: Could someone let me know how good is the above telescopeand what I can expect to see. : Thank you.

My third telescope was a Meade Starfinder 10" EQ and I enjoyed it very much. I have worked in an Astronomy Shop selling telescopes for about 3 years and I can say that if you want a 10" on an EQ mount the Mead Starfinder is the best product on the marked for the price. To get anything better you would have to spend about twice as much (Meade 10" LX-50).

If you are looking for the largest scope for the money and do not need an EQ mount look at Coultlers 10" F5.6 or the 13 inch. The 10"'s longer focal ratio means better images and the 13 inch will show much more detail in galaxies, but it is pretty cumbersome. For planetary observing The Meade will do better since it tracks.

If you want to do astrophotgraphy you can do lunar and planetary with the Mead but you will have to upgrade to a better focuser since the standard one will flex. The Starfinder also comes with a 6x30 finder, which is OK, but you will want to upgrade to a 50 mm which will cost at least $150 (I like Lumincon for finderscopes). See this webpage for information about the problems with the Starfinder and how to fix them, but keep in mind that the Starfinder will perform well out of the Box.

http://members.aol.com/atmlugt/my_scopes.htm

In my opinion the Starfinder cannot be beat for the money. The fast F4.5 focal ratio means that there will be allot of coma (blurry stars away from the center of the field) this can be fixed with the Tele Vue Parracor for about $250.

Hope this helps,

Jeff Thomas