Telescopes (Meade ETX 70 & Skylux) in Lidl Monday 22nd N

hi all

is it my imagination or is that ETX70 made out of plastic? i was looking at the picture.....that scope is plastic, the mount is most definatley made of plastic there is to much glare of it to be anything else? as for the magnification it seems like 15x is all you get for good viewing anymore than that will be no good...i shall stick to my binos and leave the cr..p where it belongs :evil: i dont know how anyone can rate this scope for any beginner. people say dont buy from catalogues or certain high street shops as usauly the equipment is poor.......well here is an example of what not to buy...guys....your saying one thing and doing another. as a beginner myself i know this item is something i should keep clear of and save the money up for a better qaulity scope dont you agree?

maybe the scope might be good? maybe not.......if the beginners out there buy this scope and there happy with it..all is well and i will eat my words...if its not good......well it wasnt me that recommened it.

my main concern is how can a supermarket sell such a scope if its the genuine item and not a immitation? dont forget xmas is comming up soon isnt this the time to avoid junk scopes for your children and yourself? maybe ive lost the plot....and you all can slag me off for being honest but im the one keeping away from junk scopes and some of you are buying them.....why? so all the advice astronomy forums/magazines and so on give about not to buy junk scopes is all false? lidl is some kind of supermarket isnt it? my wife goes there shopping sometimes for household items.....would you normally buy a scope from a shop that sells food/other things? dont think so somehow.

well.....for what its worth i wont be getting it. even if it turns out to be a great scope? i wont be sorry for not getting it. its my loss. im sorry if this post sounds rude but i had to mention my opinion. most of you will probably attack my veiws? but im not at fault here im just stating the fact about junk scopes and places where there sold. if im wrong then what does it make the astronomers that give advice about junk scopes.

i think im in for a bad day for saying what i did but im glad its of my chest and wait for the replys if any?

hi all

is it my imagination or is that ETX70 made out of plastic? i was looking at the picture.....that scope is plastic, the mount is most definatley made of plastic there is to much glare of it to be anything else? as for the magnification it seems like 15x is all you get for good viewing anymore than that will be no good...i shall stick to my binos and leave the cr..p where it belongs :evil: i dont know how anyone can rate this scope for any beginner. people say dont buy from catalogues or certain high street shops as usauly the equipment is poor.......well here is an example of what not to buy...guys....your saying one thing and doing another. as a beginner myself i know this item is something i should keep clear of and save the money up for a better qaulity scope dont you agree?

maybe the scope might be good? maybe not.......if the beginners out there buy this scope and there happy with it..all is well and i will eat my words...if its not good......well it wasnt me that recommened it.

my main concern is how can a supermarket sell such a scope if its the genuine item and not a immitation? dont forget xmas is comming up soon isnt this the time to avoid junk scopes for your children and yourself? maybe ive lost the plot....and you all can slag me off for being honest but im the one keeping away from junk scopes and some of you are buying them.....why? so all the advice astronomy forums/magazines and so on give about not to buy junk scopes is all false? lidl is some kind of supermarket isnt it? my wife goes there shopping sometimes for household items.....would you normally buy a scope from a shop that sells food/other things? dont think so somehow.

well.....for what its worth i wont be getting it. even if it turns out to be a great scope? i wont be sorry for not getting it. its my loss. im sorry if this post sounds rude but i had to mention my opinion. most of you will probably attack my veiws? but im not at fault here im just stating the fact about junk scopes and places where there sold. if im wrong then what does it make the astronomers that give advice about junk scopes.

i think im in for a bad day for saying what i did but im glad its of my chest and wait for the replys if any?

i think your right when you say it is made out of plastic. but for the price they are aiming at you cannot really expect too much. the thing with this scope it is coming at a great price ( priced in england at £300) and from a telescope maker that is reputable. generally you could expect their optics even at the low end to be better than the plastic lenses of a tasco scope. if they are supplying it at a low price maybe the got a large amount of themm at a good price. most telescope suppliers in europe would be order ing them in their dozens at best rather than in bulk like they could. i don't think they would risk their reputation over trying to sell a few fake telescopes particularly when they are new in the market in this country. the choice is really up to yourself. you can ignore it and save for a larger more expensive scope. most people here who are recommending it already have decent scopes and are really recommending it as a cheap second scope that is very portable and has an electronic drive and controls.
stephen.

Hi Stephen

As you said the uk is selling them for 300 but if lidl did manage to buy a good quantity of these telescopes? How on earth then can a supermarket get at a small price for them?

If this is the case? Why cant the main telescope shops do the same….what’s so special about lidls that can manage this? Personally I wouldn’t buy it because to me it’s a junk scope whatever make it is. I know im negative about this because I have my suspicions to be. If they were selling them telescopes in your local sweetshop would you still buy it?

Im not asking people not to buy it….its there choice!! What I am saying all these years ive been interested in astronomy we have been advised to stay away from junk scopes in chemists/supermarkets. All of a sudden this lidls is selling this telescope and now its ok to buy from a supermarket. Its giving the wrong impression to the beginner. Is there one man here that can tell me im wrong in what im saying? Im sure someone will twist my words but at least im sticking to my beliefs.

169 for the scope……sorry I just cant see the rewards in getting it.

Orion.

There are loads and loads of Lidls, all over the place, not just in Ireland - usually telescope shops would only have one or two branches at the most. Lidl can afford to buy them in bulk because of this.

And Meade isn't a 'junk scope' brand. If this was a Tasco telescope you can be sure that people here wouldn't be as ready to buy it as they are now, but Meade are quite reputable, from what I've seen.

Hi,

maybe the scope might be good? maybe not.......if the beginners out there buy this scope and there happy with it..all is well and i will eat my words...if its not good......well it wasnt me that recommened it.

my main concern is how can a supermarket sell such a scope if its the genuine item and not a immitation? dont forget xmas is comming up soon isnt this the time to avoid junk scopes for your children and yourself? maybe ive lost the plot....and you all can slag me off for being honest but im the one keeping away from junk scopes and some of you are buying them.....why? so all the advice astronomy forums/magazines and so on give about not to buy junk scopes is all false? lidl is some kind of supermarket isnt it? my wife goes there shopping sometimes for household items.....would you normally buy a scope from a shop that sells food/other things? dont think so somehow.

I bought the skylux (cheaper scope) last time from lidl and have been happy with it. I do actually use it quite a bit for planetary/lunar when I cant be bothered taking out the 10". With decent eyepeices I think its a good scope. The more expensive one is a meade ETX-70, it ifs not then lidl will be getting sued from meade over trademarks! I dont own one of these but have used other peoples ones and its great for what it is, a small goto, with exactly the magnification and performance that you would expect from a short tube refractor.

The thing is that lidl have actually established themselves with a reputation for the optics in some of their specials. I own a pair of binoculars and a telescope from them and they have both performed as well as much more expensive equipment. Thats not to say that they wont turn around next week and sell a plastic tasco, in which case this board will be full of people advising not to buy it. The products they are selling on monday have an good track record for what they are, 70mm refractors, and imo are not junkscopes.

If there is a perception that this thread is advocating going and buying cheap scopes from a supermarket in general, then that is wrong. Its just these particular scopes that are a good deal. A Tasco at Tesco would not be!

As for the price, Meade is phasing out the ETX line and upgrading it, therefore I would suspect that lidl managed to buy a large chunk of existing stock at a discount directly from the factory in China. The Skylux comes with a Meade CD also so perhaps there is actually some agreement between lidl and meade to shift old kit that otherwise would become a liability on the books sitting in warehouses.

Cheers,
~Al

Al - is the current scope on offer for €60 a Skylux? There's no description of brand.

Also, would either (or both) of these serve any useful purpose as a finder, in you opinion?

And finally, do you know if *all* the Lidl stores will be carrying both of these products from Monday?

Cheers

Dave