The Meade 6" ETX-LS ACF

Click the link below to see Jonathon Margolis' informative video presentation of this extraordinary telescope:

Video tour of the Meade 6" Lightswitch

Complete Observatory! Meade ETX-LS 6" ACF Telescope with LightSwitch Technology

This Telescope is the most technologically advanced model available and is easily the easiest to use. With new LightSwitch technology and Advanced Coma Free optics this instrument is the most sophisticaed telescope on the market - by a generous margin.

Click the link below to read an early review of the Lightswitch telescope by Robert Dalby, founder of Astro Engineering:

The Meade 6" ETX-LS ACF Lightswitch telescope: A brief review

Meade's revolutionary ETX-LS LightSwitch telescope uses advanced technologies like GPS, LNT and ECLIPS CCD imaging to do what no other consumer telescope has done before: take all the hassle out of using a telescope.

Simply flip the switch and the ETX-LS automatically aligns itself.

Astronomer Insidecan then take you on a guided multimedia tour of the best objects in your sky.

The new aluminum mount is lightweight and portable, yet has a rigid structure with precision worm-gear drives for the ultimate in tracking and pointing accuracy. All this combined with Meade's Advanced Coma-Free optical system provides the stargazer with the most sophisticated, yet easiest to use telescope ever.

Meade takes out all the hassles and puts in all the fun. The revolutionary LightSwitch technology automatically delivers telescope location, time, date, orientation and alignment with the sky - all with a single touch. And thanks to Meade's exclusive Advanced Coma-Free optics, you see it all in stunning Ritchey-Chretien-like clarity. And with the Astronomer Inside comprehensive multi-media content, you experience the universe in a way you never have before. In short, the ETX-LS incorporates everything you've come to expect from Meade, the undisputed leader in innovation and quality.

Just look at all these radically new, cutting-edge features:

Light Switch Technology EASY, Automatic Self -Alignment Meade's patented automatic self-alignment system - just one touch and it does all of the work for you. No stars to center. No bearings to take. No time or location to enter. Just flip the switch, and the Integrated Sensor Module in combination with the ECLIPS(Electronically Controlled Locate Identify Position System) CCD imager delivers all the information necessary to automatically align your ETX-LS for fast, accurate, hassle-free viewing. All at the flip of a switch.

MEADE'S ASTRONOMER INSIDE Take a multi-media guided tour of the universe, or select your favorite object and the ETX-LS Astronomer Inside gives you fun and informative audio descriptions of over 500 objects while you view them in the eyepiece or experience the whole dazzling multi-media presentation on an attached video monitor complete with audio, video, still images and text.

ACF (Advanced Coma-Free) Optics SHARP, CLEAR, BRILLIANT

Meade's proprietary, Advanced Coma-Free optics will wow you at first sight. Distortion-free clarity. Sharpas- a-tack resolution. ACF's state-of-the-art optics are so good, you'll see more objects than you've ever thought possible. Just compare ACF to Ritchey-Chretien systems selling for $10,000 or more, and ACF's quality will absolutely astound you.

BUILT-IN IMAGING Excitement

The built-in ECLIPS CCD lets you capture images of your favorite celestial wonders and display them in real-time* or save them to an SD card, with no external computer needed. You can even connect and control another DSI CCD camera and view images on an external monitor or save the images to the SD card or an external computer. Either way, you can start astro-imaging on your first night out!

AutoStar III TOTAL CONTROL

The easy-to-use hand-held controller lets you select from a huge object database, with over 100,000 celestial objects. Just select an object and push the GoTo button and the telescope will automatically put your object in the eyepiece. The AutoStar III also gives you complete control of the Astronomer Inside multimedia features only available from Meade.

Specifications:

Optical System

Optical Design Advanced Coma-Free (ACF)

Primary Mirror Diameter 6" (152mm)

Primary Mirror Material Pyrex Glass

Focal Length, Focal Ratio 1524mm, f/10

Optical Coatings Ultra-High

Transmission Coatings (UHTC)

Resolving Power (arc seconds) 0.76

Limiting Visual Steller Magnitude 14

Mount

Mount Type Aluminum Single-Arm Fork

Altazimuth Drives 4.875 inch precision worm-gear

Power 8 "C" cell batteries or AC adapter Battery Life 3 to 5 hours

Tripod New Adjustable-height Steel Leg

Electronics

Controller Hand Box Autostar III

Processor 400 Megahertz Blackfin

Memory 256 Megabytes of NAND Flash

Storage Micro SD Card (user supplied)

Input/Output USB 2.0

Speaker Built in

Mount Connections USB, AutoStar Hand Box, 12v Power In, Electric Focuser, Audio Out, Video Out

Multimedia

Content Descriptions of the Planets, Moon, Stars, Clusters, Nebulae, Galaxies and More Audio Over 4 Hours Featuring the Voice of Sandy Wood From "Star Date" Video 30 Minutes of Movies and Annimations Plus Hundreds of Still Images