Home > Consumer Reviews > Meade ETX90EC Telescope w/Electronic Controller

The ETX-90EC was a breeze to set up. Within 20 minutes I was viewing the moon in my backyard. The optics are fantastic for the price and the standard eyepiece is great for terrestrial peeking as well as stargazing.

The motor works well and the variable speeds are very effective, but mine is a bit noisy. It tends to growl as it idles and I have not been able to determine if this is normal or not. Other downsides are the vertically exposed eyepiece (I ended up using a plastic cylinder as a protective cap) and the six screws on the spotting scope, which make centering very difficult.

You definitely need the tripod because the standard base is unstable unless you are placed on solid rock, so prepare to add another $200 to the price. And the erecting prism is a must for terrestrial viewing.

All in all this is a great scope. The few limitations are far outweighed by the line of eyepieces and accessories available for the ETX-90EC such as Autostar and the 35mm camera attachment. This is a great deal for beginning and amateur use, expandable enough that this could very well be the only scope you will ever need.

I am the president of a large (300 members) astronomy club in Columbus, Ohio and have looked through thousands of telescopes in my life- including, perhaps, 20 Meade ETX-90s. I find the views of the planets and the moon through the ETX-90 to be consistently good- though not overwhelming. Due to the limited light grasp of this scope, high power views of deep-sky objects (galaxies, star clusters, nebulae) are relatively anemic and uninspiring. However, the scope gives very nice "rich field" (low power) views of the Milky Way and brighter comets.

To explain: More than any other factor, it is the aperture of a telescope that matters. In general, aperture dictates portability, cost, resolution (sharpness) and, most importantly, light gathering ability. A telescope is like a bucket for gathering light; the larger the bucket, the more light it gathers. With its 3 and a half inches (90 millimeters) of aperture, the ETX-90 is not a very large bucket.

Why is this important? Other than the planets, the moon, and the brightest stars, astronomical objects tend to be very faint. Views through a scope of any size will look nothing like astro-photos. Nebulas, star clusters, and galaxies will, instead, appear to the eye as delicate, cottony, wisps of light.

To make these delicate wisps of light more perceptible, most experienced amateur astronomer use scopes with 8 inches of aperture or more. Such a scope will gather 5 times more light than the Meade-ETX 90. What difference does this make? A view of the spectacular M13 globular cluster through an 8 inch scope will reveal dozens of its brightest stars swarming about its "nebulous" center like a swarm of bees. Through the 90 mm of the ETX, one might, under the darkest skies and with a bit of practice, just barely be able to make out that the object is made has stars in it, and is not, in fact, just a fuzzy "nebula".

For this reason, I generally steer first time scope buyers to an inexpensive, but larger aperture, "Dobsonian". Those looking for something more portable I steer toward a nice pair of binoculars.

On the other hand, this scope is exceptionally portable and convenient to use. It does fit a niche. It is the perfect scope for travel or those quick "gotta' look" moments. It's small size means that it cools off quickly, and can be used almost immediately. With its fixed "Maksutov" design, it never needs collimation (mirror adjustment). I've found the computerized GOTO system relatively easy to use, fairly precise, and programmed with more and fainter objects than one can reasonably expect to see with its small aperture. (Recommendation: learn the names of the brightest 20 or so stars in the sky. You will need them as guide stars to align the scope with.) After a few minutes of setup by an experienced user, sought out objects fall within the low power field of view 90 percent of the time. Finally, some skilled star watchers find delight in "bagging" faint, difficult objects with minimal aperture. It's a source of pride for them to be able to say: "I saw Pluto (as an amost imperceptibly faint dot) in my ETX-90!"

NOTE: I have stood next to many first time users of the Meade-ETX and watched them fumble in the dark for hours with the system of computerized menus in the GOTO system that comes with this scope. Learn to use it in the daylight or during the full moon and not while you're cutting into your observing time. In addition, I have one experienced friend whose Meade-ETX 90 simply refused to function properly, but I believe this to be an exception.

The 24 millimeter finder is useless for finding anything but guide stars and the planets. It is difficult to align, and is so small that very little can be seen through it.

I would recommend getting a dew shield in addition to this scope.

The Bottom Line: If your only experience with a telescope is looking through a rickety "department store" refractor, you're liable to be very impressed with this view through a "real scope". If you like to look at the moon, planets, and to surf the star fields of the Milky-way, you will find this scope convenient and enjoyable. However, if you expect glorious views of galaxies, nebulae, and star clusters, either buy a larger aperture scope, or join an astronomy club that owns one.

Both beginners and experienced astronomers will love this telescope. It is highly portable, and easy to use. Some advice to beginners: When you buy the scope, also buy the Book - "The Backyard Astronomers Guide" by Terence Dickinson. In fact, if you are unsure about your interest in the hobby, buy the book first. Also, don't buy too many accessories (i.e. additional eyepieces) until you have used the equipment for a while and are familiar with its operation and how you plan to use it.

The ETX is in many ways a marvelous little scope. Optically, it's far and above most 90mm catadioptric scopes, like the Celestron 90. Mechanically, though, it leaves a bit to be desired. There are a few too many flimsy plastic parts, the clock drive is not terribly accurate, and the drive clutch has way too much slop in it.

The human engineering aspect leaves a lot to be desired as well. The finder scope is almost impossible to use as set up. The mount makes it impossible to view though the scope or finder in many orientations. What Meade tried to do here is create a clone of the $4,000 Questar at a bargain price. Optically they've done well (though it still falls short of a Questar) but in copying the mechnical design opf the Questar they had to leave out precisely those details that make the Questar such a pleasure to use.

The $599 price is a little misleading. While designed for tabaletop use, unless you have a cast concrete tabletop you'll need a solid tripod to support it, so you can add another $150 right there, bringing the actual cost to more like $749. And for that price there are a lot of good choices around. They make not look as slick, but they're a lot more usable.

I recently purchased this scope and I am pleased with it.

It's a great terresterial scope as well as a very good astro scope.

I would recommend these accessories. lenses - 9.7 Super Plossal, 15 Super Plossal, 2x Barlow, 6.7 UWA auto focuser, field tripod, polarizing filter (look at full moon with contrast), auto-controller is great too.

Buy yourself at least a simple star chart so that you can find the right star to align it by and remember that that 26mm Super Lense (comes with scope)isn't parfocal with any others. So, be prepared to focuse when switching.

The auto focuser is a definite must as hand focusing can move the scope too much at high magnification.

Aviod getting lenses that will take the magnification above 200x. While it will do it... unless you buy the UWA 6.7, the extra magnification won't be worth it.

Avoid all series 3000 lenses as they are just junk except for terresterail views.

That's about it, hope this helps.