I own Starry Night Software which works very well with the autostar, it is the one software package I recommend you buy to complement the Autostar on this Meade telescope.

With this type of computer system, you can expect to spend more time viewing and less time trying to find objects. The software will bring each object to dead center, it is really quite impressive. And if you’re like me and you are into technology you may find yourself playing with Autostar more and viewing less.

The optics are excellent, I have viewed all my favorite deep sky objects and the planets. The Horsehead Nebula the Trifid Nebula-NGC 6514, the Ring Nebula-NGC 6720, M51, M81, M82, and M104 all were stunning. With its high quality resolution the views were so sharp it took my breath away and all had good definition.

This is a very sturdy well built Meade telescope that will last for years without ever needing to be serviced, but it is a heavy telescope. There are 125,000 objects programmed into the database which should keep you busy for quite some time.

 Product Description

•  Aperture – 8″
• f/10 Schmidt-Cassegrain
• Autostar
• 8×50 Viewfinder
• Eyepiece – 26mm Plossl
• Standard Field Tripod.

Recommendation

An excellent Meade telescope that will bring years of great viewing. Yes it is heavy, but I don’t think that will worry too many people. Especially as the excellent views you will get from this Meade telescope will more than make up for its weight.