Meade DS-2114ATS

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Meade DS-2114ATS
Had to return first 2114 for a bad mounting system- the nut on the base would strip out because the screw that attaches it to the tripod was too short and would only lock onto about three threads. Second one a little better, but the focuser had way too much play, and poor optics, unless the only thing you want to look at is the moon at o.k. detail. yes, I collimated it. yes, i waited for it to cool down. overall just cheaply built. the store manager said he's had to take returns on over half his stock on this model. 'nuff said right there.

Overall Rating: 4
Optics:4 Mount:4 Ease of Use:7 Value:4
Weight: 1 (Unreliable Vote)
Date:
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Link to this vote: http://excelsis.com/1.0/displayvote.php?voteid=55096

Meade DS-2114ATS
This scope actually comes with 2 eyepieces not 3, very difficult to focus in on objects, it is good at looking at moon or terestial sights..but for deep space..well it does not focus well focuser is shotty made could be smoother.

Overall Rating: 5
Optics:4 Mount:8 Ease of Use:3 Value:9
Weight: 10 (Trustworthy Vote)
Date:
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Link to this vote: http://excelsis.com/1.0/displayvote.php?voteid=57093

Meade DS-2114ATS
A good scope for the price....
Optics: After a small collimation adjustment i had perfect stable image on moon and deepsky. If the focuser had been better (too loose) i would rate it 9. With a little effort and some work you can improve the focuser.
The viewfinder has a wide and clear view, only the focus ring of the viewfinder is a pain. But you wont need it much

Mount: Allumium mount, pretty stable with a useless 'table' that's doomed to break one day. (but u dont have to mount it)

Ease of use: Autostar is great. Take some time to read its options, setup, drive training and how to allign the scope. Once alligned it brings every object almost centered in the scope (using 25mm occ)
Make sure you lock the motors firmly, otherwise you won't see anything. If you select an object from the Autostar database, you can get extra info, like magnitude...so you know what to expect (it has a magnitude of 11.4 so dont try objects of higher magnitude..... pitch black)

Value: Cheap for what it does.

Overall: This scope has a lot of critism and i agree its cheap built on some parts (focuser). If you take good care of the scope it will last. Dont expect too much from the scope, like always the pictures on the box or better than the actual view. I guess expectation is the key of finding a good scoop. I am very pleased with this telescoop and would recommend it to beginners who already tried some astronomy.
There are better telescopes but not for this price and not with the Autostar wich is great for learning.
Last night I showed it to my sister-in-law. It was almost full moon, lots of clouds (had to search for holes in the clouds) and we live in the middle of a metropole. Within a few minutes we had a pretty good view of the Andromeda Galaxy. How about that.

Overall Rating: 8
Optics:8 Mount:7 Ease of Use:8 Value:10
Weight: 5 (Veritable Vote)
Date:
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Link to this vote: http://excelsis.com/1.0/displayvote.php?voteid=135072

Meade DS-2114ATS
Great scope for the money.

Optics use a relay lens (like a built in barlow) to achieve longer focal length - degrades images slightly over a true newtonian. Images are acceptable - definitely does well on deep sky.

Very portable and light - not so stable if the wind blows too hard. Heavier legs would fix this.

Autostar works quite well - there is a bit of a learning curve.

There is lots of help available for this telescope at:

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Meade-DS-Telescopes/

Overall Rating: 7
Optics:6 Mount:7 Ease of Use:5 Value:7
Weight: 5 (Veritable Vote)
Date:
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Link to this vote: http://excelsis.com/1.0/displayvote.php?voteid=192132

Meade DS-2114ATS
Very difficult to focus,too light weight for field use,way too much "cheap feel" plastic,i sent mine back!!!

Overall Rating: 1
Optics:1 Mount:1 Ease of Use:1 Value:1
Weight: 5 (Veritable Vote)
Date:
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Link to this vote: http://excelsis.com/1.0/displayvote.php?voteid=217336

Meade DS-2114ATS
Terrible eye pieces. The focuser is pure garbage. The finder scope is junk with a plastic lens. Collimation is a pain in the butt.The mount isn't much better. Don't waste your money on this telescope. For the price, one could buy a Dob or an entry level refractor and do much better.

Overall Rating: 3
Optics:4 Mount:4 Ease of Use:5 Value:2
Weight: 1 (Unreliable Vote)
Date:
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Link to this vote: http://excelsis.com/1.0/displayvote.php?voteid=405747

Meade DS-2114ATS
I wish I had found this review page before buying this telescope. Thank goodness I didn't pay anywhere near $495 or the value would have been a zero. My problem, however, could be that I might be surrounded by too much light which hampers my ability to view anything very well. I got this as an upgrade from the DS-114-AT, and I actually paid less. The 2114 was a lot lighter and easier to use, but I never saw what I went out looking for.

Overall Rating: 5
Optics:3 Mount:8 Ease of Use:7 Value:5
Weight: 1 (Unreliable Vote)
Date:
By:
Link to this vote: http://excelsis.com/1.0/displayvote.php?voteid=431443

Meade DS-2114ATS
This is a great looking 'marketing' telescope. Looks great on pictures, in your living room and catalogs. But what an experience when you actually hold it in your hands: plastic, plastic and plastic. yes, did I say plastic? The tube itself is made out of 'food-can-tin'. I need to hang a cinder block from the center of the tripod to get some stability out of it.
First night out: Initialized the 'Go To' computer - the tube started spinning to find north - and kept spinning - and spinning - until the batteries went dead.
Called Meade customer support the next day. They should name it 'Customer Lottery' - I've waited more than 30 min before I got an representative (my guess: He's the ONLY one doing phone). So, I said 'good-bye' to my new toy and sent it in.
Update 3 weeks later: I tried calling Meade - waited more than 1 hour on the phone (I guess they fired the one and only man) - I've sent emails - guess what - no response -
So, I can't really say anything about the optical quality of the telescope since I couldn't use it. But I absolutely can rate Meade's costumer service: it's an "F"

Imagine you would have spent big bucks on Meade. They all call the same number, they all get the same 'lottery' - yikes

Overall Rating: 2
Mount:2 Ease of Use:3 Value:1
Weight: 1 (Unreliable Vote)
Date:
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Link to this vote: http://excelsis.com/1.0/displayvote.php?voteid=553029

Meade DS-2114ATS
The telescope being reviewed here is the Meade DS2114ATS-LNT, which is not listed in the telescope reviews. This model incorporates Meade's Level North Technology (hence the LNT designation), a SmartFinder instead of a finder scope, and includes Meade Series 4000 eyepieces in 26mm and 9.7mm focal lengths. These are the same Chinese-made eyepieces that have been blasted by other reviewers. It requires just eight AA batteries and not the nine-volt battery mentioned above.

The one-size-fits-all-DS-telescopes manual may be confusing to many newbies, and even experienced amateurs may find it difficult to find the information they are looking for. Meade could have provided a more useful manual by printing a separate manual for each scope and providing a simple star chart for the alignment stars -- and saved paper in the process.

Assembly is straightforward, but don't expect to be able to take this telescope to the back yard, fire it up, and have it find all those beautiful celestial objects you are waiting impatiently to see. Go through the setup procedure methodically, including the Calibrate Sensors and Calibrate Motor procedures (page 27 in my manual).

The scope offers three choices for alignment: (1) Easy, in which the scope levels and aligns itself with north, then chooses two stars for the user to align on; (2) One Star, in which the scope does its level-north thing and then allows the user to select a single star to align on; and (3) Two Star, in which the AutoStar presents a message instructing the user to level and align the scope manually(!), after which the user is propmted to select two stars to align on. Regardless what the folks at Meade may say, this third option has a serious bug -- it by-passes the Level North Technology! To work around this I selecting Easy (or One Star) alignment, allow the scope to level and align itself, then turn it off before it slews to the first alignment star. When the scope is turned on again, it is aligned for the start of the Two Star alignment.

Using the SmartFinder is like aiming a gun with only one sight. I marked cross hairs on mine with a Sharpie to facilitate finding objects. When slewing to the first alignment star, the scope is often off by as much as 5 degrees. There is a search option that slowly spirals outward until the target is found, but this is time-consuming, so you will probably find yourself using the SmartFinder often.

Once properly set up and aligned, the scope is able to find objects quite well. Although not rock-steady, the mount is quite stable for a scope in this class. In a quick test on about 20 objects, all were within the view of the 26mm eyepiece. Views of the moon were quite impressive at 38X and 103X; at higher magnifications up to 206X with a low-end Barlow the images became soft but still usable. The Orion Nebula in moderately light-polluted skies was easily visible, but somewhat unimpressive, indistinguishable from a tiny, high cloud. It would probably be much better with dark skies or a light pollution filter. Mars had so much flare that accurate focusing was impossible and not detail could be seen.

The software is upgradable, but only by purchasing an optional module. I find this incredible -- I can think of no other advanced microprocessor/microcontroller device I own that is not upgradable out of the box. In production, the cost is pocket change these. For example, one line of microcontrollers requires only a small change in the circuit board and a USB connector, along with a USB cable and software for the computer to which it will be connected.

And speaking of software, that supplied with this scope is on a DVD, which cannot be read by a CD-ROM drive.

I rate the optics 5 (mediocre) because they are satisfactory for this class of scope, but nothing spectacular. Ease of use is 6 because there is a definite learning curve, an unsatisfactory viewfinder, and a bug in the Two Star alignment. Value is nine because, in spite of the drawbacks, the scope offers a lot for the going price of around $300.

Overall Rating: 7
Optics:5 Mount:8 Ease of Use:6 Value:9
Weight: 1 (Unreliable Vote)
Date:
By:
Link to this vote: http://excelsis.com/1.0/displayvote.php?voteid=572402

Meade DS-2114ATS
ამბობს:martlai. xar. egeni arian kurdglebi, evproa marto politikuri kavshiria erti amerikas aqvs cota kvercxebi mara isic aridebs tavs problemebs.VN:F [1.9.10_1130]please wait...VN:F [1.9.10_1130](from 0 votes)

Overall Rating: 3
Optics:5 Mount:0 Ease of Use:8 Value:3
Weight: 1 (Unreliable Vote)
Date:
By:
Link to this vote: http://excelsis.com/1.0/displayvote.php?voteid=603896

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