Meade ETX-70AT

[Jimmy]

Hi has anyone had any experience with the Meade
ETX70-AT?

Just wondering thats all.......

[[1ponders]]

A friend of mine has one and it is a lovely little scope that gives a good image. Light and portable. Nice little planetary scope. It has a huge number of users and advocates. Its a *very* noisey though, unless meade have done something about the drives.

[iceman]

I think seeker has a small ETX or something.. :) He does some great stuff with it.

[MintSauce]

I quite fancied this scope myself, but I wanted apature!

It looks great and is cheap with a hard case and the hand controller which is nice.

G.

GL deciding btw jimmy :)

[seeker372011]

Hi Jimmy:

I have had an ETX 70 for some time now and love it. Its now become available (from time to time) at the Meade eBay store in the US for US $129 (refurbished) so I dont know if Australian prices have come down..at one time Camera House and so on wanted something like a 100% premium over the US street prices.

I use it quite a lot for imaging and have posted a few images on this forum as well as on Cloudy Nights (in the ETX forum), and you can get some idea of what can be achieved with a modified for long exposure webcam such as the Atik 1 C and this scope. (the picture of the Triffid nebula that you see on the left was taken with this scope)

(Remember though that the modified webcam , plus laptop plus software etc can cost considerably more than the ETX 70 itself.)

The scope is highly portable, is easy enough to use and great fun. The GoTo feature is great for finding stuff. Optics are great. If you take it out to a dark site you will be very impressed with what this little scope can show you.

On the other hand:

it was expensive here in Oz-you may get much greater (visual) bang for your buck with an 8 inch dob.

the Meade supplied tripod was designed and made in hell. Lasted one session before the clips broke. Not uncommon I hear. Had to make my own.

The focus knob on the ETX is a real pain on the butt.

The tracking is fine for visual work but usually good enough only for 10 to 15 second images.

And don't forget it is only a short tube achromat -so the images you see -though sharply defined thanks to top class optics-will be tiny.

It consumes batteries at an alarming rate -but you can make your own power supply. (should you decide to buy this scope I can give you the Dick Smith part numbers so you can make your own. You have to be careful though, plenty of peole have fried their ETX by stuffing up the connections..there is no protection in the circuitry)

My overall feeling-its the greatest second scope-take anywhere, fun , can use for low cost imaging. However, all things considered, If I were only to buy the one scope I'd still get an 8 inch dob-unless I was certain that I was going to be doing more imaging than visual observing.

hope this helps and doesnt confuse you further..feel free if have any questions

[Jimmy]

Is the ETX 90 allot better?

[iceman]

I imagine it's got the same advantages/disadvantages, with a 20mm bigger aperture..

Get teh 8" dob and you won't regret it Jimmy :)

[Jimmy]

Whats so good about UHTC coatings?
Is it worth paying extra?

Im going with the dob, im just finding out a few things about a couple of goto scopes thats all!!

THanks

[MintSauce]

the UHTC coatings are meant to be worth the extra cause of the ammount more light (think of it as adding a little apature, so it can get a bit more light than a non-UHTC of the same size - resolving power stays the same tho)

To get a decent goto scope you will be paying more than for the GSO dob - and probably will not see so much, but depends on how good you are at reading star maps and stuff - if your impatient the GOTO might be better - if you want to learn where stuff is and about it then the Dob is definately better.

[seeker372011]

I believe the ETX 105 is reputed to be the best engineered of the ETX series. The tripod is much better and allows polar alignment, both gears arent plastic-I think one gear is still plastic though.

Having said that the ETX 90 I read somewhere is the largest selling scope

If you really want to know everything there is to know about the ETX line there is no better place than Mike Weasner's site

http://www.weasner.com/etx/menu.html

( I did this as a quick reply so you may have to copy and past the link)

[Jimmy]

Has anything ever gone wrong with your ETX70?

[Jimmy]

Can you attach other telescopes to the etx70 drive system?

Can you use a 497 goto with this telescope?

[ballaratdragons]

Jimmy,

I don't know, Seeker might.

Just wondering when you are getting your 8" Dobber?:tasdevil:

[seeker372011]

I dont believe you can attach another tesescope to the ETX 70 drive system -not without some fancy engineering at least

Yes I think you can use the 497 hand paddle.


Overall I have had many hours of observing with the ETX 70 and not had a major problem with it.

It goes psycho when the battery runs down but that is an easy fix.

I also had some wierd behaviour when we switched to daylight saving this year-coulndt get it to behave and even Mike Weasner couldnt help me figure out what was wrong

in the end it turned out that for some weird reason
it worked only if I inputted time in the 24 hour clock when aligning.

The motors bind if I tighten the tripod bolts too much-shouldnt happen but it does, I have to leave the bolts half tightened
--as a result I cant use the wedge I made for polar aligning.

and I think I mentioned the tripod-it is junk.

But never lose sight of the fact that it is a very short focal lenght modest aperture scope-think a big binoculars with GoTo, so that should be a guide as to what you can reasonably expect to see with this scope.

[Jimmy]

Excellent. I think my wife will be happy with this. Im getting a refurbished one sent over from the us delivered with hardcase for 400AU.

Im just thinking that later on I will probably upgrade this to larger aperture ( a few years) and by then the 105 or 125etx (with no AT) should be significantly cheaper. I have read about some other scope (90, 105, 125 withough AT) and that you can attach an autostar to them...how do you do that? do you need a special mount with motors in them? or can I just plug the autostar in?

Just wondering for the future thats all.

The dob should be arriving this week.
Ill let everyone know how it goes.
Thanks

[MintSauce]

the mount has the motors which are controlled by a normal controller, the auto star is the controller with a knowledge of where objects are.

How did you persude them to ship a meade product out of the US, I was gonna get one of these but they all refused to ship them.

[Jimmy]

What I meant was can you fit another etx model in the same mount (most likely the 60). What about the 90 or 105 models?

I bought in on ebay, then I said ooops... didn't see that it was only to US ;).... then I said don't worry about it... then the person under my bid said they didn't want it, so he sold it to me. It cost like 150 bucks to ship it with tripod and hard case and flexifocus. (approximately - ill check when bill comes).

Im lucky because Ive been emailing him allot and he's going to personally test it before he send it.

I've scored myself a friend at scopetronix in the US!!!!!!!!

[MintSauce]

heh, well done.

I think the mounts are specific and they don't really look like they come off, I don't think that you can get an unmotorized ETX (apart from the real old models) but the hand controller should work with other models; but I think you get a better one with the 105/90/125.

if you can get them to ship the larger ones then they are worth getting but here in oz it's very exspensive.

[seeker372011]

sorry I dont know..worth checking at Mike Weasner's site.

But I'd be very surprised if you could fit the 90 or 105 usefully. I think the models 90 on have a different drive system compared to the 70.

Maybe the 60 OTA could be retrofitted on the forkmount of the 70 but it may involve some engineering.

Most efforts I have seen on the net have gone the other way --people have taken the ETX 70 off the fork mount to use its excellent optics for a guide scope

[Jimmy]

What are the most usefull eyepieces on this scope?
I want to buy a couple of extras.

Whats the highest usefull magnification I can go?
3x or 2x barlows?

[seeker372011]

I don't do much planetary observing so am not best placed to make a suggestion.

I have used a 2x barlow for imaging the moon-no problem


You are going to get a 10 mm eyepiece are you not? with a 2X barlow you are getting 70x magnification; with a 3x you will get a 105x magnification which should still be OK

[Jimmy]

The kit comes with a 9mm WA (wide angle I assume) and a 25mm WA. Are these plossl eyepieces?

Would you recommend the Andrews series 500 eyepieces to be used on this?

What would a 4mm, 5mm or 6.5mm look like?

[seeker372011]

Some finicky observers have complained of image softness when using the Meade MA eyepieces once the object is out of the "soft spot"

I have to say I have personally no complaints-these eyepieces are good as far as I'm concerned. On the other hand I hardly ever observe through them except to star align-usually I have the webcam plugged in most of the session.

My personal view is that a 4mm may be more magnification than you can use on 90 % of the nights.

Having said that I know of some guy who uses a 4mm TeleVue Radian and is very happy.

My own Andrews 4mm Ploessl developed some blemishes a few months after I purchased it, and I have rever replaced it-just didnt find I used it enough. (But that may be because I much prefer observing deepspace objects at low and medium power to cranking it up for planets and the moon.)

I have had no problem with the Andrews 10mm or 25mm Ploessls. In fact they look identical to the eyepiece that Celestron ships with its C8N-am sure they are made in the same factory.

now that you are an ETX owner, you may want to consider joining the yahoo ETX70 AT user group.

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ETX-70AT/?yguid=150343216

[Jimmy]

Im going to buy a Meade 2x Telenegativ Barlow, another 18mm WA eyepiece (by meade) and a Meade Super Plossl 5mm.

What do you think?

[seeker372011]

your 2x barlow coupled with your 9mm will give you about the same magnification as the 5mm Ploessl..so it does seem a bit of an overkill...
whatever works best for you

[Astro_Guy]

The optics on the ETX70 seem to break down at about 90-100X, depending upon the sample. I've demonstrated this numerous times using high quality eyepieces, such as the TeleVue 4mm Radian. These are the inherent limitations of a 70mm f/5 achromatic refractor. The ETX90 Mak-Cass is an entirely different class of instrument

[Jimmy]

Im gettin a 6.7mm plossl meade 3000 series and ill see how i go.
does anyone recommend anything else (I really want to be able to get the maximum possible viewable magnification.)

[iceman]

Maximum magnification isn't all it's cracked up to be, especially if you look at the dept. store boxes that say 525x, 625x etc.

It's rare that the seeing conditions, and the object you're viewing, are favourable enough for the highest magnification possible.

For DSO's, you'll rarely use such a high magnification - maybe for trying to split close double stars. You might use them on the moon or planets occassionally, but honestly I prefer to use my 15mm barlowed to 7.5 as my maximum magnification on my scope, and that's only when seeing is good.

[ballaratdragons]

I don't like going under 12mm un-barlowed for anything.

Objects lose light quality too much. (I'll go 9mm sparingly)

[Astro_Guy]

Jimmy,

You should see the rings of Saturn and the bands on Jupiter at 90x; however, the planets really demand about 150X to become truly enjoyable objects. Unfortunately there is no way to get there with an ETX70. Basically I am trying to warn you off pursuing something that is unattainable. I'd hate to see you spend a lot of money on accessories only to learn this the hard way.

Clear Skies,

Bob

[Jimmy]

I have access to absolutely clear and very dark skies in country victoria about 2.5hrs from melbourne. The sky is absolutely covered with stars, kind of like the background of this forum (but brighter of course!) -minus the nebula (visually) you know what I mean. .... Anyway.... Ill try 100x saturn out there. I reckong itll go well.

[Jimmy]

one guy on the net reckons he gets good view out of a 4mm orthoscopic eyepiece and a 2x barlow that 176x magnification (viewing the moon) at 88x he can clearly make out the rings around saturn. check his pics out

http://astronomy.customer.netspace.net.au/default.htm

he even states that the view through the scope is much clearer and brighter than the pictures he has taken.

[Jimmy]

Im getting some GSO eyepieces, I've changed my mind. They are better quality then the meade eyepiece I was going to get. I am assuming they are slightly better than the andrews also.

Im getting a 15mm super wide plossl with AFOV 66o

Ill still get the meade 2x telenegative barlow its cheap and thats all i can afford.

Ive spent way too much.

[ballaratdragons]

Jimmy,

Sorry to burst your bubble but they are quite terrible images. A scope should be able to get proffessional looking, crisp clear images. The photos shown were blurry and low in contrast.

Sorry old chap.

The write up is Biased of course.

[ballaratdragons]

Also Jimmy,

Where is your dark spot 2 1/2 hours from Melbourne.

Maybe we could meet there one night.

[Jimmy]

i think they are quite impressive. seeker does have pictures that are crisper, but, as the gentlemen on the webpage says he has a crappy cheap digital camera. what more could one expect?

[Jimmy]

and the dark spot is about 6 hours from your location! sorry mate!

[Jimmy]

im talking outer easter melbourne suburbs 2 and a half hours!

[ballaratdragons]

Have you tried up this way for viewing?

Its bloody brilliant, and closer to Melb!

[Jimmy]

nah im happy with dads farm. its near the coast, absolutely no light pollution whatsoever!

[ballaratdragons]

Coool!

If you take a reflector too near the coast beware of salt air on your mirrors.
Not so bad for refractors, but Reflectors ooooooh!

[Jimmy]

yes! offcourse!!! we dont want to damage the dob. thats why the meade comes in handy for beach viewing. the dobs sits at the farm about 15-20minute drive away.... absolutely perfect

[Jimmy]

Im getting a 6mm orthoscopic eyepiece and a 15mm plossl
and a 2x barlow lense.

that should do me

[Jimmy]

thanks for all the info guys!

im going for wide angle eyepieces ( i know this scope is already very wide angle) i like the wide field of view/sharpness at low mag.!

a!