Help! Purchase of Meade DS-2130AT for $159?!?

Question

Can someone who knows about telescopes look at this & give me their advice. This looks like a great telescope (5.1) goto for $159!?

It is a Meade, which is a good brand. Is it possible they made a cheapo version?? I mean if it's 5.1 and it's a Meade doesn't it mean it's a very good telescope? It does have a scratch or dent... do you think it is that that drove the price way down?

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&ih=015&sspagename=STRK%3AMEWA%3AIT&viewitem=&item=250058006838&rd=1&rd=1

It's not that "impressive" looking or pretty, however, it is a lot cheaper than the Starseeker I was going to pluck down $389 for the same 'stats' but is a bit "prettier".

Here's the StarSeeker... both are 130mm goto's, big difference in price... am I missing something? Maybe cuz it's discontinued?

https://www.oriontel.com/jump.jsp?itemID=256410&itemType=PRODUCT

Racking my brain here... I'm not sure my son is going to take this thing outside more than 4x a year.

or........ this one???

Also appears to be a Meade 130. One person mentioned these were sold at Walmart?! But if it's Meade doesn't that say enough about the quality?

http://cgi.ebay.com/MEADE-130mm-5-1-8-FULLY-AUTOMATIC-ASTR-TELESCOPE_W0QQitemZ290060243533QQihZ019QQcategoryZ28181QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

Can someone explain the difference of focal length? I thought less was better?

One downside to the Meade-- it is alot heavier -- 27 lbs vs only 13 lbs for the Orion.

Answer 1

Is there really any comparison? The DS2130 is a 1000-mm focal length telescope with electronic level, compass, motorized mount, etc. The controller performs automatic alignment, based on only your Zip code and automatically finds two alignment stars for you to verify alignment, based on its automatic level and electronic compass.

The Orion telescope only has a 650-mm focal length, and only a motorized mount. The alignment procedure requires 3 stars to get the computer control to work properly. While the image in the Orion will be brighter, it will have about 30% less magnification.

The Meade seems pretty sweet, compared to the Orion. And it normally sells for $399: http://shopping.discovery.com/product-59641.html

Note that the Ebay photo looks quite different than the Meade website's photo, possibly a older product? DS2130AT vs DS2130ATS-LNT

Answer 2

Sorry about your troubles, it can be like that sometimes. Both the moon and the planets look better on nights when the stars twinkle less, this is called good seeing. You should wait until the moon is as high as you can, that way it's less blurry. And as for the star charts, they're a circle with north, south, east and west around them right? Hold the chart over your head while lying on your back (make sure it's the right time, month and latitude) Then turn it around until the directions match the real world. Now, imagine the entire circle growing until it's the size of the sky. The circle is the horizon and the middle is overhead. Just imagine everything much bigger and all the stars will be in the right places. And do go to a local astronomy club, they could be your 'class' for you.

Answer 3

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RE:
Help! Purchase of Meade DS-2130AT for $159?!?
Can someone who knows about telescopes look at this & give me their advice. This looks like a great telescope (5.1) goto for $159!?

It is a Meade, which is a good brand. Is it possible they made a cheapo version?? I mean if it's 5.1 and it's a Meade doesn't it mean it's a very...