Meade DS-114EC Telescope
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- Optical Diameter: 60 mm
- Max Useful Magnification: x 325
- Finderscope: Optical
- Mount Type: Altazimuth
- Motorized: Yes
- Focal Length: 910 mm
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The right price for an amateur scope.
Pros
Price; Software package; Motor drive
Cons
Missing hardware; Generalized directions; Size - don't buy this if you want something portable
Recommended it?
Yes
The Bottom Line:
The right scope for at the right price.
I got a low end telescope as a 12 year old from my older sister one Christmas years ago. That introduced me to amateur astronomy. I'm not a fanatic. But, I always wanted to upgrade to something more capable. I couldn't justify the expense of a higher end telescope.
I happened to be surfing on Amazon for Christmas gifts for my kids, when I saw this scope advertised for $139. Yup - 139. I snatched it up - I convinced my wife that this should be her Christmas gift to me. It ended up backordered - that was ok.
When it arrived, it was missing a hardware package required to mount the motor drive - that's ok too assuming I can get the hardware from Meade - still working on that. In the meantime it's usable in manual mode. The initial setup was fairly simple.
And, the free software package made it fairly easy to orient myself to the night sky. I decided to zero in on jupiter - high in the souther sky. First clear (cold) night I was easily able to train the scope on jupiter and it's moons! I'm looking forward to a new moon and more moderate evening temperatures to explore the other planets.
I've read elsewhere about issues with the optics on this telescope - everything seemed fine to me - perhaps I'm not discerning enough.
The sole real complaint I have is Meade's cost savings that lead to a common set of instructions for a wide range of telescopes.
I happened to be surfing on Amazon for Christmas gifts for my kids, when I saw this scope advertised for $139. Yup - 139. I snatched it up - I convinced my wife that this should be her Christmas gift to me. It ended up backordered - that was ok.
When it arrived, it was missing a hardware package required to mount the motor drive - that's ok too assuming I can get the hardware from Meade - still working on that. In the meantime it's usable in manual mode. The initial setup was fairly simple.
And, the free software package made it fairly easy to orient myself to the night sky. I decided to zero in on jupiter - high in the souther sky. First clear (cold) night I was easily able to train the scope on jupiter and it's moons! I'm looking forward to a new moon and more moderate evening temperatures to explore the other planets.
I've read elsewhere about issues with the optics on this telescope - everything seemed fine to me - perhaps I'm not discerning enough.
The sole real complaint I have is Meade's cost savings that lead to a common set of instructions for a wide range of telescopes.
