Meade Instruments – ETX125 Observer – 127mm Aperture Maksutov-Cassegrain (MAK) Computerized GoTo Astronomy Telescope with AudioStar® 30,000+ Object-Database & Guided Audio Tours - EQ Plate Tilt Plate

AFTER ONE YEAR OF USE...Ok...so the alignment issues are beyond explanation, and are really frustrating. I've used this close to 50 times during 2021, and at no point has it been easy to align. NOT ONE TIME. I've tried everything but it's internal first-star alignment should be embarrassing to Meade. Level, check. Pointed due north, check. Time and date correct, check. First star it picks, regardless of the season is way far off from where it positions the scope during slew...by close to 25 degrees. I manually slew it to center the star, and the second star is closer but still way off. Once you get the second star aligned, it functions as expected and slews to whatever you're hoping to see. Alignment is unacceptably frustrating, but manageable. If you don't know your stars you won't be able to do it, period.Optics seem solid, and you can see some interesting things. However, the focal length of this scope will dramatically limit what you should attempt to view. Galaxies? Nope, don't hold out hope to see any. Look at Andromeda and you'll see a slight smudge around a hazy bright center. Nebula? Great Orion only through the scope from my experience. What you can spend time looking at are star clusters and solar system objects like Mars/Jupiter/Saturn or the moon. You can very easily pick up the moons of Jupiter, and the rings of Saturn. The moon is fun to view through this scope as well. But don't even think about deep sky objects...it cannot gather enough light to show you those.I purchased an adapter for my DSLR camera and have been able to take up to 30 second exposures without star trails of a lot of objects. My skies are Bortle Class 7, so not ideal, but I have successfully imaged a few deep sky objects through this scope. I'd love to take this scope to a dark sky site and see what it can do, but we don't have many nearby and lugging this thing around to simply get sub-optimal deep sky photos doesn't sound appealing to me. I use different equipment for those.Really good for: Moon, Jupiter, Saturn, Star Clusters (really impressed me here), Orion NebulaKind of ok for: Andromeda, Dumbbell Nebula, Running Man NebulaBad for: Deep sky objects like galaxies, faint nebula, diffuse nebulaI have been able to image some hard to get things with this, like the Little Dumbbell Nebula, Pacman Nebula, Bubble Nebula. While they can be imaged, it's definitely not worth the effort from my skies, and most importantly require several (close to an hour) stacked 30 second exposure photos to make out even the remotest of details.To summarize, it's solid for doing what it can do, and bad if used for something it's not designed for (deep sky). If you can get past the alignment issues/challenges, it's a fun scope to pull out for friends and family.ORIGINAL REVIEW...We’ve been blown away at what you can see with this telescope. The Orion Nebula is crystal clear and easy to capture. Once aligned, 20 second exposures are as far as you can push before you get tracing. The picture is a single 20 second exposure taken with an old camera. Lunar details are great, and you can see the rings of Saturn quite easily at low magnification.My only issue to date is initial alignment. It struggles to find Sirius...by a LOT...every time...but a lot of adjusting/slewing to bring it into the eyepiece is possible. And then onto the next alignment star, and off again by quite a bit, but closer than Sirius. Another manual slewing to center, and it’s good from that point forward. I think it might be a user issue at this point, but it’s a relative inconvenience when compared to the overall quality of the telescope and fun we’ve had viewing celestial wonders with such ease.

Excellent telescope. Been a Meade user for over 20 years. For what this scope is designed for, namely the moon and planets, it excels. For deep sky objects such as clusters, galaxies and nebula it does a decent job. For portability, it excels again. My only caveat with the scope is there is no carry case built for it. I was able to find one and it fits very well, providing you keep the foam insert that the scope ships in. I used the case, Sterilite 18429001 Footlocker, found here on amazon. If you are looking for a very well designed starter scope that will aid you in finding sky objects, with a fair amount of aperture, that is extremely portable and easy to set up. Then this is your scope.

The Pumpkin that could not find Vega, Altair, or the Seven Sisters. The ETX-90 that couldn’t find its star.Short Review for now. I bought this as a grab and go Astro Photography mount. It is a dual mount for alignment, and has a good reputation for the wide field work I've been doing with a standard Photography Tripod. Depending on what happens I will write more on the good parts of each unit that make up the ETX90, for now, the bad.1) Shipping via USPS was very frustrating. In the end, I had to pick it up at the local office via the dutch door 3(5?) days after the date it was to be dropped off. After no door tags or help from the Post office, our local carrier and Amazon support helped me pick it up. Much bigger longer story. Maybe later. But Amazon Support Rocked helping me sort it out!2) The 'Fork' unit will not Align.I bought a used/old Meade DS2090 mount from eBay and it aligns better than the ETX-90. [ I started with a manual EQ years ago, and have worked with both EQ and Alt since, so the ETX90 should have been easy.] In fact it was because of how the old Meade devices[time of writing I count 10] I’ve bought from eBay perform, showing they had clearly been thru the wars before I bought them, that lead me to buy the ETX90 new. So it would be a learning curve of new equipment, and not a reverse engineering and part level hardware troubleshooting that I do working for a Telco.I've read the manual, many times. Checked videos online, Astro Club resources, Two support calls with Meade support and the Fork will not Align using either north, in EQ or Alt mode.The three Meade support techs I've talked with were helpful and seemed to know their stuff. But have not gotten back to me on their offered RMA/Exchange of the Fork unit. I submitted that request with Docs on 10/30-31. Their site states 2-3 days reply. Nada. I really like the unit, I really don't want to return it and shop for a different device, it fits the work I do.I'm a NetAdmin for a Phone company, I'm guessing a board or component is bad and that is why the folk is not working correctly. Not great, but not a big deal. I have devices fail out of the box all the time. I RMA it back, a replacement is in our CO in a few days.So if this were a Fairytale, I would say that my Meade Goto Folk has turned in to a Pumpkin and that I need the help of a FairyGod Mother, or a kiss from a Prince or Princess Charming to transform my Pumpkin back in to a working, reliable, alienable GoTo fork, so that I can spend my time dancing with my camera, the stars, and light-room.Then the stars will shine brightly for both Me and this review….

This was a college graduation gift for my nephew, who has wanted a telescope since he was much younger. He assembled it very quickly and was able to use it right away, just in time for the Northern Star visual. Great quality and portable!