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Are Meade Spotting Scopes good value ? (1 Viewer)
- Thread starter gilesm
- Start date
Curtis Croulet
Well-known member
I've never seen this particular scope, but please read the "why do I get purple outlines?" thread. The bane of cheap scopes is chromatic aberration. They are usually quite good at lowest power (15x or 20x), but the CA gets much more noticeable at 45x or 60x -- unacceptably so in my opinion. The cure is to spend lots more money on a scope with ED or FL optics. Only you can decide whether the cure is worth the cost. However, if you're going to do digiscoping, and you hope to impress others with the results, you'll probably want the best scope you can get. In my own case, when I considered buying a scope, a friend loaned me his Orion Landscan 60Z (60 mm scope with non-interchangeable 15x to 45x zoom eyepiece, $300 US in 2002). I spent a lot of time with this scope watching shorebirds at coastal lagoons in Southern California. I was so unhappy with its performance at 45x that I splurged on a Swarovski. The guy who owned the $300 scope looked through the Swaro and agreed that it was better, but not $1400 better in his opinion. Only you can decide if a cheap scope is good enough or if only the best will do.
Last edited:
Curtis
Thank you, indeed the thread about 'purple fringing' is my thread made after I took the plunge and bought the Meade Kestrel scope.
When I bought the scope I did not know what "C.A." was, now I do !
Other than this I am happy with it, so I guess I will have to 'live with it' as I am not prepared to throw any more money at the problem for now.
If ever I buy another scope, it will have "ED" glass. Live and learn eh ?
Thank you, indeed the thread about 'purple fringing' is my thread made after I took the plunge and bought the Meade Kestrel scope.
When I bought the scope I did not know what "C.A." was, now I do !
Other than this I am happy with it, so I guess I will have to 'live with it' as I am not prepared to throw any more money at the problem for now.
If ever I buy another scope, it will have "ED" glass. Live and learn eh ?
mooreorless
Well-known member
If you buy a Cat scope,something like a Meade ETX 90 model you will not have as wide a view but you should have no CA.I have one and off mount it weighs about 50 oz. Not WP of course.
Regards,Steve
Regards,Steve