5 Telescopes I Regret Buying!

[@bigdogbob845]

Mr. Ting, As a budding (11 years old) astronomy buff in 1961 I sent away to Edmund and purchased a kit to manually grind my own 6" mirror, from 2 Pyrex blanks, for a basic reflector telescope. It was a personal challenge that I completed, and I sent the parabolic mirror out to have the finished aluminium surface applied. The company said I came very close to my target of F-8 focal length, ended up @ 47.5". While the mirror was being finished I assembled a square Birch plywood tube, painted flat black inside, mounted on a lazy Susan type, ball bearing, turntable with a heavy tripod, equatorial mount. It earned me a A+ in my 7th grade science class. Used a fixed black screen to project an image of the Sun from the eyepiece lens, showing sun spots for the class.

[@skulptor]

Great story. i dreamed of doing that in the 60s having read in beginner astronomy books whil ei made do with a little Tasco scope. (I was born in 61 ;) ) Now th eproblem is too much choice of cheap telesopes!

[@zevdraven1658]

sorry to be so offtopic but does any of you know a method to get back into an Instagram account? I stupidly lost the account password. I would appreciate any tricks you can offer me.

[@zevdraven1658]

@Aries Ahmad thanks so much for your reply. I found the site thru google and Im waiting for the hacking stuff atm. Looks like it's gonna take a while so I will reply here later when my account password hopefully is recovered.

[@zevdraven1658]

@Aries Ahmad it did the trick and I finally got access to my account again. I am so happy! Thank you so much you really help me out !

[@ariesahmad9389]

@Zev Draven Glad I could help xD

[@jeffreyburley4033]

Outstanding video. Thanks for your honesty. Most people would just buy it, get frustrated with it, sell it, and never say a word. You, on the other hand, own your mistakes and share them with any who are willing to listen. We need more of this in a industry and hobby jammed packed with hype, over ratings, and nonsense.

[@petset77]

Agree, as a newbie in the Rocky Mountains with an acquired Orion 4.5 ...just trying to learn. ...in the meantime, I hear another person empty a 20 round firearm magazine in the dark, two hours after sundown. Different perspectives, I suppose.

[@gabehart9092]

A few years ago, I arrived at a star party and saw that someone had set up a Meade MAX 20" ACF. I later learned that only 5 of these $36k scopes were ever produced. We were all curious to see what this unusual scope could do, but the guy never got to use it because the primary never quite cooled down and the corrector got covered in dew! 20" aperture is a tall ask for a dew heater. On the last day of the star party, we all watched in amazement as the scope's owner managed to, over the course of about an hour, disassemble the entire scope and load it into his trailer all by himself using a hydraulic lift cart and some winches. I can confidently say that my 8" newtonian collected more photons that weekend than that 700lb behemoth. As you mentioned, big SCTs can be a lot to deal with, to which I'll add that they certainly don't make good travel scopes!

[@Astrofrank]

The main problem with commercially available dew heaters is that they try to heat the glass from the edge and thus via conduction. Glass has little thermal conductivity. I found a better method in a book where the heater was a ring (lateral surface of a conical frustrum, larger diameter to the optics) halfway from the front of a dew shield. The glass loses heat via radiation and the heater replaces the heat also via radiation - far evenly over the surface than possible with conduction.

[@GaryCameron]

Dew has ruined at least one night with my C9.25 - I recently ordered the dew ring for it, and a 12V powered blow heater. When I was younger back in the 80s I had a homemade cardboard dew shield on my C8 and a plug in hairdryer to get dew off if needed to in a hurry.

[@ultrametric9317]

ROFL!!! Hey I have an ETX90 from about 2000 - I repaired the broken plastic and the original fork mount still works great! The optics are outstanding! I took it with me on the 2017 eclipse trip to Idaho. I love it! Of course I didn't pay very much for it, what with the broken plastic. I found out that the collimation is perfect is you use the back port, but definitely off if you use the flip mirror port. Not enough to really affect the image - but I usually remove the tube from the fork (don't want to break the fork again!) and mount it on a one-armed DS2000 mount. That's a nice setup! I will never sell mine. It's cute, like a jumping spider!

[@alexisvan222]

The ETX-90 was one of my first scopes. I managed. Forget dark sky... but Jupiter and the Moon were crisp. The Borg 77ED was my most loved scope...

[@davidborger1808]

Damn, Ed. You're killing it. I just found your channel. Great job!

[@manorth24]

In the 1980s I had a Meade DS-16, we used to call it the big blue water heater.

[@frankbraker1320]

Collimation is your friend. Every scope is overjoyed when you collimate it. I looked at the user's guide for the MU180 - it shows step by step how to collimate the scope. I always collimate my (not MU180 telescope, mine is something else) in the field, right before connecting my camera, and it takes about 5 minutes or less (with an also well-collimated laser collimator). I don't want to waste an evening with a badly collimated scope - and it's really pretty easy to do, with a little practice and oh so tiny amount of determination. Absolutely worth the effort every single time.

[@peter7624]

It's true, when collimation "pops in" it's fabulous. Mars with my LX10 is so detailed when collimated well and when the atmospherics hold still for a moment!

[@peteallennh]

Sitting here in my basement office staring at the unused C14 on its mount...

[@chargersina]

It belongs in a small observatory my friend. It doesn't do anybody any good in your basement.:)

[@DirkDirk1983]

😂... Its nice to look at though... But not as a main purpose.

[@GaryCameron]

I'll buy it off you!

[@n5sdm]

How much. May pick it up

[@astrodad656]

Ed Ting! I remember all those on-line reviews you did in the late '90s/early 2000s. Was wondering if YT would ever find you...and obviously it did and I found you. Keep it coming!

[@terrycooper4149]

Get the largest scope you can comfortably handle and transport and take it to a great dark sky site. An 8" scope at a dark sky site will outperform a 16" in an urban environment. Small often will get used more than BIG.

[@JCW86]

Or better yet, buy a scope that you don't need to bring to a dark sky site and can use comfortably and quickly right outside your home. Most people don't have the time or energy to drive to a dark site every time they want to use their telescope. If you live in a decently sized city, your nearest dark sky site is probably going to be an hour away or more.

[@marckyle5895]

I use my ETX backpack 60mm _lots_ more than I ever used my 35 pound C4" f/10 That's right the meter long tube alone filled my back seat since I always strapped it down with seatbelts and then I'd put the mount in the footwells. Just dismounting and then carrying was so much of a chore, then the round trip to the dark viewing site.. unless the skies were _perfect_ , I didn't bother trying. Now? Oh, the skies are okay, let's see what's up tonight and then I'm looking at the Moon or Jupiter or Orion instead of being inside looking at my astronomic albatross. The perfect is the enemy of the good enough.

[@nadirteymurov1]

C14 is a great imaging scope. One of the best planetary images were taken using C14

[@c.guibbs1238]

But they are also bulky, heavy, sensitive to turbulence and collimation and, most of all, incredibly expensive for the aperture ! 14" premium dobs can do better at a much lower price.

[@nadirteymurov1]

@@c.guibbs1238 I know right. I have 16” dob, but at the same time our club has C14. While aperture wise they are close, SCT is much smaller and lighter, basically can be transported to anywhere where there is a good seeing conditions

[@gothicm3rcy426]

@@c.guibbs1238 disagree... my 925 edgehd sct with focal reducer is outstanding.

[@gothicm3rcy426]

@@nadirteymurov1 sct is easier to put on a goto

[@c.guibbs1238]

@@gothicm3rcy426 I have no doubt about it and it would be the case for any scope more than 8". But a newton / dobson of same aperture will basically be better, as far as visual observation is concerned : wider fov, less obstruction, faster cooling and more stable collimation. But last but not least : much goddam cheaper !!!

[@martynh5410]

That’s a super-honest review! Most people don’t like to admit making mistakes as expensive as some of these. Subscribed! I’ve only had 3 telescopes and the first two were gifts (a Charles Frank 4” reflector back in the 60’s and a Tasco 4.5” Newtonian reflector recently). Both were fun to use but not really top of the line by any means. Just recently I bought a Celestron Evo 8 EdgeHD. It’s a wonderful scope even though it really needs to be taken outside an hour or so before using it, to reduce thermal air currents. It also has WiFi control and I love that it can find objects quickly using a phone App.

[@SeanRyan-bo6oq]

Nice video, Ed, but I'm still a great fan of my Meade ETX-90 bought in 2003. Really crisp optics, highly portable, and simple to use (I chose the ETX-90 RA: 3xAA battery-driven equatorial fork mount, intentionally not a GOTO). Paired with a good star atlas and a 32 mm Plossl eyepiece, it provides lovely views of open star clusters, plus the Sun and the Moon, while the 9 mm eyepiece is great for splitting close double stars and of course viewing the Moon, Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn, AND it just resolves Uranus and Neptune, i.e. they are noticeably non-stellar, so worth hunting down. I added a red-dot finder (game-changing), and put the batteries on a cable (because the RA on-off switch is under the base, which was a silly design choice). I also increased the diameter of the focus knob to 20 mm to ease the adjustment.

[@michaelszpir3295]

Great video. I have some overlap with your list, which suggests there is something intrinsically "wrong" with these scopes. Top regret: No.1: Takahashi Mewlon 250. Could not get a good image, no matter what I tried. Sent it to Texas Nautical Repair. They charged >$500 and sent it back to me in the *same* condition! Sold it for a song to someone, who got it into shape and showed me beautiful images of Jupiter taken with the scope. Lost a lot of money on that thing. No. 2: Takahashi Sky 90 (version I). Crummy collimation also. I know Takahashi was trying to ride on the coat-tails of the AP Stowaway, but releasing the Sky 90 should doom its designers to the Fourth Circle of Hell for their greed. I've bought a few Chinese refractors that weren't worth the trouble, but they don't rise to the level of making me feel regret . . . but they do make me feel wiser for learning to stay away from low-end optics.

[@yellowlynx]

Woo... I only regretted buying near departmental store scopes (fortunately didn't spend too much on them) and ETX-90 (I will defork that to make it portable). I have the C11, the limit of what I can handle alone. With a C14 I'll be dead. I agreed with Ed that the bigger the scope the less likely you will use it. I ended up using only the slightly small ones more often - 8" F/4 Netwtonian and 4" Triplet refractor for my astrophotography, and my 12" Dob on a dolly. I do use the C11 sometimes, but I that takes good wihile to get it right.

[@bobandres5559]

Hi Ed, thanks for all the good honest info and advice. First scope i ever looked thru was a 2 inch meade with a wooden tripod my mother in law bought for $15 at a garage sale for my two boys when they were in grade 7 and 8. They never looked thru it once. finally one day i took it out and set it up to look at the full moon. Wow i was hooked. 30 years later i can finally find time for a very cool hobby.

[@lowellmccormick6991]

So great to run across Ed after so long. I subscribed. I was a fan of his telescope review website back in the day. I have no telescope buying regrets. I bought a Nightsky 16 dob from Jim Nadeau in 2001 (Saturn/Jupiter prior conjunction) and over a couple of years had Jim add a Sky Commander DSC and then a Servocat drive system. I still use it regularly. I regret selling a Coronado PST. I have an AT102 with a Coronado Ha filter on a Losmandy G8 on wheels but the PST on a Vixen Portamount was so easy to use it was truly a grab and go setup.

[@AlopexMedia]

Just upgraded my Meade Starfinder 6" Dobsonian i had from i was 17 (im now 42) to a 12" Dob.. You are right the Starfinder 6" is terrible! i find the mirror cell to be the worst part, all that wood and metal, it never seems to cool down :) - - great videos Ed! please keep them coming.

[@jerrygoodson4016]

First time seeing your channel. I like telescopes and skywatching, but I know almost next to nothing about either. I do own a couple of beginner scopes, however. I found this video to be both very entertaining and also very relaxing. More accurately, I should say that YOU are entertaining and relaxing. Subscribed!

[@johnnysager8899]

Great video and information and the aperture fever thing will get you every time and then you just shake your head and deal with it lol I have a few scopes and have found ways to make them easier to move and transport them to star parties. I'm not a big guy and a couple of my scopes are really a challenge for me but the effort is worth it. Really like your videos and information.

[@mikenofi281]

Ed, Love your videos! I would like to see you do some videos on telescope accessories (Finder scopes, eyepieces, Barlows, and binocular viewers).

[@joshuariddensdale2126]

My first telescope was a little 50mm Orion refractor that my dad got from one of his old coworkers. In 2012, I upgraded to a Meade 114mm F8 reflector. I still have it. It's not motorized or anything, but it does at least have an equatorial mount. If I could afford it, I'd upgrade even further to a 6-inch or even 8-inch. But those are like $1500, or more.

[@stephenpalmer7281]

Hi Ed. My regret scope was an 8in Meade LX-85 ACF. No matter how much I acclimated the mirror and collimated it, the views were very soft. So I sold it. Been a fan of your reviews back to the late 90s, glad to be back in the hobby and really enjoying your channel.

[@GoldSrc_]

And here I was, thinking that refractors rarely go out of collimation. You learn something new every day. Thanks for the video, subbed.

[@Sharpless2]

Yes, even refractors can go out of collimation. However, that happens rarely. Compared to collimating a Reflector, its only a bit more complicated; it sounds harder than it actually is. You need a laser cheshire for it. Sure the first time trying to collimate a Refractor will seem like its not something one can do at home but the second time, if you ever have to do it again, will take less than 10 minutes.

[@jamiboothe]

@@Sharpless2 Do you have any videos that shows how to collimate a refractor, or that show what to look for when using the laser cheshire tool? =)

[@Sharpless2]

@@jamiboothe nope, i dont have any videos. I followed a text guide i found somewhere on the internet.

[@connieelliott5359]

What exactly is collimation

[@jamiboothe]

@@connieelliott5359 It is when all optical components are aligned so the light in the center the light is flat, or what is known as a plane wave. When we view stellar objects at a distance, the light is initially curved because it is coming out equally from a spherical object. However after it has traveled billions of miles, the light wave appears flat to our eye. When we build optics, we try to recreate this flat plane that our natural eye sees.

[@Aerostar509]

My big 8" mistake was the TPO RC8, never could get goad collimation on it, wasted a whole summer, I got a WO FLT-132 that just goes and goes without ever touching it.

[@coyote6221]

Celestron 90 Mak....barely good for terrestrial viewing. I'm not knocking Celestron Just bought my C14 Edge last week...LOVE it!!!! replaced my C11. Yes it is heavy but it stays mounted in my garage. My mount (MI-250) is on wheels. Not any harder to roll out than the C11 was. I'm set up and polar aligned in under 30 mins.

[@hudecjohn2110]

I did the same slip on the ice thing only with my new Vixen APP & CG5 only I took the big fall and destroyed the scope. I did cry 😢 but not from the pain...

[@jennifer7685]

😢

[@hudecjohn2110]

@@jennifer7685 Oh yeah! BUT, the rainbow in the clouds was that out of pure financial situation I had to, 'settle', for an 8 inch f/6 Orion Dob. To my amazement, everything save for wide field sweeps and double stars was considerably sharper in the Chinese newt. Now to be fair, we are talking about a 50 percent size advance. Bottom line, one night at the club I was set up next to a Takahashi TOA 130 completely pimped out owned by the nicest older gentlemen. Both of us agreed that the cheap Dob combined with my Baader Hyperions was simply eclipsing the smaller refractor. Still I did the mandatory kneeling and praying to the Tak for its greatness and allowing me to touch it.😁

[@scottinharwood]

Late comment, I got an ETX 90 as a throwaway when I purchased a 10" Meade LX 200R with its fork mount. Still have it but the previous owner kept it on its side in a hot shed. The glue on the secondary baffle softened and the cone shifted off center. Still works, but I never use it. Thinking of using it as a finder scope...

[@billmartz4290]

I enjoyed this video but I'm just very new to the hobby. I don't even own a telescope.....yet. Cheers!

[@RaysAstrophotography]

I have a C14" - LOL that is the telescope that is number five on your list. I understand very well why you recommend to avoid

[@jimzeleny7213]

They don't look that large in photographs but in person it's a whole different story. Huge!

[@danceking40]

@@jimzeleny7213 LOL. It does look huge in the picture.

[@tonyl7418]

My original ET90 is perfect.. Love it for what I use it for. Glass is good, collimation is good. Never a problem.

[@lorinjensen5856]

JMI RB-66 reverse binoculars. I was into the idea of big binoculars. 6" binoculars would be amazing, right? I bought a pair on eBay back in 2005. The setup took a while and it was a constant battle of collimation. Neat idea, but the reality was spending 95% of my time focusing, adjusting, moving the scope, recollimating, adjusting ocular separation, and recollimating. The smallest change meant stopping and recollimating. I also got flustered by the low magnication. They had decent deep sky views, but they were practically worthless for planetary detail. Just not enough magnification and Jupiter was too bright. The moon was too bright. It was blinding. Planetary nebulae were also no longer available. I sold them after 6 months at a small loss and bought a pair of Orion 16X80's which i still have and use.

[@peter7624]

Collimating binocs is a pain. Once mine go out I very seldom get them back in successfully.

[@c.guibbs1238]

Nowadays, you can find binocular telescopes up to 150mm that are thoroughly collimated and remain as such (APM, Oberwerk, Explore Scientific, etc.). The main issue is their weight and their "explosive" price beyond 100mm, especially for ED versions. I have been using a pair of APM 100mm ED for 2 years and I'm still very satisfied with it.

[@bert1974]

Nu 1rst scoop was a 150-750 with a goto ioptron mount. IT never workd, i wanted to see something at 45 degrees in front of me, the scoop moved towards the ground.....€1300.- thrown away. I now have a 80mm 300 startravel, Nice to leurn the sky with.

[@ovalwingnut]

1st time viewer and I was glued to every word. GR8T stories and Infotainment. Thank you

[@CmdrEsteban]

I once bought an 8” dob because everyone said “get a dob!” Hated it. Sold it and bought an ED100 refractor. And lived happily ever after.

[@Ethan_is_me]

What made you hate the dob?

[@CmdrEsteban]

@@Ethan_is_me Perhaps “hate” was too strong a word. I just didn’t get along with it. Base was too unwieldy to carry with my back issues and I didn’t enjoy having to lovingly embrace the OTA with my right arm in order to find and track objects. I guess I’m just an old fashioned tripod kind of guy.

[@Ethan_is_me]

@@CmdrEsteban ease of use is certainly important. If you were to compare the visual quality, is it a big difference between the dob and the refractor?

[@CmdrEsteban]

@@Ethan_is_me I have to say I prefer the view through my refractor (I’m mainly a planetary viewer), but in fairness I didn’t have the dob long enough for a proper comparison. And I must admit that obviously the dob’s much greater aperture would give it a significant edge for viewing DSOs, when occasionally viewing them. But that obnoxiously cumbersome base was just too much for my back to bear.

[@rudyhahn6017]

Totally agree with that response Ed refractors are The champions of HD

[@jjs3287]

Absolutely love youre videos! I rarely ever actually get out and do any Astronomy these days - our 12 inch motorised reflector makes sure of that - but I can identify with so many of your experiences. It brings back many happy memories...and its great to hear you talking about telescopes you owned that I dreamed of but could never afford. And I agree about the Meade adverts! They still inspire me to this day!

[@majorskepticism7836]

I have a C9.25 and a six inch, f15 refractor. Bought them both when I worked out with fifty-pound dumbbells. Now I have to get help with the refractor and I dread taking the 9.25 out. Should'a kept the C-8. A C-14? Yeah, that would have been a mistake. Been using a C-80f I bought 30 years ago more than ever. It seems to have picked up a little weight too. Great scope, by the way. Absolutely fantastic camera lens. Will never part with it. In another ten years I'll probably just look at pictures in magazines and online. If I can still see.

[@peter7624]

The iniquity of old age. I now struggle lifting my scope and had to swop my motorbike for a scooter...

[@GeneralLee131]

My fully loaded 9.25 is about all i can carry. I want a C11 or C14, but i simply would not be able to mount it by myself, meaning i would never use it. It's hard to cure aperture fever though.

[@kena9595]

Ed can take something which seems like it's going to be serious discussion and turn it into an informative and really funny video. Great job.

[@martinwright6572]

Hi Ed,, Mate I started in Astronomy 21 years ago in Sydney Australia, I observe around an hour west of Sydney. very very dark site, no light pollution from Sydney. My first scoop was a 10" Dob, my 2nd was a 16" Dob. I did have a 80ED on an EQ6, great for planets and Nebula. Dobs are better for Galaxies. I have got Hydrogen Alphs Solar Telescope 60mm Double Stacked at 0.5 Angstroms, great great views of the Sun..I had a mate who was very very new to Astronomy and Photography, after a few weeks he went out and spent $25,000 Australian Dollars. A big big mistake, he didn't know anything at all about the above. I love the Dobs, no polar alligning, no cords around your feet, no RA, and DEC movemnets, just point and look, nice and simple..Great Blog..1st of many I think...

[@XY_Dude]

Sage advice on the 14”! Actually, my Meade LX200 14” weighs in over 110 lbs w/o tripod! I had a team of family members and a Hoyer lift to move it about. Trips to a remote site for “casual” observations is quite the event. At 70yo, it can be downright ⚠️. So, listen wisely, Grasshopper.

[@Starphot]

No regrets. Two main scopes, both Newtonians, both 1984 models. I had a Monkey Wards 3" Newtonian as a kid in the late 1960's and grew from there. My first serious scope, the Meade DS-10 10" F/4.5 in 1984 after serving in the Navy in the 70's and getting situated afterwards. I bought the "Astrophoto option" with that and built from that. That scope was modified so much , it does not resemble the original Meade product. The drive electronics was a pig so I gutted the boxes and improved the electronics that it even autoguides. The 18" F/4.5 1984 JMI NGT-18 was bought used in 1991 and it had a Wilkerson refigured 17.5 " in it. I put in a full sized 18" Pyrex Hudak figured mirror in it. That 18" scope has some mods done to it by me or Jim at JMI. Both scopes are still being used. I'm 68 and can still load and haul 500 lbs. of stuff, including portable dome, out to the DSS, setup, image with outside temps in the teens and single digits, take down and go home. This while still suffering from neuropathy. Buy and use what you can physically handle!

[@mitrovarr]

Mine would definitely be my accursed Criterion Dynamax. I was just starting out again after the first part of my college and stumbled on it at a yard sale. 8" SCTs are good, right? I see them in magazines all the time. I had never heard of Criterion before but it looked like it hadn't been cheaply made. Surely nobody would ever go to all the effort to make a 8" SCT and totally botch it up completely, right? Right????? It wasn't particularly cheap ($600 back in 2002 ish) but I knew SCTs weren't in general. Anyways, I was stuck with that thing as my primary observing scope for something like 10 years. I ended up getting a 76mm refractor for planets. Eventually I replaced it with a $300 used 10" dob that destroyed it in every possibly way. I still have it. It sucks too much to burden anyone else with. I don't really know how I can ethically get rid of it. Maybe to a classic scope collector who understands what they're getting into.

[@connieelliott5359]

What are the issues with it

[@mitrovarr]

@@connieelliott5359 Terrible optics, mostly.

[@noway8233]

Well...i want it

[@michaeltroster9059]

I think a word of caution is in order to those thinking of buying any type of telescope and that is be sure you’re prepared to go through what is necessary to pursue this hobby. I know of two people who have purchased these instruments and they sit idle in their basements. One is my son-in-law and one is my neighbour. Living in area of high light pollution need travel to better viewing sites. Cod winter temperatures put some off and some quickly tire of the hobby. It’s a great hobby for the right people, but for many it’s best to choose another pastime.

[@markihde4381]

I agree on the ETX 90. Not so much the telescope itself but the mount is jerky and the finder scope is all but useless. Nevertheless, it gives great views on the moon and planets. A more expensive mistake was buying a 6" f/12 refractor. The telescope itself is great but it's too big for my G-11 mount. Unfortunately, a mount that can handle it better will cost many times the cost of the refractor.

[@michaelpatrickmilligan]

Ed, thank you for doing this video! It is so helpful to be able to know the real world issues of particular pieces of equipment, especially high end items.

[@J5Jonny5]

Great channel Ed! good information on Telescopes. subbed.

[@roxybot9840]

For those celestron 14 inch telescope fans, they have a trolley with pneumatic tires (try JMI). You can just wheel it out of your garage. I am thinking of getting this setup. However, if you want to transport to a darker location-Good Luck, the trolley may not help. Recently, I saw a C-20, an older 20 inch for sale on Ebay with a trailer.

[@edting]

Thanks for the tip, Roxy Bot!

[@Booboobear-eo4es]

I have always wanted a Celestron C14. But I if I were to get one, it would be mounted in a backyard observatory.

[@thescienceguyprof.juncajig2749]

Thanks for the inputs

[@stevehilliard7031]

ETX 125. I had the complete mount and tripod that I purchased from a local pawn shop for an agreeable amount. The scope itself gave some decent, if constrictive, views but the mount drive was squirrelly and the finder was practically unusable. I eventually parted out the mount and tripod and used it as a tabletop mount for a while and yes, I mounted it on a rail to use on an Alt-Az tripod for a short while. I found that despite the 5” aperture my TV 102 gave much better and wider views, not to mention much easier to use despite its greater girth. Eventually sold the tube to complete the purge from my collection. The preamble to this purchase was actually an acquisition of an ETX 90 for my grandkids, they love it.

[@enzocarter6765]

I have a Meade ETX 90ec and it is a great scope, too be fair it is my only scope.

[@vtec1988]

This is a wealth of information. Thank you! Solid content!

[@jamiboothe]

I bought a Meade 8" 1600mm FL, f6.3 for my first real scope. It is extremely difficult to collimate and it will be sold when I get around to the task. On the other hand, my next scope was a Meade 127mm f9.5 refractor and it is probably the best scope I own.

[@Rich-hy2ey]

I had a Celestron Ultima 11, I slipped on icy stairs, landed on my back, but saved the OTA! I also used two 12 inch Meade LX200's which weighed 75lbs and had to be mounted on a tripod, centred and bolted in. Also, the C14 in my opinion was better as fork-mounted because all you had to do was lower it into the registration slots which wasn't too difficult. The ETX's main issue was the fork mount. Creaky plastic, horrible as a goto, noisy. But the original ETX90 had one thing that made it ok to use; a slow motion on the declination, just like the larger SCTs had. So, if you hated the drive system, using it manually was not too bad and the ETX optics are very good and consistent.

[@ronaldzincone841]

Another great video, Ed. TY

[@VLAD777BY]

Thanks for the video! What can you say about Meade Lightbridge mini 130mm?

[@DirkDirk1983]

Mister Ting? Are you the reason that I have to wait so long for my astronomy stuff to come in? Greetings from the Netherlands, love your vids 👍🏻

[@TheOlgamora]

Thanks for that information. I'm just a beginner with this new astronomy hobby . I was just wondering if the Orion 134 mm with the motor motor drive is a good telescope. Thanks again

[@hudecjohn2110]

My drink 🍸the Kool-Aid scope was the AT 66. Could not resist the jewel 📦 but as a visual guy under heavy light pollution this was quickly sold. Stamping the doublet version APO was a bit optimistic BTW.

[@arjunmn04]

You are such a good story teller! I love your videos :)

[@fnersch3367]

My 225 years old Dolland refractor has never needed collimation. It still produces excellent images.

[@AcousticalEducation]

I had the C8Hd water heater and the Mewlon 180c at the same time. I threw the C8HD away. keep it tight too

[@tjzambonischwartz]

I KNEW the Sky90 would be on the list.

[@Mike__G]

I once bought a Celestron C5 OTA. For some reason, that scope and I never got along. I always found the views soft. Fortunately it was easy enough to sell. I replaced it with an Equinox 80 and have been happy with the little apo for many years.

[@joedizzelfoerizle]

We'd love to see you team up with Astro Biscuit. You too would be a very dynamic duo, myth buster status in the astro community in my opinion. Both of you guys are a pleasure to watch and learn from

[@BritishBeachcomber]

Anything bigger than 10" needs a permanent installation in a dome.

[@michal_king478]

yeah. I wouldnt recommend anyone to buy giant dobsonians etc above 10" unless they just pull it out of their garage or a shed or have it somewhere stationary. One of the most important things ppl often forget when it comes to choosing a telescope and a whole setup is the convenience.

[@Mandragara]

I carry my 12" around easily as one piece.

[@Cruz474]

If you are an old man, yes.

[@ChamundaMahakaal]

What would be the best value for money for a beginner,can you please suggest

[@roordjaxk]

Ehhh… CPC1100s are really the upper echelon in terms of portability. 14-inch SCTs are where I draw the line.

[@globally123]

Hi Ed. I am new to your channel and just subscibed. I really enjoy your video's. I am just learning astrphotography and have ordered a Skywatcher Evostar 72 APO. If you you know what this one is,please let me know your opinion. It is a lower budget kind,with a doublet,and is a great size for travelling. Thanks... P.S my friend at the telescope shop,advises me that Telescope buying can be a slippery slope lol

[@meadmaker4525]

I know this is an older video, and perhaps you've addressed this in another video I haven't seen, but I'd be interested to hear your thoughts on Mak-Newt scopes.

[@markbuxton2368]

2 old Orion UK Newtonians. The cost of resilvering is more than they are worth but I'm hanging onto them for now, maybe one day I'll get them fixed up. Great Channel Ed, thanks

[@peter7624]

Get them aluminised and overcoated and they'll last a lifetime.

[@jt66radioguy4]

Mr Ting, that was the best video of yours I’ve seen so far. Informative and entertaining!

[@johncipolletti6139]

You are a very intelligent. I try to tell people that large aperture scopes make it difficult to learn. Even with my background in science, computers, and mathematics, I find it hard to use my new designed Maksutov-Cassegarian 4 inch scope. It doesn't use a rack and pinion focus.

[@UserMum7512]

I've only owned three telescopes so far! Love the journey so far👏

[@AstroBananna]

Hi Ed, just discovered your channel and was sad to see etx 90 on the list as i was planning to buy one for my first scope. You say its good for the moon and planets but wondering if you can give more examples of what it isn’t good for please. Thanks. Subbed.

[@plap.]

It's funny been watching lots of videos to decide on a scope purchase, just one good one to last till my end. Now I fully expect to be obsessed after I figure this whole thing out. Thank you for scaring the bejesus out of me and all my savings. You too may be obsessed but I think I get it. Touching as many as you may be an impossible dream. You have gotten rid of more than I could ever own.

[@ihbarddx]

Perspective of a recovered hardware nut: If you have five telescopes, you probably regret buying at least three of them.

[@uriahheep8470]

Had a dealer tell me to avoid the ETX90 and buy a dob. Sage advice.

[@TheStarHound]

I owned an 8" Meade Starfinder Dob in the late 90's. The plate behind the mirror prevented the mirror from cooling adequately until I drilled holes in the Sonotube. The rocker box was cheap even by particle board standards. It was a terrible scope. But this was the telescope that helped to rekindle a teenaged obsession with astronomy (along with Comet Hale-Bopp).

[@14Sciteach]

I have a Meade ETX 90. Nice scope, trash fork mount. Suggestions for a decent equatorial mount and rail which you described here?

[@edting]

I use a Celestron AVX mount. You can get a Vixen compatible plate from many sources. Try Scopestuff. The problem is, you will be spending over $1000 to hold a cheap optical tube and you have to ask yourself if this is worth it.

[@ewstone7365]

Been watching your videos for years and will for as long as I'm allowed. Straight forward information while laughing at yourself. Learn about astronomy and reminds me to be humble. Thank You Sir!

[@MrKoMaRoV]

True, c14 is bulky, and is not used too often. but it is so much better for high res planetary than c11 at good seeing, and as for mounting, no problem with the "table trick"

[@mikeisss79]

I'm biased here, but I think the Mewlon is worth revisiting. My friend has the 210, and it's pretty amazing. Equally amazing is the fact that the finder doubles as a handle and somehow keeps it's alignment! Of course it's just as nice optically as the Mewlon. On a side note, I can't believe this video is three years old now.

[@Pyxe_ZA]

I had to LOL at the toilet paper reference 🤣🤣🤣

[@tomgwilym4136]

I enjoyed this video, I can relate to collimation problems. My club has a GSO 16" Ritchey Chretien on a nice Paramount ME in our observatory. I've probably spent over a year working on collimating this monster. Sometimes it looks good, most of the time it looks crappy on images taken. Laser, Takahashi scope, Howie Glatter holographic things, cheshire eyepiece....and hours of furious cussing in the darkness. It's a super cool looking scope, and when it does work well, the F/8 optics really suck in photons fast for cool images in just seconds - but that's on the rare nights that the stars focus to a dot rather than all having tadpole tails! I did learn that I probably won't put an RC on my future purchase list for my own home observatory. Possibly clear tonight - do I cuss at the RC for a few more hours or just use my own Stellarmate Refractor which works beautifully? Added myself as a subscriber! :-)

[@dglass8930]

You are so right about those late 70s-early 80s Meade reflectors, like the one behind you. Meade apparently took a turn toward the gutter in later years, and are still there IMO. I bought a new 12" Meade four years ago and it arrived in INOP condition. Junk, but the optics did look very good. Mechanically junk. It was a nightmare to pack back up, but we did and I returned it, and good riddance.

[@marcomeiling9313]

Did by any chance you have Bob's Knobs on the Mewlon, because these knobs don't really work well on any Mewlon.

[@edting]

Marco, no this Mewlon had the stock collimation knobs. The whole Mewlon experience was a giant mystery to me. I may revisit it again sometime.

[@dankahraman354]

Are those Meade Research Grade mounts and telescopes in the background?

[@edting]

Those are a Meade #856 8"/6, and my original (and beloved) #5916" f/8 newtonians. Those things still hold up today.

[@dankahraman354]

@@edting I know Meade made a 16" f/4.5 for deep sky but it wasn't part of the Research Grade line. I have a 12.5" f/6 Meade RG primary and I have the original 8" f/6 OTA on a Pacific Instruments mount. Happy I came across your You Tube videos.

[@ratnamaravind]

The new Melon 180c doesn't have collimation issues...at least to me over the past 3 years

[@charlesbienvenu6858]

ETX 60 was my first scope. The ETX line more than any others drew new people in like magnets with the beautiful ads and pictures on the boxes taken with the Hubble lol. The reality awakening was a little disappointing but I credit the little ETX with igniting the passion. Keep up the vids, Ed! I spent many nights on your scope review site way back in the early 2000s.

[@sidkapoor9085]

Great channel sir. You have my sub.

[@meropealcyone]

I agree with everything Ed said about the C14. Doesn't mean I don't want one!

[@starastronomer]

Same here. Always wanted a 14" Celestron. They looked so cool.

[@GHP15300]

Same here

[@topcat43truffles15]

Status symbol.... You own a C14? WOW! But I won’t tell them it’s covered in cobwebs... No, I don’t own a C14... ( but I do own a Meade LX 200 10” Paperweight....🙁) and that’s a story I really don’t want to talk about...

[@davidaaaa4611]

I agree C14 and C11 are heavy. I would not want one. I have used them before. I like a Nexstar 8. Thanks for the video.

[@GarnettLeary]

Great advice

[@k.h.1587]

One of the best views i had of m13 was a mewlon 250 with a nikon 70deg eyepiece. Not mine of course, but the quality of the view was very memorable.

[@johnwright291]

I'll never forget the night I looked at Saturn with my orion xt8 dobsonian and it had very bright color bands of purple yellow and scarlet. I thought wow something is wrong with my scope. I had never seen these bands before. Then I realized i was just getting a very good view of the planet.

[@han-shan]

Which of them would you recommend, ordinary refractor 150/1200 or newton 200/1200, can newton give more light ? Thnx in advance

[@scotth6814]

My first scope was a 10" dobsonian. I found it very frustrating that it wouldn't track stars. So I could watch a planet for a few seconds and then try to bump, bump, bump the mount over to get planet into view again. Ugh! It was also very difficult to find objects. Lots of sweeping back and forth, back and forth through the finderscope. My next scope will be a computerized equatorial mount. I like the idea of being able tell a scope "go to M57" and have it find and track it.

[@ziggyfrnds]

I had a 10 inch dobsonian too, I sold it to fund a motorized mount and then saved up to buy a smaller newtonian. Now I can just "go to NGC-104" (i'm in the southern hemisphere) using my small refractor but I miss the great views that huge lumbering awkward beast of a dobsonian provided :)

[@danno1374]

Need a forklift for that C14!

[@kiankangani2000]

Mr. Ting I ask as a curious subscriber. What is that white telescope behind you?

[@EarlBalentine]

I got $200 to buy my 1st telescope, what should I buy new or used for $200?

[@billmorrigan386]

A used 90mm refractor with a tripod with fine adjustments (manual tracking) will be perfect for planets. You will need magnification of around 80-100x to observe them. Light pollution in cities doesn't matter. You will also be able to observe the Moon really fricking close just like in pictures in this video. However, you it's hard to observe DSOs (deep sky objects) such as globular star clusters, nebulae and galaxies when you have light pollution. If your sky is dark enough (you can see at least 5-5.5 magnitude stars with the naked eye), then you can observe them but the lowest magnification should be used which means you will need a 40mm eyepiece. Locating DSO might be challenging. They are not brighter through any scope, even through the HST (Hubble Space Telescope); they are just barely more grayish or whitish against the backdrop of the dark sky. All those nice pictures are just long exposure photographers, including those from the HST. Only long exposure photographs can show the extent and real size of DSO and make them hundreds of times brighter (magnification doesn't matter much for DSO - only long exposure, the more the better. The HST made some shots with exposure of several days and even more!) Don't worry about astrophotography though. It's expensive as you need automatic equatorial mount tripods but it's all been done by pro astronomers and spacecraft. If you have money to burn on astrographs, it's okay to fool around there. If not, just watch the way the objects truly look like. Again, with planets you'll have no problems -- you just need a a tripod with fine adjustments (=manual tracking). Don't buy less than 80mm scope. Don't buy high-magnification eyepieces. You'll need the 40mm eyepiece for lowest magnification possible to observe DSO from places with dark skies. For a planet a regular eyepiece with 80-100x magnification will do the job. The rest is studying books on how to observe and locate things properly. But first of all, I recommend studying astronomy, not just observing stuff. It's basically like physics. PS: planet filters are nice to have. They'll help to reveal more when observing planets. The Moon is a bit too bright through a telescope. So, a moon filter is a good idea to make it less bright. It almost hurts your eyes like on a sunny day. Well, it's always sunny there on the Moon during daytime as it has no atmosphere. It's also important to note that magnifications beyond 200x are almost never used due to seeing (atmospheric turbulance). So magnification is not the problem. However don't use higher magnification than your objective lens, i.e., for 90mm scope, don't use higher than 90x magnification, for 70mm scope don't use higher than 70x magnification, etc. Theoretically, you can use 1.5 higher magnification 135x for 90mm scope, 105x for 70mm scope but it's the theoretical limit and the images already look like crap.

[@billmorrigan386]

For DSOs exit pupil should match your own exit pupil which should be around 6-8mm for the brightest picture. Here, the Celestron 9x63mm binoculars are great. Their exit pupil = 63:9 = 7. The same applies to telescope math. The diameter of the telescope (of the objective) divided by the magnification equals the exit pupil. It's of paramount importance to get the exit pupil into the range 6-8mm, or in the worst case scenario to just 5mm or so. It's also of paramount importance to get to the location with really dark skies with as little light pollution as possible. You should be able to observe the following magnificent deep sky objects (DSOs): the Andromeda galaxy (M31), M32, the globular cluster M13, the Lagoon nebula M8, and of course the spectacular Orion nebulae. The M7 and M6 clusters also look cool. And there are many more star clusters to observe in a small scope. However before observing them, you will need to learn constellations and bright stars very well to get your bearings around the celestial sphere. You can enhance your naked eye vision with cheap opera glasses and learn constellations that way, even if skies are heavily polluted with light. For that purpose lowest magnification binoculars with the widest field of view possible are the best learning tool. All opera glasses will do the job of teaching you constellations even in polluted skies. Some cheap star globe might also help. A free program called Stellarium should also help learning to locate stuff. And once again, non of this matters for planet/moon observations. You can observe them in light polluted skies with a very small exit pupil. Locating them is no brainer either (the brightest stars in the sky are actually planets).

[@wolfgangkessler3004]

@@billmorrigan386 Best contributions for beginners I have seen, thank you! $ 200 will cover all the basics: planisphere, red light, books, laser pointer, 7x50 binoculars. 2 years later, spend $ 2,000 and get the refractor and AZ mount with 40 mm, 24 mm, 12 mm, 5 mm eyepieces.