Though Meade does indeed make some good scopes, I have encountered and used many Celestron products. I have come to the conclusion a long time ago that Celestron out weighs Meade in the quality department. Although, Meade does have a somewhat better CCD equipment and their larger SCT 16" is unsurpassed by anyone including Celestron. Some of the smaller scopes by Meade are of some inferior quality, but not much. Believe me, there some crappy scopes out there and the sad part is that someone is going to buy them.