Would someone please tell me whats going on at Meade?

 I am interested in purchasing a 16" LX200 -ACF and everyone, and I do mean EVERYONE is telling me to run, run as fast as I can AWAY from Meade.

 The RASC - Toronto Branch had a 16" meade and they dumped it as fast as they could; the drives did not work, all of the fancy electronics did not work, the optics of their 16" were utter CRAP-ola.   They replaced their Meade 16" with a C-14; been there, done the C-14 thing and I'm not interested in that again.

 I mean, has meade become the latest manufacturer or garbage?

 One of the retailers in Toronto (Khan Scope) of telescopes is giving me the jive-talk about how good Meade products are - of course just to get me to buy.    They don't give a rat's petutie about me, the consumer - he/they just want my dollar.

 Has anyone heard anything new about Meade, about quality control?

 Oh yes, I called meade to directly question them about their 16" units and of course, they too gave me the jive-talk and the are-you-stupid dance....they would not admit to any problems, and pushed it in my face that every scope they produced was as the specs stated and ALL had perfect optics.

 I don't expect Sky and Telescope or Astronomy Mags to directly make an article on their LARGEST advertisers, but maybe someone out there has some inside news.

 Thanks everyone.

Take care and enjoy life.

Your friend

Jonathan.

What exactly is it you want to hear? Meade is a highly respected line of products used by top astronomers around the world. Considered one of THE best. But any company that makes hundreds of products can produce a bad one sometimes, a defective part can makes its way through, or it gets damaged in shipping, whatever. The question then becomes, how good is their product support, are they willing to send you replacements parts, or a whole new unit in exchange, or refund your money? Thats what you want to know when you go to lay your money down.

I am fairly new to astronomy and have only had two scopes. Both have been Meade's. I purchased a DS2130 about 2 years ago and last month bought an 8" LX90. Since I have never owned or looked through any other scopes I can not comment on the quality of the scope compared to others. However I have been very happy with both of my purchases. The only problems I had always turned out to be operator error. The few times I called service I got a response right away and the rep was able ro help me with my issue. Once I needed a replacement lens for my red dot finder and the new one arrived within a week.

I understand Meade is having financial difficulties, like many other companies. They have done some restructuring and reorganizing. Whether is is for the better only time can tell. It has been my experience that people who have a problem are more apt to be vocal about it than someone who does not. This can make it seem like the problems are worse than they are.

Of course these are the rantings of an inexperienced newbie. YMMV 

 PJ 

All companies have their ups and downs.  Meade is in a down period.  They have just recently closed their manufacturing plant in California and moved it to Mexico.  I don't care who you are building an astronomical telescope takes skill and experience and the new workers cannot possibly have enough yet. Also their customer support in the last year has been almost universally panned as slow and ineffectual. 

Right now I would not put my hard earned money down on a Meade.  It is just too risky.  If the company can survive it will once again attain the respect it once had in the amatuer community.  I have bought many Meade items in the distant past and they were excellent.  In fact a few of their accessories are going along just fine after many years of use so I am hoping they can get themselves back again to where they were soon.

By the way, there was a time not so long ago where Celestron products were close to being junk due to shoddy workmanship and poor quality control.  They are doing much better now but not everyone gets a perfect telescope from them either. 

L

Through the years I have purchased several scopes and accessories from Meade Instruments Corp. and have been satisfied with the performance of all.

However, the equipment that I bought was built in their Irvine,California facility. Never would I consider expensive Meade products made in Mexico by undertrained, underpaid workers.

Goodbye Meade, thanks for the memories!

I don't mean to bash Meade but over the years I have heard a number of horror stories about their 16" SCT.   A friend of mine has had loads of problems with his 14" Meade LX200 SCT and several other fellow ASH members have had problems with their LX200s.

And then there was the whole "advanced Ritchey-Chretien Cassegrain" fiasco.

http://www.mcwetboy.com/mcwetlog/2008/01/meade_lawsuit_settled.php

Dave Mitsky

I recently purchased a 14" Meade LX200ACF, I thought I was purchasing the entire scope but I was sent the tube assembly, I have been trying to purchase the other parts (ie: tripod, gps, eyepiece) to make the scope functional without sucess, no one can help me, not Meade, not OPticsPlanet where I purchased, they want mt to purchase another entire scope with all accessories. In the mean time I am stuck with a $5000.00 worthless investment. Boy what people do for money in this world.

Do you know where I can buy the need parts?

I think you are LUCKY that you did not get a mount, as long as you ONLY paid for the OTA.

 Why don't you do the right thing and do some research on mounts and purchase a good mount from Astro Physics...there are lots of companies in the US who make super mounts.

 Why would you want to put a nice OTA onto a 'garbage' Meade or Celestron TOY mount??

Do yourself a favouor and type in search words such as "telescope mounts, Astro Physics," and get a professional quality mount for your OTA.

 Good Luck.

It is quite common for larger and more expensive telescopes to be sold as OTA only, sans mount. This is not bad practice, but it can "catch" the unwary. I don't know your circumstance, but Optics Planet is a respected dealer and Meade (despite their recent difficulties) is a respected supplier, especially at the higher end of their product range.

I have not had good luck using the larger Meade scopes, so I have never purchased one, but I do have friends that own 12" LX-200s and one who has both a 16" LX-200 and the 14" ACF and like them a lot.

As for mounts, it's probably a better idea to mate a 14" ACF OTA-only to a nice German Equatorial Mount than to try to buy a fork mount and retrofit it.

AstroPhysics has been mentioned already, and their AP900 GTO can handle it. If you plan to add many accessories, then consider the AP1200 for its larger payload capacity. Those mounts are in the $10,000 range.

Alternatively, the Losmandy G-11 can handle the scope with minimal accessories, and is about $2,200.

I have personal experience with those mounts and scopes of that size. Either end of that price range will work with those particular mounts, though at the low end you're limited as to how much you can add to the setup weight-wise.

If you need to stay between those end points, first weight the scope, then double that weight, then look for a mount with that rated capacity. If you're interested in astrophotography, then go with the largest capacity mount you can afford.

I got caught up in that same mess last Feb. I wanted a 16'' Bad I've been using a 12'' LX200gps for 2 years and the only trouble I had with it was me. it never let me down it was perfect as far as goto's went. and it tracked great for me. but I had heard the same thing about meade so I went a different way I bought a 14'' ACF tube $3900.00 from opt. and a cge pro well as thing for me would be. celestron called back the new pros. [problems] the new pro I got I sold and the man I sold it to said it had screws missing and made a lot of noise in the RA mode loud clicking. and it was not warranteed to him so that just stirred up a mess. so they can all have their problems. I'm sure even AP has a service dept. they may not be a buissy as meades but I bet they still have a few. you really have to look at your money thats what it all boils down to. If I were to buy a 16'' Meade today I would have it shipped to DR. Clay Sherrod @ Ark. sky obs. let him do his thing and then he ships it to you and @ that point you can be sure when you get it it works perfect. if it don't he want send it to you. call him.he is a very good man. he works on all scopes and mounts.

Andy

Not to hijack the thread, but, andybird, how's that 20" dob working out for you?

Thats a 2 year story  that should be ready in 3 weeks.I'm looking at it like this it will be a 2009 not a 2007 model,  [ LOL ] we have been waiting on that mirror for 2 years. but it is here now. I'm not gonna say anything bad about Disco. mirror. and I'm not gonna say never buy a 20'' piece of glass from Germany either.  But get local glass if it's gonna be large. I'll give you my first light thoughts as soon as I get it, Thanks For Asking.

Andy  

 We just concluded our South Dakota Star Party about a week ago. We had about 20 telescopes on the grounds. Of all the telescopes, there were 4 Meades ranging from a 12" ACF down to the 3  8" LX90's. All 4 of the Meades broke down during the party! Needless to say a crowd started to form around my 20" Obsession as those guy's were out of business,

Failures were, hand controller dead, slewing out of control, no power at all ...ect. When I see a Meade, I run, as I am afraid the bad luck will rub off on me! I really felt bad for those guy's as they were looking forward to having a great star party only to be let down by their equipment. If someone gave me a Meade, I would immediately sell it!

JJ

Wow!  I didn't realize you were still waiting.  I considered an Astrosky when I bought my Obsession last fall, but I was too impatient to wait for the long leadtimes (listed as 6 months).  I was lucky enough to get my 18" two weeks after ordering (not typical).  I'll be looking forward to your first light.

That is as bout as bad as it could be for Meade. I've owned  3 Meade products the 6' 'LX75 Achro. the 10'' LX 50 and a 12'' LX 200 and I never had not one time have one fail on me never but these were all from 1999 untill 2003 that might be the reason. this is pure and simple, [ management ] someone has forgot about the customer no one wants to send anything back for repairs but sometimes even the best have problems but that night sounds sad. Meades Management should be reading every post on every forum out there and hear whats going on. and if they already know and aren't doing anything then they don't belong in this buissness anymore. I for one would never give up on anyone or any company as long as they were making a effort to make things right. well I'll get down now.

 Zachsdad, This is in no way Mr. Crigars fault. I chose the Discovery Mirror because it was $1000.00 less than everyone else's 20'' and I thought that money would be better served as a nice tracking platform so that's what I did. I personaly talked to Discovery about the Glass and they told me that it was because it was coming from Germany and there was a big waiting list of glass that size in 2007. But things just got worse. they said now they were setting up all new equipment. for the larger glass and then in the end we went ahead and had it ground and pollished at another company. and Mr. Crigar has Taken them off his production list of supliers. things like that can ruin your reputation.and Mr.Crigar don't deserve that he has done all a man can do even offering my money back. But I'm easy to get along with. the 16'' Meade well I still Dream. If celestron would had taken this new Scope and made a 16'' or 18'' I would probably buy one just for imaging [and a little viewing]