Among the broad line of this company several Maksutov and Schmidt-Newtonian designs can be found.
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Meade brought its 97 90mm Maksutov to the market in 1984. It is a 90 f/11 optical tube with a large external focusing ring. It was offered with 5x24 finder and .965 eyepieces and had coated optics. Later the telescope was called the 97D. The same unit was offered as the 97E with multi-coatings on the corrector lens. Finally, a rubber covered version was designated 97ER. | |
| Meade 97E | ||
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The Meade introduced two Schmidt-Newtonians on a pedestal mount in 1987. The SN6, had 6" diameter f/5 optics and the SN8 had 8" f/4 optics for beautiful wide, flat fields of view. The package integrated a sturdy polar mounting and a drive package with a 2" helical focuser. These telescopes were provided with either a standard AC worm gear drive or the LX3 drive discussed in more detail in the SCT section. Multi-coatings and finders were optional on these telescopes. | |
| Meade SN-6 | ||
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In 1995 a new Maksutov telescope was announced by Meade. This was a 7" f/15 optical tube. The corrector carried the same super multi-coatings as did its SCT cousins. It was available packaged with drives and accessories in either the LX200 or the LX50 configuration as described previously in the Schmidt Cassegrain section. | |
| Meade LX50 - 7" Maksutov | ||
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In 1996 Meade started a small revolution in quality, easy to use telescopes with the introduction of the ETX. This telescope included many of the necessary features of a well equipped observing telescope. A high quality 90mm f/13.8 (1250mm focal length) optical tube was supplied with a built-in mirror diagonal which could be flipped out of the way for straight through observation or photography with optional adapters. This was placed on a sturdy plastic dual fork base with slow motion in RA and Dec. Also included was a DC motor drive that operated from three AA batteries placed in the base. Table top legs, a good 1 1¼ eyepiece and a 8x21 erect image finder were included to provide a complete observing system. There were disadvantages to the system though. The finder was difficult to use anywhere north of about 30 Degrees declination due to tight clearances. The tube could not reach the southern horizon at high latitudes because it would hit the base. It usually took about a minute for the slack to be taken up from the drive gears when engaging the drive. None of these minor annoyances however, took away from the fact that a portable instrument with good quality optics and an integral DC drive could now be purchased for less than $600. | |
| Meade ETX | ||