More telescopes in Lidl

Popoutman

Lidl telescopes again!
From Thursday 10.12:

1. Meade LXD75 6" f/5 newtonian with Autostar 497, and 1 26mm Super Plossl eyepiece: €600
2. Bresser 102mm F/10 achromat on a Mon2 german equatorial with slo-mo controls, 3 plossls and a 2x barlow: €300
3. Meade ETX 70 AT with 3 eyepieces: €150
4. Bresser 90mm spotting scope on alt-az tripod with zoom eyepiece €140
5. Skylux 70mm f/10 alt-az refractor

Suprised to see the ETX 70 again considering it's been discontinued. Fantastic scope for the price - I got one the last time they were around.

The LXD75 is a good price too, but I don't think that this is the schmidt-newtonian version, just the again-discontinued f/5 normal newtonian.

premiercounty

I have the etx-70 since the last time they had them
Deffo good value for a starter at that price
Its 10 yoyo cheaper this time if I recall correctly !

MayoForSam

The ETX-70 looks to be the bargain within the bunch.

How does the AutoStar work on the ETX-70? Can you connect the scope to a laptop?

What are the eyepieces like quality-wise?

Is it possible to manually adjust the telecope or does every thing have to be done using the AutoStar?

Anyone ever tried mounting a camera and doing some astrophotography with it? I've seen one or two efforts online and they don't look too bad at all.

Ostrom

Gonna try pick that up. Is morning demand usually high? (should you be there early...?)

premiercounty

MayoForSam wrote: »

The ETX-70 looks to be the bargain within the bunch.

How does the AutoStar work on the ETX-70? Can you connect the scope to a laptop?

What are the eyepieces like quality-wise?

Is it possible to manually adjust the telecope or does every thing have to be done using the AutoStar?

Anyone ever tried mounting a camera and doing some astrophotography with it? I've seen one or two efforts online and they don't look too bad at all.

The autostar is a computer guidance system. You can connect to a laptop but I havent tried.

Eyepieces are reasonably good quality IMO

Yes you can adjust manually

Never tried a camera but you can attach one

Here is a link to the ETX 70AT manual all yisser questions answered !

http://www.meade.com/manuals/TelescopeManuals/ETXtelescopes/ETX-60-70AT%20manual.pdf

premiercounty

efla wrote: »

Gonna try pick that up. Is morning demand usually high? (should you be there early...?)

I'd say you should be there early alright

Noting that you are in Kildare, you have a choice of many Lidls, Naas, Newbridge and Kildare Town.

If you cant find any left in them try Lidl, Portarlington in Laois. A few times I have gotten stuff there that was sold out in the others. The yokels there aren't into buying the quare stuff it seems.:D

dmcdona

I used the ETX for astrophotography - and it performed very well indeed. Funnily enough, the Skylux performed better. But the ETX has a better mount.

As regards connecting to a laptop, IIRC, it required the upgrade (purchase) to another Meade keypad.

Dave

rahtkennades

dmcdona wrote: »

I used the ETX for astrophotography - and it performed very well indeed. Funnily enough, the Skylux performed better. But the ETX has a better mount.

As regards connecting to a laptop, IIRC, it required the upgrade (purchase) to another Meade keypad.

Dave

Howdy,
quick question from a total novice: I presume you were using a webcam-type camera connected to the ETX? I have one from a previous Lidl sale and have been thinking of connecting a camera, but I was thinking of using a dslr. I'd be concerned the mount would be too wobbly. Any advice?
Cheers

dmcdona

I was using the next step up from a webcam - the Meade DSI. Nice and light and peltier cooled.

I'd imagine a DSLR being way too heavy for the telescope to support it without any significant wobbliness. Also, being a fork mount (and a small one at that) you'd be limitied by the physical space between the forks. If the DSLR is bigger than that, you'll not be able to image very high up in the sky.

The Skylux would probably handle a DSLR quite well but the mount would let it down badly.

The LXD75 would probably do a good job - but its comparatively expensive.

Hope that helps. Fire away if you need anything else.

Ostrom

Hope i can grab one, money is tight and i have outgrown the binoculars Thanks for the reply

lostboy75

for someone that has spent about 10 hours working on his brothers toy telecsope, trying to get it stable,(broken mount, alot of "engineering" to fix :-)) then deciding yes what he feared most has come to pass, the optics are rubish.

now wants to actually get a decent scope, had checked out the "optus 76mm Telescope" that was in Aldi on 25th Oct.
decided that adding 30-40 euro to the 100 euro price tag would get me a much better scope.

now Lidl has 4,
the cheapest, 70. Bresser Skylux. if i chose this one, and find i am quite interested, wil i kick myself for not getting a large one?

150 euro, Meade ETX-70AT, dont undrstand this type at all? to me it apearrs to be less powerful than the cheaper one? is the extra just for the computer controll?

300 euro, Bresser Messier R-102, if this was 200, i would just jump at it i think? sems like all i could want?

600 euro, Meade LXD75, no way i could justify this if i am struggleing with justifying 300.

would deff. like the idea of attaching a camera, also the idea of connecting to a computer is quite interesting.

any more advice to give guys?

djhaxman

I'm tempted by the LXD75, but as lostboy75 has said it's hard to justify that kind of money if it's not a great scope. Has anyone here used one of them before? I'd rather hear from someone on here rather than read reviews which could've been written by a Meade employee to boost sales.

Edit : Found what I was after http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055020855&page=2

Think I'll go ahead with this now.

MayoForSam

I came across this site which has a load of information on the ETX: http://www.weasner.com/etx/menu.html

Although quite a old scope (its being discontinued), it has got some pretty good reviews and is ideal for someone who wants the Autostar / GOTO functions (maybe the purists would prefer the manual approach to star-gazing but I don't think my kids have that much patience).

I'm picking one up anyhow.

dmcdona

Lostboy75 - the difference in price between the skylux 70mm and the ETX 70mm is down to the electronics. The Skylux has none - so you need to know where to point it (i.e. have access to star charts or PC planetarium programmes). For a seasoned observer, that's fine. But for a newbie, its hards going.

The ETX 70 gives you both tracking and a GOTO database. The motorisation and computerisation element is what you pay for and its certainly worth it for a newbie.

The Bresser 102mm refractor, I'm not sure about. They make functional binoculars alright but I've no idea about the quality of the mount.

The LXD75 - its a Meade and so would be pretty respectable. But an F5 Newtonian would need regular collimation - which can seem like black magic but is necessary.

At the end of the day, its horses for courses. You get what you pay for. And fundamentally, these (including the 600 Meade) are cheap telescopes. Bear in mind that for an advanced amateur astrophotography setup geared towards deep sky imaging, the starting price would be in the region of 10k and go well into six-figure sums if you're really serious.

For more context, the Keck telescopes cost about $200 million dollars and one night on them would set you back about $50,000.

HTH
Dave

jamie crx

the meade etx 70at is a savage little telescope,i got mine in lidl 2 years ago.if u know how to use a telescope,it will surprise u.now for the good news.....if ur thinking of getting one and aint got 150euros,im selling mine for 90euro.i think i paid 169 at the time.everything is included,lens,barlow,bag.even new batteries.in perfect nick. im in monasterevin,so any kildare people want a bargain;)

lostboy75

thanks dmcdona, it kind of is what i was expecting,
actually think i will skip these, and get myself a good pair of binos, that or the spotting scope on offer,
damn, here i go again

Stargate

Popoutman wrote: »

Lidl telescopes again!
From Thursday 10.12:

1. Meade LXD75 6" f/5 newtonian with Autostar 497, and 1 26mm Super Plossl eyepiece: €600
2. Bresser 102mm F/10 achromat on a Mon2 german equatorial with slo-mo controls, 3 plossls and a 2x barlow: €300
3. Meade ETX 70 AT with 3 eyepieces: €150
4. Bresser 90mm spotting scope on alt-az tripod with zoom eyepiece €140
5. Skylux 70mm f/10 alt-az refractor

Suprised to see the ETX 70 again considering it's been discontinued. Fantastic scope for the price - I got one the last time they were around.

The LXD75 is a good price too, but I don't think that this is the schmidt-newtonian version, just the again-discontinued f/5 normal newtonian.

Hi All ,

Heres a shot i took with an old Skylux 70mm f/10 alt-az refractor , holding my Digital camera to the EP . Nothing too fancy lol , This scope is coming up on sale in Lidel for about €69 i think on th 10th Dec , the version i had i got a good few years ago and the mount that came with it was far far better than the one that comes with this one as far as i can tell from the picture of it on the their site , just in case anyones interested in checking it out ;-) For that kind of money it was excellent value !!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/4533795...27900/sizes/l/


A little video i made of the moon the same night with the Skylux 70mm

http://www.flickr.com/photos/45337950@N05/4167522027/

Might give you a few ideas

Wish you luck in your choice of scope

Regards
Stargate

Hornswoggle

Picked up the ETX at in Citywest Lidl this morning. Only two were left on the shelf when i was there,a few other people were buying scopes at the time so i reckon these will fly out over the next few hours. Can't wait to get home and test it out tonight, IF it isn't as cloudy as the weather forecast suggests :pac:

Ostrom

Hornswoggle wrote: »

Picked up the ETX at in Citywest Lidl this morning. Only two were left on the shelf when i was there,a few other people were buying scopes at the time so i reckon these will fly out over the next few hours. Can't wait to get home and test it out tonight, IF it isn't as cloudy as the weather forecast suggests :pac:

Got one too in Maynooth. Hope the cloud stays away!! My first proper scope (always used binoculars) so I am very excited

MayoForSam

Yup, I got one as well - maybe we should set up a boards ETX 70AT support group?

The powers-that-be have dictated that mine must go under the tree for the next 2 weeks however .

The forecast is looking quite promising for stargazing over the next week or two as well, some clear and frosty nights expected.

I've ordered some fingerless gloves from Ebay in anticipation of some outdoor activities over the next while (might get me away from the Xbox for a bit too).

thecretinhop

Great stuff have been lurking here for a while decided to join up got etx 70 also, have to wait for chrimbo also! have moved in last year to new house, much better view of stars etc could see fk all for years at other house, also got a 55-250mm IS lens for my dslr, for the first time in years im like a child for christmas, great work here on helping me pick what i wanted, lidl Galway got it this morning 6 gone in about 10 minutes...

Ostrom

Scary similar... Been so busy I haven't had time to crane my neck, let alone beat on with assassins creed 2

I didn't look in the smaller boxes yet as I was heading out to work, is there a barlow included? I had a strange moment this week where I realised I hadn't properly looked around in months and everything had moved places in the sky...

djhaxman

efla wrote: »

Got one too in Maynooth. Hope the cloud stays away!! My first proper scope (always used binoculars) so I am very excited

I walked into the LIDL in Maynooth at about 8:02 only to find out they'd already sold their 2 Meade LXD75, so I had to drive to the one in Leixlip to get it! Luckily they had one left so I picked that one up.

Won't get a chance to set it up till next week though.

thecretinhop

efla wrote: »

Scary similar... Been so busy I haven't had time to crane my neck, let alone beat on with assassins creed 2

I didn't look in the smaller boxes yet as I was heading out to work, is there a barlow included? I had a strange moment this week where I realised I hadn't properly looked around in months and everything had moved places in the sky...

wow! i have assassins creed 2 for pressie also, I know im highly excited to get at it, but dont know on your question i got it and the missus locked it up, im very childlike if let near things... i have to wait:) the meade website is very good by the way for online charts etc

Ostrom

Had great fun with it! Brought her for a spin last night, good views of mars, few messiers which were a little disappointing due to location (estate lights). Goto is great, looking forward to having a look at jupiter tomorow

Stargate

efla wrote: »

Had great fun with it! Brought her for a spin last night, good views of mars, few messiers which were a little disappointing due to location (estate lights). Goto is great, looking forward to having a look at jupiter tomorow

Lol @ efla , haha did you give her a name , go on , tell us ?? :D:P

skelliser

got one of these myself, think i got the last one in galway!
anyway im looking to hook up my nikon d90, anyone now what i need, i believe i need some t-ring or something?!!
any advice

Ostrom

skelliser wrote: »

got one of these myself, think i got the last one in galway!
anyway im looking to hook up my nikon d90, anyone now what i need, i believe i need some t-ring or something?!!
any advice

Thats it AFAIK, looking to get my D80 hooked in. I'm concerned about the tracking though, the alt/az autotrack makes both vertical and horizontal adjustments and doesnt track in RA, so the image is never centred in the eyepiece.

Loving it so far, cant wait to get out of the glare of estate lights. Had a nice view of M42 last night, and great fun just browsing up and down Well worth it

dmkdr

I've probably missed the boat on the Lidl telescopes. The ETX-70 is the one I'd like (for my son). How does that compare to this ETX-60 kit on sale in ebay (this can be bought for £150 +£20 p/p to Ireland, which comes to about €190 in total):

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Meade-ETX-60-AT-TC-GOTO-Astronomical-Telescope-Kit_W0QQitemZ140366614110QQcmdZViewItemQQptZUK_Telescopes?hash=item20ae808e5e

I don't know a lot about telescopes, but I guess the ETX-70 is better (so at it €150 sounds like a great deal). Just wondering if someone knows whether the Lidl one includes the various bits mentioned in this ebay one (e.g. rucksack, dewshield, various eyepieces, AutoStar /instructional DVD).

I want to figure out if it's worth my while going around the various Lidls in Cork to see if I can get one, as I imagine they may be hard to get, or should I just order the ebay one (seems like a reputable seller). Thanks in advance!

superdog

Hi folks,

I'm new to this but I picked up the ETX 70 in Lidl. Got it going last night and will give it a serious going over the coming months. Impressed so far with it.

dmkdr - they still had them in Lidl in Mullingar yesterday (Tuesday) - don't know if that is any good for you.

dmkdr

Thanks, superdog. Spoke to someone tonight who saw the ETX-70 in Lidl Carrigaline, which isn't too far away. She thought there was no tripod included - is that right? I might go ahead and order the ebay one just so I have it (not as good a deal al Lidl I'm sure, but it possibly does have a couple of extra bits included).

Stargate

dmkdr wrote: »

Thanks, superdog. Spoke to someone tonight who saw the ETX-70 in Lidl Carrigaline, which isn't too far away. She thought there was no tripod included - is that right? I might go ahead and order the ebay one just so I have it (not as good a deal al Lidl I'm sure, but it possibly does have a couple of extra bits included).

dmkdr , when they are sold out in the shops in the city , theres always a good chance you will find them in the stores in the likes of Midleton , Carrigaline , Youghal etc .

Last time i was looking for something that had sold out in the city , i tried ringing all the other stores in the county and nobody picked up the fone at all ! I got what i was looking for in Midleton !

Good luck in your search

thecretinhop

Hi all, im itching to get at telescope, but not allowed untill christmas day, anyhow in the meantime i have been getting great winter shots outside with my cannon 1000d now, and have 50-250 lens for christmas also, can anyone help, what do i need to get to be able to connect the camera to the telescope, so i can take pictures, any help would be great:)

henryporter

dmkdr, the lidl ones do have the tripod, unless of course someone removed one from the box, which isn't that easy to do.

thecretinhop, you need to get an adapter for the telescope to connect to the camera, and a t-ring adapter for the Canon - total cost about €30.00 I think.

thecretinhop

Thats great, I will be in town tommorow will get them from local camera shop, thanks for that!

Stargate

thecretinhop wrote: »

Hi all, im itching to get at telescope, but not allowed untill christmas day, anyhow in the meantime i have been getting great winter shots outside with my cannon 1000d now, and have 50-250 lens for christmas also, can anyone help, what do i need to get to be able to connect the camera to the telescope, so i can take pictures, any help would be great:)

Any help ????

http://www.astronomyforbeginners.com/equipment/camera.php

thecretinhop

Yes, very handy,cheers, theres one thing the web is not short of is sites on telescopes... i used to be big into astromony when i was younger, its like learning to cycle it never leaves ye, i gave it up because i used live near airport, they upgraded lights a few years ago, couldnt see fk from then, me and missus now live in country walking dog has got me back into how great the sky is, love dslr photography, love telescopes, i feel i will be on this board a lot more from now on, massive thanks for flagging these telescopes, great stuff.

Ostrom

The mount is alt/az. It tracks in both so your images wont likely hold up at higher magnifications

premiercounty

A brand new lidl has opened up in Newbridge today. They have a good few of the ETX 70AT's left plus at least one of all the other models.. for anyone thats missed out.

superdog

dmkdr wrote: »

Thanks, superdog. Spoke to someone tonight who saw the ETX-70 in Lidl Carrigaline, which isn't too far away. She thought there was no tripod included - is that right? I might go ahead and order the ebay one just so I have it (not as good a deal al Lidl I'm sure, but it possibly does have a couple of extra bits included).

Hi dmkdr

there's definitely a tripod included. I'd say even if you rang around to the lidl stores in rural Cork they will know if it is still in.

thecretinhop

Yes there is a tripod, i was a bit confused about that also, did a check the last day to make sure, it struck me last night that im getting totally hooked into this.... just like my love for dslr cameras, theres always a better longer lens etc, it will be the same with the telesopes;)... something to look forward to etc

scrubber72

Hi all,
GF has gotten me on of those meade etx 70 scopes from lidl for christmas but like previous poster cant have it till the big day itself.
Since the recent metor shower i have been bursting to get it out :P but its hidden somewhere in the house and i am like a 8 year old searching high and low for it. Even went online to youtube to see what images where like through it and now cant wait till next friday.
Think i will wait until midnight thursday tell her its christmas day and beg to have a go but just my luck it probably will be clowdy for another week :rolleyes:
Gonna be on here quiet a lot i reckon once i am up and running
damn wish i could find the bloody thing.

Stargate

scrubber72 wrote: »

Hi all,
GF has gotten me on of those meade etx 70 scopes from lidl for christmas but like previous poster cant have it till the big day itself.
Since the recent metor shower i have been bursting to get it out :P but its hidden somewhere in the house and i am like a 8 year old searching high and low for it. Even went online to youtube to see what images where like through it and now cant wait till next friday.
Think i will wait until midnight thursday tell her its christmas day and beg to have a go but just my luck it probably will be clowdy for another week :rolleyes:
Gonna be on here quiet a lot i reckon once i am up and running
damn wish i could find the bloody thing.

LoL scrubber72 the box is fairly big , id say its not in the house at all if you cant find it

Popoutman

efla wrote: »

I'm concerned about the tracking though, the alt/az autotrack makes both vertical and horizontal adjustments and doesnt track in RA, so the image is never centred in the eyepiece.

The little scope tracks well enough to keep items centered in the field of view for minutes at a time.
For photography, the main issue is field rotation, which limits exposures to less than a few minutes.
This mount's tracking is perfect for for visual observing or photos of the Moon and brighter planets, but it's not actually good enough to do long exposure photography. It's not the fact that it is alt-az operation, more to do with the small vibrations and general lack of smoothness that comes with cheap plastic gears and a small gear size. If you have a piggy-back adapter to mount the dslr camera parallel to the scope then you would be able to take c. 2-5 minute photos of starfields

If you got a tripod adapter for the ETX scope and used it with a *good* stable tripod, you could mount the scope on the adapter, tilting the adapter to emulate a polar wedge (like this link http://www.atozastro.com/products/photo_tripod_adaptor.asp. This should give you polar tracking and the ability to get 20 minute or longer piggyback photos.

thecretinhop

lol! I was caught in the act "inspecting" it for a tripod... its since been hidden again, I agree I think its in her parents house now...

Stargate

thecretinhop wrote: »

lol! I was caught in the act "inspecting" it for a tripod... its since been hidden again, I agree I think its in her parents house now...

:rolleyes: kids :P

EPD

Stargate wrote: »

Any help ????

http://www.astronomyforbeginners.com/equipment/camera.php

Why go through the expense in getting attachments for cameras and the like so
you can get shots through your telescope.The simplest way to do it and a lot cheaper
is to use a Web cam,you can get some fantastic still and video using it,and there is some good free software on line you can use to stack your shots and edit e.g
Registax 5 is a good one.i use a Logitech web cam with some good results but there is a bit of work to the camera first.If you are interested in using a web cam {pm} me and ill enplane how to do it.Be prepared to butcher you web cam because you wont be able to use it for anything else bar astronomy.
EPD.

EPD

To any budding amateur astronomers out there and looking for a telescope i would strongly advise you to get onto the astronomy ireland web site before you pay out any money for a telescope,for the price you pay for a scope in the mentioned supermarket
you will get a very good scope if not better with high quality lens for the same price.
They will recommend whats best for you if you are only starting out or if you are more experienced, don't go for a telescope because it looks big and looks good, {big doesn't always mean its best}Get advice first and you wont be disappointed.
EPD.

scrubber72

Ha found it. well hidden though. Just have to wait till friday although all the cloud and snow wouldnt help.

Stargate

scrubber72 wrote: »

Ha found it. well hidden though. Just have to wait till friday although all the cloud and snow wouldnt help.

Ah come on scrubber , you have to tell us where it was after all that :rolleyes:

scrubber72

in the attic behind a water tank although i must say the other half did some job. It was bloody awkward to get it in there