I Didn’t Need a Meade
By Julia A. Keirns
(Written and published at Epinions.com on July 7, 2000)
First of all, let me make it quite clear that I know absolutely nothing about telescopes. I am not into astronomy. Purchasing a telescope is something I never would have done. At a friends’ house it was always neat to look through their telescope, but it just wasn’t something I would consider spending that much hard earned money on.
But…
One day as we were walking through the mall, three kids in tow, we decided to venture into a camera store “just to look.” That day was one of those days when the kids were just all wound up and would not settle down. (I must have fed them too much sugar.) The store was Ritz Camera at Glenbrook Mall in Fort Wayne, Indiana. We knew we couldn’t afford to buy anything, but sometimes you just like to look to get an idea of what things cost. The next thing I heard was a loud “crash!” When you are in a semi-expensive store with three wound up kids, the last thing you want to hear is a “crash.”
Sure enough, they had knocked over a telescope. My stomach almost threw up. My blood pressure probably rose quite high and I think I felt faint. I had visions of hundreds of dollars floating in my head. The store attendant did not even touch the telescope or look at it, she just immediately got on the telephone to the manager. Without even checking it out, the manager said we had to purchase it. We could see that there was one tiny plastic piece broke, but hey, that could be superglued right? The manager said the lenses inside are quite fragile, and a fall like that would most definitely cause damage to a lens or even break one. So we bought a telescope.
We forked out $188.95 that day that we did not have and went home with a Jupiter Telescope by Meade. Specifically, a Meade Digital Electronic 60 mm Refracting Telescope. I was just thankful it was not more money than that.
(My children are actually still alive by the way.)
We got this thing home and all set up and put together. (They had to “completely” disassemble it at the store and package it up in the original box. They would not let us take it home the way it was. We had to buy it “as it was.” I think we should have been able to take it home “as it was.” That was the second thing that upset me. We knew nothing about correctly setting up and putting a telescope together.
The directions were okay. Not really all that simple, especially when you are ignorant in telescope language. It was a little difficult and tedious I thought, but we did it.
It really is a pretty neat telescope. Much better than what some of our friends currently have. It came with several components including the optical tube, viewfinder, viewfinder bracket, yoke mount, aluminum tripod legs, an accessory shelf, three eyepieces, and a digital mirror. There are step by step instructions included for assembly, but it was still quite difficult for us. It also came with Star Locator Software for the computer. You can explore the heavens and check out all sorts of star charts. There is a database on this little floppy disk of over 10,000 celestial objects.
We finally got this thing all put together and went outside to see what we could see. Nothing. We couldn’t focus in on anything. We turned the focus ring from one end to the other very slowly. Nothing. The next day I called the Meade Company, told them the whole story of us having to purchase the telescope yesterday, and explained how it wouldn’t focus now. They told us the whole focusing unit was probably damaged in the fall and they would send us a new one immediately. Free of charge! I was impressed. Three days later it came UPS. Great customer service. They didn’t care about the circumstances of why we purchased it, they just wanted us to be satisfied with the product. That alone gets 5 stars for Meade.
Sure enough, that solved the problem. It worked. We could focus in on the moon. That was really cool for us first timers! We can’t quite figure out yet how to use it to the best of its abilities. We don’t really know what we are doing. We are not telescope people. But, it is a great telescope. It gives us a very clear picture of the moon at least. I just wish we could figure out how to zoom in on some stars. Once you get this telescope together, it seems fairly easy to use. To see the moon anyway. I am sure someone who knows what they are doing would get a lot more out of it than us.
This telescope is capable to have an optional electronic and computer motor drive system attached to it. Computer software is available. Then you can hook up to the computer and view what the telescope is viewing, print pictures and everything. Sounds like it would be great if I could just figure it out. There are computer control buttons on the side of the telescope. It can be upgraded with an optional Meade Digital Electronic Controller. A Dual-Motor Electronic Control System is available and the controller that’s available for this telescope is the Autostar Computer Control System which allows pushbutton object-tracking at any of four speeds on both axes. Sounds awesome.
I wish we could spend more time with it than we do, trying to figure out how to view those far away stars. It seems like such a waste to have it sitting in the computer room now attracting dust. We would never have paid that much for a telescope. We didn’t need a Meade, but since we have one, I guess it is a cool one to have.
My final advice – don’t let your kids decide that you are going to buy a telescope by knocking one over in a store.