With scopes a buyer has to approach with patience and the right expectations. There are plenty of articles out there describing what you can expect and what types of scope you can use for different types of viewing and it's well worth reading up on this before buying any scope.I bought this scope because of the LightSwitch feature. This means the onboard computer uses a combination of GPS, digital compass and pattern recognition to figure out where the scope is and to align it so it can find objects stored in it's Go-To database and so it can track objects as they move across the sky. Go-To scopes without LightSwitch require some knowledge of the location of different stars and manual alignment steps before you can use them to locate and track objects.
The advantage of LightSwitch is that instead of slewing the scope to the vicinity of the object you choose to view, leaving you to do final adjustments, it will put the object in the eyepiece every time.
The other attractive features of this scope are it's portability, the always excellent Meade optics, ACF which reduces distortion in the image and the price which is a grand lower than the less portable 8" LX200 without LightSwitch.
Being an early adopter of this scope I have battled through a few bugs and shortfalls in the design, but bottom line when this scope does what Meade intended it to and provided you have the right expectations it's very rewarding and very easy to use.
If you're thinking of buying this scope or you have one and it's giving you problems you might find some points from my own experience useful:
*The scope's primary interface is fairly rudimentary a single-line LCD on the hand controller and can be extremely frustrating, especially when the scope does not seem to be functioning properly. However this scope has an RCA video output which can be used to display additional information: multi-line menus; status info (such as GPS signal stength); error messages; on-board Astronomer Inside media collection. I found the video display makes this scope *much* easier to use. You'll need to provide your own monitor. You can buy dedicated field monitors, I use a cheap portable NTSC DVD player with an AV-in.
*The scope can be powered by 8 C-type batteries in the internal battery compartment. IMHO Meade should have omitted this entirely. Battery life is short and if it goes in the middle of observing you'll have to replace them (in the dark) and go through the alignment process all over. Apparently though two batts in the compartment nearest the eye-piece will ensure that internal state, like time and location, will remain after the scope has been switched off. I use a portable 12v DC power supply purchased for less than $100. When updating the firmware you should use a constant power supply since this takes a while.
*The scope has an SD card slot but the manual is not entirely clear about what type of card you need. It's actually a mini-SD card, I use a Toshiba 2Gb MiniSD card that comes with an adaptor. It must be formatted as FAT32. The slot for the card is a little awkward and you should use care when inserting/removing. When upgrading the firmware of the scope put the card in *before* switching on, When using the SD card to store pictures insert it *after* switching the scope on otherwise you'll just get a blank display.
*Take the lens cap off the CCD finder carefully. Meade did tell me that the CCD can be twisted when removing the cap which could cause it to fail later. The computer uses the CCD finder to snap pictures of the sky so it can locate stars for alignment, if the CCD doesn't work LightSwitch won't work.
*Before taking the scope out it's worth testing the CCD camera to make sure it's functioning properly. Just use the Snap and Store function from the menu with the lenses cap off and the formatted SD card in I simply took snaps of the inside of my apartment then load the SD on your computer to view the pics.
*Heavy light pollution and clouds or other objects blocking the view of the sky can also cause the CCD finder to fail to do it's job, make sure you're going to use this scope in a darkish open area.
*The mount for the red-dot finder on the early models was somewhat flimsy and the finder was prone to movement during shipping. Make sure the red-dot finder is secured tightly with screws as in the newer iterations. Before taking the scope out you'll want to align the finder by centering an object a few tens of feet away, then adjust the finder so it points at the same object. Don't forget to switch the finder off, if the finder battery dies it's replaceable by sliding it sideways out of the center of the finder where it says in tiny letters "Battery".
*Some of these scopes have a problem obtaining the correct location using GPS. These scopes shipped with firmware version 1.07 and this problem was fixed in version 1.2g. You can download this from Meade and save it on the SD card, insert the card and switch the scope on to upgrade.
*The accompanying AutoStar software suite can be used to control your scope from a laptop, *but* the driver is *not compatible* with Windows Vista or Mac OSX. I use Windows XP 64bit installed on a virtual machine (VMWare Fusion) on my Mac laptop. After the driver has been installed, go to the hardware manager and look at the Meade USB device properties to find the COM port it is simulating. Then in AutoStar make sure the set the same COM port under the "Telescope" menu and away you go.
*This scope does not have an option to use an equatorial mount at this time, so it's not practical for astrophotography with exposures longer than maybe a minute or two. Most astrophotography requires very long exposures *or* many shorter exposures in the same orientation which requires an equatorial mount. Since it is a single-fork design it's possible there never will be an equatorial mount option or if there is it might not be very stable.
*If your scope has the correct GPS coordinates and the CCD finder is able to take pictures but the scope consistently fails to align this could be due to drive inaccuracies or misalignment of the CCD finder. There are menu options under the "Setup" menu to align the CCD finder (Center Finder) and to train the drive.
*If you've read all the above and your scope still doesn't function properly send it back and get a replacement. Make sure the supplier gives you free shipment because this scope weighs 30lbs without the tripod.
In summary employing a video monitor and 12v DC power supply and going over as much verification of the scope before heading out can mean the difference between an extremely disappointing/frustrating night out in the cold and a fantastic rewarding journey through the Universe.
My first LS (when it was still known as the ETX-LS) had a faulty GPS that was replaced by Meade. The second
one is not the best either, and suffers from at least 5 problems, which
I list below.
1. GPS sometimes works, sometimes doesn't, all from about the same
location (by this I mean front yard compared to say, pavement in front
of front yard). GPS on my phone works great and picks up something like
7 satellites. ETX LS, half the time, picks up zero and asks for my
manual input. That is unacceptable. Why would I buy a GPS scope
otherwise?!
2. Scope has slewing problems in manual alignment mode. This happens
especially when it slews to a target star in manual alignment mode and
asks me to centre the star. I cannot do so because the slewing has
mysteriously been disabled.
3. Scope has slewing problems in normal GOTO mode. Sometimes I ask the
scope to goto an object and it does that, albeit unsuccessfully. So I
have to do a manual adjustment using the slew keys. Nothing happens. I
adjust the speed of the slewing to the maximum speed and still the scope
sits still on its base.
4. The scope has displayed albeit only once levelling problems.
Once, the scope thought that "level" was 30 degrees below the horizon
and promptly stayed there. I promptly aborted the operation and directed
the scope to shut down. Well, it carried the mistake in levelling over
and came to a rest 30 degrees past its normal vertical resting position.
5. The audio sometimes shuts down mysteriously. Not that I care much
about a talking telescope, but sometimes after I ask it to go to an
object (again the alignment doesn't work, as mentioned above), it does
so and starts talking about the object. Or, should I say, attempts to do
so. The screen shows "Press A/V to cancel MEDIA", but there is no sound.
I had done nothing with the volume and the scope was speaking on
start-up.
6. Auto-alignment and manual alignment are both hopeless. One caveat is
that I am in quite a light-polluted area (Cambridge, MA) but can still
see some stars in the sky on a good clear day. When the scope slews to
its first alignment star, say Vega, it is way off when I can the star in
the sky. And because I cannot correct the slew sometimes, the bad
attempt fixes. Once, after "alignment", the scope happily informed me
that Jupiter was below the horizon when it was high up in the sky!!
Basically I've spent hours
outside trying to get the scope aligned and seen objects rise and set
behind trees. I think 80% of the time I am with this scope is spent
figuring out what is wrong with it.
This second scope was sent back to Meade. The third scope surprise, surprise had a faulty GPS too. Now, Meade said that the latest firmware would solve the problem. I waited for that, and that didn't work. So I sent the third one back for a full refund.
Since then I have reverted to scopes which do not claim to auto-align for you. I find that one great thing about these older scopes is that you can manually slew the scope if necessary. With the LS6, you cannot. You are reliant on the controller and if that fails, the scope is not movable. Sure, you can try to force the scope to move, but it feels quite tight and I am not sure it's meant to do that.
Bottom line is this: the LS6 promises much, delivers little.
Buy Meade 0610-03-10 ETX -LS Telescope with ACF Lightswitch Technology Now
I bought a Meade LS-6 and it was delivered before Christmas 2009. Right out of the box the unit had a firmware read error and would not start up. Meade had me return the unit and promised to ship a new one immediately. I just received my new scope today, Jan 11, 2010. This new scope will not find GPS satellites. I am out in the middle of my back yard under clear skies. My Meade LX200-GPS is sitting 10 feet away and it finds GPS immediately. My hand held GPS finds 6 satellites with strong signals in under 30 seconds. But my brand new LS-6 with the latest ver 1.3 software will not find GPS. How sad.This leads me to the following conclusions:
1. Meade is manufacturing a lot of junk. What are the odds that I would get 2 defective scopes unless the factory is simply manufacturing a lot of garbage?
2. Meade has no testing or quality control. It is one thing to make junk but how can you possibly ship these units to a customer? They did not even bother to turn the units on. This is inexcusable.
3. Meade customer service is terrible. They do not accept Email so I wrote them 2 paper letters regarding the first scope. I did not even get the courtesy of a response. Of course you have to wait 5-6 days before you realize that you've been ignored.
I have been a Meade customer for 20 years and I will never buy another one of their products. This is a company that has a manufacturing facility that is simply out of control and they simply don't care.
Read Best Reviews of Meade 0610-03-10 ETX -LS Telescope with ACF Lightswitch Technology Here
Great product idea but very poor implementation. Customer support is a nightmare. The telescope came with a defective firmware. I spent many hours and even days researching online for a solution with no success. The customer support refused to send a replacement before "troubleshooting" is done. They promised to send a replacement firmware maybe a dosen times, and never did. I bought the scope in December 2009 and there still no solution and no help from Meade, more than half a year later. Over $1500 spent on a non-working product. Shame on them and buyers beware!Want Meade 0610-03-10 ETX -LS Telescope with ACF Lightswitch Technology Discount?
I have been stargazing since 1996, and I own 2 other telescopes from 2 different manufactures, so I've been around and I know what good telescope is capable of. The 6" optics on this ETS-LS will provide you with plenty of objects to view, its a perfect size for easy transport too. I had the fortune of owning the ETX-LS 6 ACF and I enjoyed the scope so much, I eventually upgraded to its bigger brother; the LS 8 ACF. I have no doubt that the newer LS 6 ACF has matured into a wonderful unit capable of a lifetime of stargazing. The ETX-LS 6 ACF had wonderful optics, and as a primary visual stargazer, that was extremely important. Go for the ACF optics, I have visually compared side by side with standard scopes, and I really like the ACF, it has tighter star images to me. The GOTO worked wonderfully for me, I even interfaced it with a number of freeware programs such as Stellarium, to permit me to select objects on my computer and have the scope slew to them, a super feature. I routinely placed objects within the field of view of a 14mm eyepiece once I did a sync to a deepsky object, and type of accuracy is very good. The intermittant GPS issues have been resolved by Meade with the latest firmware. And even though I did experience some of the GPS issues with early firmware, to me it wasn't even a big deal when it had no GPS fix. Once you entered in your date, time, city, it would slew to the first star, you center it, press Enter, and go to the next. Thats all that is involved even in the manual alignment. The bottom line is that there will be times that you will want to do a manual alignment, such as when your views are blocked or in my case, when your doing some sidewalk astronomy and there are just too many lights or buildings around. That was one bit of misinformation out there at the initial release of these scopes, that if you didn't get a auto-alignment, your done. Well, that is simply not true. I have done almost all my alignments with auto, but a few with manual just to test and like I previously said, sometimes it will be the preferred method.The Astronomer Inside was a very fun, and downright educational tool. I must admit, I wasn't expecting that to be of much use for me, with some years of stargazing underneath my belt. But it proved downright fun and informative, and a great "wow" from first time stargazers during the times I took the scope out to public events. There is one recommendation that I will make to you considering this scope, get a external power supply like a PowerTank. Running off of batteries just doesn't cut it much, you will drain them very quickly. Also, if your going to use your scope at home, get a AC adapter too.
I have always recommended a 6" scope to those looking to get into astronomy, or those looking for a 2nd scope. The ETX-LS, and now the LS 6 ACF, has matured to a wonderful scope capable of a lifetime of happy stargazing.
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