It's a nice little telescope with the electronic autostar guiding system

I have had this telescope in storage for four years now! I bought it on craigslist and I don't remember what I paid for it! But, I probably got it real cheap.

It has a 114 mm primary mirror with a focal length of 910mm which makes it an f8.

Anyway, I took it out of storage and put it all together to see how everything is and whether or not it works! If you have one of these telescopes and need the manual it is on the meade website as a pdf right here

It's pretty easy to put together. There are two motor drives. One is for altitude and one is for azimuth. These motors have coiled cords and each plugs into a little port on the top of the tripod.

The motor packs are easily installed.

I put it all together and put batteries in the battery pack (red arrow in the picture below) It takes ten AA batteries.

But no such luck. the autostar pendant didn't work at all. I couldn't get anything out of it. I have an autostar pendant from another meade telescope so I connected that one up and it seemed to work quite well.

I will be taking this telescope out at night and giving it a test. But, It's got a 4 1/4 inch mirror so it is a small telescope but should perform pretty well. I will give an update on this.

But, there are a few things about this telescope that I think could use improving, at least from my opinion.

The tripod is big, and it is solid but it is a bit unwieldy. It's awkward to move it around because there are no braces between the three legs.

The cords are a little bit awkward too. They mount into the top of the tripod and, when you rotate the telescope they twist up a little. So, you have to be cautious about those cables. Over the course of a long star gazing session it would be possible to get those cables twisted all around the telescope. Just a little thing to think about.

And... it has a nice eyepiece holder but I don't like how it has to be positioned on the outside of a tripod leg. It would be easy, in the dark, to be bumping into it.

Those motorized drive packs are awkward too. Getting them attached feels a little bit uncomfortable. I am thinking it is possible to force them on and damage the plastic gears that drive the telescope. Not sure but that is what it feels like.

Some thoughts about performance before actually using it.

This is a meade telescope. It's a quality telescope and a quality company. I have picked at a few personal knits here but I am sure the optics are excellent and that the autostar system will work quite well. And all of this was probably for a very fair price. I will just add some feedback on all of that when I get it out under the night sky. I don't think they make this model anymore. But if you can get it cheap on ebay, craigslist or facebook market place I say get it!