Pictures throughout the ETX90EC are absolutely textbook ideal. The outstanding optical excellence produces some wonderful views of brighter sky objects, such as the Moon and naked-eye planets. Meade's recently introduced UHTC optical coatings further strengthen optical performance by enhancing picture contrast. Given the amazing low cost for what you get, the ETX90EC is a excellent triumph in low-cost, mass-production optical fabrication techniques.
As good as the optical assembly is, the finderscope leaves something to be desired. I locate it difficult, if not impossible to look throughout for the reason that of how closely it is mounted to the tube of the telescope. The problem only gets worse as the telescope raises in altitude, causing my nose to scrunch up against the eyepiece. I would recommend augmenting the finder together with a small one-power aiming device, such Orion Telescope's EZ Finder II Reflex Sight. Another drawback is the focusing. Although the focuser's movement is smooth, the small, aluminum knob is very difficult to grasp when looking throughout the eyepiece.
The tube assembly comes mounted on a miniaturized, clock-driven, fork equatorial mount made mostly from molded plastic. The DC-powered clock drive runs for extra than 20 hours on eight common AA-size batteries. The clock drive tracks the sky quite accurately afterwards it has been properly initialized.
Consumers should note, however, this since the tube is longer than the fork arms, the telescope cannot swing all the way throughout the mount. This could limit the telescope's capability to look low in the sky, depending on how and where you have it set up. What this point is exactly will depend on the angle at which the ETX is tilted for polar alignment, but it worsens as you head south. I in addition feel this the plastic fork mounting is just barely solid enough to support the weight of the telescope. It is certainly not strong enough to hold together it and a camera.
Overall, despite the weaknesses mentioned above, the ETX90EC is a well-made instrument and has an amazingly low cost. Computer tracking and slewing coupled together with excellent optics in such a compact package would have been unimaginable just a few years ago. Yet, here it is. --Phil Harrington, author of Star Ware
Pros:
The UHTC Difference
Ultra-High Transmission coatings (UHTC), recently developed at the Meade Irvine coatings facility, however, have permitted the vacuum-deposition of a series of exotic optical coatings precisely tuned to optimize the visual, photographic, and CCD imaging performance of Meade telescopes. This telescope consists of primary and secondary mirrors coated together with aluminum increased together with a advanced stack of multi-layer coatings of titanium dioxide and silicon dioxide. The thickness of every coating layer is precisely controlled to inside 1% of best thickness. The outcome is a dramatic enhance in mirror reflectivity across the entire visible spectrum; at the important hydrogen-alpha wavelength of 656nm. - the predominant wavelength of emission nebulae -- reflectivity is increased from 89% to over 97%.
This telescope presents spectacularly brighter pictures on the full range of celestial objects — from emission and planetary nebulae such as M8, M20, and M57 to star clusters and galaxies such as M3, M13, and M101. Observations of the Moon and planets, since they are observed in reflected (white) sunlight, benefit in picture brightness from the full spectrum of increased transmission.
And extra The ETX-90EC in addition consists of high-torque DC motors on together telescope axes, permitting electronic operation from the handheld controller. This pushbutton electronic controller has four dual-axis drive speeds: slow, 8x for picture centering at high power; medium, 32x for picture centering at lower power or for pushbutton tracking in altazimuth mode; moderate, 0.75 degrees per second for picture centering in the viewfinder or for terrestrial tracking; and quick, 5 degrees per second for quick scanning across the sky.
The Meade ETX-90EC is specially intended to be portable and used in the field. It proposes cordless operation, allowing you to use the telescope's dual-axis drive system for extra than 40 hours on eight AA batteries. At approximately 8 pounds, and 15 inches in length, it packs a lot of power into a compact unit.
The ETX-90EC uses a 90mm Maksutov-Cassegrain optical design. Meade in addition uses EMC super-multicoatings on all optical surfaces to maximize light transmission throughout the corrector lens and reflectance from the primary and secondary mirrors. The flip-mirror system lets for 90-degree observation of land and sky objects, straight-throughout observation utilizing the optional 45-degree erecting prism, or photo-ready imaging utilizing the optional T-adapter and your own 35mm camera.
The Nuts and Bolts