Telescopes?

Question

Meade or celestron? which do you prefer

Answer 1

In general terms, the two brands are pretty much equal.
The Meade telescopes tend to have more bells and whistles and little gadgets while Celestron tends to be more user friendly and easier to operate. Personally, I am also more impressed with Celestron's service after the sale.
Let's not forget that aside from these companies' SCT's, a good portion of their offerings are not made by them but are imported. For those types of Telescopes, which are very good by the way, I prefer Orion.
When it comes to customer service, they are by far the best I have encountered. They are famous for their customer service.
And no, I don't own stock in the company :).

Adolph

Answer 2

At the price levels that most of us can afford ($500 to $5,000) they are indistinguishable. The issue really is what sort of astronomer are you likely to be? Buy a telescope from a major manufacturer (or specialty manufacturer like Star Splitter) that fits the kind of astronomer you are or are likely to be.

I am a weekend warrior. I am no longer interested in photography, but in the joy of deep sky objects and the planets. Hence, I use an easy to transport and set up dobsonian mounted Newtonian. Works for me!

HTH

Charles

Answer 3

I don't think you can say that one is dominant over the other. They both sell a wide variety of telescopes, so it depends on what particular type of telescope you're interested in and what features are important to you.

At the low end of the market, I would choose neither. Both of them sell cheap junk telescopes in the under-$300 market segment. If you have to go cheap, you're better off with Orion.

Answer 4

They are about the same. Both might even come from the same plant in China!

Answer 5

Neither. It's all about Takahashi and RCOS! :)