I second the Astro Pete's suggestion as by talking to him you will get hands on experience of these scope's and others , ( Dob springs to mind
) .
Those 2 Meades are basically 'Generic' Newtonion reflectors out of a few factories in China , painted in Meades colors , look good but the same quality is avaliable here from local suppliers ( and we HAVE !! to support them ) with different brand name's Saxon and Sky Watcher to name a couple .
I take it those Mead's you mention are from an online supplier ?.
The Mount is another Generic product , probably a good EQ5 class mount , but again the same is avaliable locally at a better price and with money saved you could probably get a drive for it ? or a nice eyepiece ? .
Its only in the higher end scopes by Meade , Celestron and others does their name really mean anything , eg. they are made to their specifications so are mainly of very good quality .
Go talk to Astro Pete as said because he will see you right and you will have a much easier time if anything goes astray , you will be looked after ( just do a quick google search on Meade's after sales service
) .
All the best and you will be glad you joined us here and asked those questions , many don't and buy without doing some home work and end up disappointed and that's the end of their love of astronomy
.
Oh yes
to IIS .
Also the Saxon 150D is a good scope , as good as the Meade ( probably not as pretty , but in the dark who cares ? ) but again by buying local you are supporting local businesses and your after sales service ( if anything goes wrong) is only a phone call or visit away and will be sorted straight away , I have personally helped a person with a $10,000 mount out of the States that was a lemon , his reply was ,,,,,' send it back at your cost ' ,,,,, that was over $2500 ,,,,,
,,,,,,yep buy local Blair .
Brian.
