Lidl "Computer Telescope" forum

Hello all,

I managed to purchase one of the Lidl Meade ETX-70AT's in Balbriggan on Monday morning. I have had one ten-minute period in which to bring it out under the sky and just had a quick peep at the Moon. Seems fine.

Don't know anything about AutoStar, but am looking forward to seeing how well it tracks the stars.

This question has probably been asked already, but I'm interested in doing some wide-field piggyback work, plus some work through the eyepiece with my two digital cameras - Nikon Coolpix 4500 and Nikon D70 SLR. Anyone got any experience of astrophotography with this telescope?

Sorry for replying to my own post, but I've just ordered a piggyback mount for the ETX-70AT from Scopetronix:
www.scopetronix.com/piggyback.htm

It's $42.95. Should be good for some wide-field shots, even in alt-az mode. I'll let you know when it arrives and when I get a chance to test it.

Now that we have a load of ETX-70AT owners in the one place, this is the ideal forum for sharing information about our experiences. I'd love to know how easy/difficult it is to use the scope in equatorial mode.

But first things first, I have to find time to actually test the ETX - how long it takes to properly align the scope and how accurate the tracking is. Anyone get the chance to use their ETX yet?

In the meantime, three cheers for Lidl . . .

Hi Folks,
Got the first chance to use the new ETX lastnight. My first target was the moon, nice clear sky and a very bright moon. I had the scope pre-assembled so just attached the Barlow and bits n bobs and off out I went.
Got some lovely views of the moon anyway, craters, ridges etc. But thats when it happened. Now before I explain what happened, I kindly ask Mr. Orions Neb to refrain from guffawing and continuing his rant ; I'm looking for genuine comments please, no 'I told you so's.

I changed the lens to a higher magnification, and was in the process of focusing, when the focus knob dropped off the shaft and landed on the base of the scope. Luckily it didn't fall into any nooks or crannys on the ground.

It would seem that the focus knob is secured to the focus-shaft(?) by a screw that is tightened against the shaft, and then the base of the screw is removed at the factory so it appears nice and clean.

So I'm going to put the cogs in motion to try and get this sorted. I had another issue with the LCD display on the star-computer bit aswell. In daylight when the star-comp was off, there seemed to be a 'puddle' (for lack of a better word) of LC in the middle of the LCD that made it very hard the read the scrolling text when it was turned on.

Anyhooo. It appears I got the lemon of the bunch Not to worry though.
I know it might sound odd but I genuinely was impressed with the rest of the package. My previous scope was a Celestron reflector.......all very plasticy and wobbly compared to the Meade.

Anyone else having similar problems? Is the best course of action to go to LIDL or Meade directly?

Thanks in advance for any help!

K.

Hi Krusty,

I hope you'll get some result under the 5y guarantee terms first, but just in case...

Browsing the famous Weasner web site :roll: , I came accross this article (Johnís Repair Guide to an ETX-70AT) where the guy seemed to have a similar problem with his focus knob, www.weasner.com/etx/techtips/Cooney_70AT_Guide/70atguide.htm
Skip his intro and reach directly to :arrow: "The Damage" paragraph...

I hope it will help.

Cheers!

P.S.: Reading this forum, I realize how lucky I've been to catch one of those scopes at Lidl Shannon last Monday :shock:

This question has probably been asked already, but I'm interested in doing some wide-field piggyback work, plus some work through the eyepiece with my two digital cameras - Nikon Coolpix 4500 and Nikon D70 SLR. Anyone got any experience of astrophotography with this telescope?

Hi Anthony,
If the weather forecast is right for tommorrow night, then I'll be giving the camera a run on the scope, I dont have a counter balance yet but I figure that the camera (Canon 300D) might make the drive slip down, so I
only be trying moon shots, going on the focal length of the scope planetary images would only be posilbe with a webcam or something similar, should be fun.
You do not need to polar allign the scope or place it on a wedge for this!

once over guide/demo of the ETX

Looks interesting Dave, every club should have one, might even come up from Cork for this...........
Charles

everyones welcomes, obviously you dont have to be a member, just interested in astronomy.

It would seem that the focus knob is secured to the focus-shaft(?) by a screw that is tightened against the shaft, and then the base of the screw is removed at the factory so it appears nice and clean.

It's acutally a very small hex nut, and not a sawn off screw, well mine is anyway. Meade tend not to saw bits off, but they do tend to never use the same hex size twice so I have had to buy a complete set of imperial and metric allen keys to tweak my oter meade gear!

Allen keys that small are hard to find, so you will probably only find them in a machine shop, jewellers, model shop or opticians.

So your best bet is probably to take the scope to a jewellers.

Cheers,
~Al