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New MEADE Starfinder 8"

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Posted by MIKE/">MIKE on November 29, 1999 14:05:07 UTC

I just finished the first night of stargazing in my new Meade Starfinder Telescope. In case anyone out there is working on a budget to get a telescope this could help. The telescope was well packed and suffered no damage on delivery...It travelled from CA to PR (Puerto Rico).As opposed to what Meade claims it is not collimated at all. This is obvious since the mirrors kind of jump a lot on delivery and the main mirror is not mounted on the scope when unpackaged. There are two parts of the telescope i found of inferior quality. One was the plastic focuser which I replaced for a metal one sold by Orion and the other is the viewfinder. The viewfinder is a 6x30 and its ok, the problem is the base. It has two screws and it tends to get disaligned by the two screws holding it to the tube. I have yet to get one to replace it..Any suggestions????. Regarding the motor, it works quite well for viewing but i have my doubts regarding astrophotography. I will report on it soon enough. The metal parts that are exposed are quite sensitive to humidity and they started showing rust spots right away. Not the ones one has to worry about, but they must be kept oiled for better protection. The declination tube were the counterweights are attached showed rust signs almost inmediately. (And i live far from the ocean!!!!). Over all the starfinder delivers a good bang for the buck...I recommend it but make sure to add the extra replacement parts to your budget... Clear Skies to all!!!!

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