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[ star ]So you want to buy a refractor.....


You have a budget under 650$ and you are ready to start sky-observing. Everybody tells you that a pair of quality binoculars is a very good investment to get your feet wet in astronomy, but you want a scope. Probably you are considering several telescopes, and ... yes, why not, a #395 seems to be an interesting and promising one. Moreover, refractors are easy to use for starters and are virtually maintenance free, but you have heard that there are "good #395's" and "bad #395's". Please, continue reading...

The Meade #395 telescope is manufactured in Taiwan under poor quality control tests. This means that there is a enormous range in quality between #395's. People from the Internet and users of this scope range their opinions from being a simple imitation of a spectrometer to a telescope able to break the "50x per inch of aperture" rule. In other words, If you are going to buy this telescope, you can end up with a standard #395, an excellent #395 or a "lemon" #395. If you get a standard or better #395, then you will get a terrific price/performance telescope. So several questions appear here:

a) How can I minimize the probability of getting a "lemon 395"?
b) I own a #395. How can I know what type of #395 is it?
c) It appears my #395 is a "standard" one. How can I turbo-charge it?


The best answer to the first question is to test the telescope before buying, although usually this is impossible, because so many #395's are sold by mail-order. On the other hand, if you are going to buy a second-hand #395, then never buy it before testing it.

The only solution to this problem is to buy from the best reputable specialized Meade dealer you can find and always under a "No question asked, your money back guarantee" policy. Usually, these dealers exhibit a bit higher price tags for this scope, but you can't go wrong buying from them. If you get a "lemon" #395, don't doubt it for a second, ask for a new one or a refund. The problem is with Meade quality controls, not with you. Moreover is your money, isn't it?


Is not easy at all to answer the second question because quality perception varies from person to person. For example, a Takahashi user will always look a #395 in the same way a BMW owner looks towards a Ford Festiva. Anyway, here are several observing procedures in order to classify your scope:

First of all, choose a night with good seeing, and go to a suitable observing place (avoid to observe from inside your home, near a lake, ..., etc).

- Test the Moon at crescent: If you get optical observing problems viewing the moon (severe chromatic aberration, lack of sharpness and detail) then is time for a replacement.

- Test Jupiter: Try it at 100x with a good 10mm eyepiece. You must clearly see two main bands on it while the edge circular image of the planet must be sharp, although a bit of blue and/or yellow chromatic aberration is tolerable. This means a high probability that you've got at least a "standard" #395. In the last frontier of your vision, almost imaging it, you also should be able to see more very very faint banding in one hemisphere. After a while you should must also note faint irregular shapes on the two main bands of this planet (again in the last frontier of your vision).

- Find your way in the stars: Now point your scope high in the sky. At least 50 degrees in order to avoid some cubic kilometers of disturbing air. Aim your scope towards a bright star at high magnification and get it on focus. Now defocus it a bit in one direction and then defocus it in the another direction: If you've got a "standard" #395, then the defocused images should be very similar. If the defocused images are exactly the same, then you've got an A-class #395.


About turbo-charging your #395, every user wants to improve their telescope, so here is some advice in order to have a better #395:

First of all, you must always buy first-quality eyepieces. My recommendations are Celestron Ultima's, Televue Plossl's and Baader-Planetarium Eudiascopic's. Without doubt, other good models from other reputable makes work well also, but I have not tested them.

Of course, the supplied Meade SMA-25 is not a reference to test the scope. The quality of this eyepiece, as the scope itself, also varies a lot, so if you tested the moon with it and got LSD images, don't panic. Try you tests with good oculars. Anyway, a "good" SMA-25 must split the Trapezium in Orion into 4 stars.

Star diagonal: If you are not happy with your telescope, maybe a star-diagonal exchange can make a wonderful difference, but first, remove your supplied star-diagonal, put the ocular directly on the scope and perform the above tests with this setup. Obviously, if you can't observe better images, then replacing the star-diagonal is out of question.

My last advice is not about improving the optic characteristics of your #395, but its usability. Remove the supplied finderscope and get a reflex-type one. Probably, a Telrad is one of the best solutions in the market.


A Word about Televue's Ranger

Maybe for your 650$ budget you're also considering a Ranger from Televue. Well, first I must to say you a thing: The Ranger has the best quality optics in this price range on the market (the Meade ETX comes second), but you must also consider the following points:

- If you get a good #395 (not a lemon one), then you will get a fine optic system, with a maximum magnification of 180x and a resolution limit of 1.25 seconds of arc. On the other hand, the Ranger gets up to 140x and a resolution limit of 1.6 seconds of arc. A lot of people says that they can reach 200x and more with their Ranger, but here comes my second point:

- You must buy a tripod to observe the sky with the Ranger, and a very good one. I tried a Celestron Video-Tripod and it only was useful up to 40x. At only 64x I was really unable to track objects in the sky and to find anything (the Ranger doesn't include a finderscope). Yes, you can say me that you can buy a sturdy $$$ Great-Polaris equatorial mount for using the Ranger, but then...

- The Ranger is a wonderful ultra-portable scope. Don't even try to buy heavy mounts and track systems to it. With a very good tripod you can park your car in your favorite observing place and start to enjoy the sky only a minute after. The bottom line is that the Ranger is very useful as a wide field telescope but you must forget all about magnifications greater than 50x, astrophotography and deep-sky observing. If you intend to do 20% night sky observing and 80% nature, wildlife observing as a spotting scope, then buy the Ranger.

The #395 plays in another league. It doesn't have the optical quality of the Ranger, although it does have more aperture. It's not as portable as the Ranger and you'll need about 15 minutes in order to set up the scope and make an acceptable polar alignment, but you will learn how to use equatorial mounts and all about R.A. and declination. You can track planets and stars using only the R.A. control. Also is easy to get started in piggy-back astrophotography. In a word, you will become more "astro-involved".


Return to main Meade #395 Web Page, by Luis Argüelles.