Meade ETX-125 OTA Telescope

The OTA stands for Optical Tube Assembly... meaning you just get the telescope (tube)... no base... no gimbals and no way to really set it up and point it to the stars unless you already have all that stuff. And if you already have all that stuff... you don't need to be reading this review.

If what you are looking for is a quality telescope that you can point to... say Saturn... and it automatically points to Saturn and you can then see Saturn's rings... you will probably want the ETX-125 AT (astro telescope) with comes with a mount and motor controller. You can also purchase Auto-Star which lets you scroll through a list of planets, deep space items, stars and simply hit enter and "go-to" and the telescope will point right at it. But note... an accurate set-up is required... you have to put the scope in it's home position... point it north and level then do a short alignment procedure which includes telling the AutoStar Controller the date and time. So it's important you get instructions with your ETX-125. But if you can get a good deal (say on eBay) on one with no instructions don't worry... you can download them online from the Meade Website.

The focal length of the 125 is 1900mm. The formula for figuring out the power of your scope is to divide the eyepiece (26mm for example) into the focal length... 1900mm and you get 73x... meaning this telescope along with a 26mm eyepiece will give you a power of 73X (roughly 73 x bigger than with the naked eye) Also... note... the ETX-125 is the bigger of several modes... there's also the ETX-60, ETX-70, ETX-90 and ETX-105 for example... these are all smaller... and cheaper... Google these to read more about each model.

COATINGS
One other item to consider is coatings. UHTC or ultra high transmission coating lets more light through the optics... about 15% according to Meade... the more light the better... Standard coatings are okay... but if you get the chance to get UHTC its worth an extra $75 or $100 dollars.

For more on Meade Telescopes... just Google "Meade ETX".