Meade Instruments – StarNavigator NG 102mm Aperture Computerized GoTo Refracting Astronomy Telescope w/AudioStar® 30,000+ Object-Database & Audio Tours – Mount & Tripod Included – Amateur Astronomer

I recently bought the Meade StarNavigator NG 102 for both casual terrestrial and celestial viewing. And for the upcoming August 21 solar eclipse (while using the Meade #525 Solar Filter). This is a nice starter scope. Easy to use and the motorized control makes aligning the optics a breeze, though the control cord is a little awkward and if pulled too hard can pull on the motor mechanism and change the view. Since I just bought the scope I'm not yet sure of all it's features. There is a special Red Dot Pre-Finder to help align the scope to it's target viewing. It gets you close, but is not spot on. Perhaps there is an adjustment procedure, but again, since I just bought it, I need to spend more time. Overall, I'm finding it to be a nice beginner refractor.

I was so much looking forward to this telescope. I even went ahead before it arrived and bought a Meade carrying bag for it. The AudioStar panel/device is a mess of a design. With buttons assigned too many functions at the same time, the setup process is a setup for failure to make it work correctly. The finder never worked properly, either. Never aligned properly. But most damning, and even when used manually, the lens are of a clearly inferior quality. I could not see any specific features of Jupiter or Saturn. Both planets looked too blurry. This telescope is comparable to a binocular with the same price or less. I ended up returning it to the seller. What I could not return though was the Meade carrying bag. Two emails and two phone calls to them and I am still waiting to hear anything from anybody on how to return the bag that I never used or will use. Do yourself a favor and use this money to buy a binocular if you must. You will get the same results and it will be much easier to use and carry around.

At $798 this is a total ripoff. Going elsewhere, brand new at $450.

Really love this telescopeIt is worth the moneyAnd the seller very nice

Excellent telescope, my granddaughter loves it.

Tripod is very shaky.

Amazing telescope and amazing for astrophotographers. It was better than I thought it was going to be. Absolutely love it!

Starting to like this scope. Being that this is the second one i've ever owned and i'm just now getting into astrophotography, i've found that this is an expensive hobby. I'm already looking to buy one larger. But this scope is amazing for planetary viewing and if the sky is dark enough a few DSOs. I do recommend buying a set of eyepieces as the ones that come with it are cheap, they work but they are cheap.