Meade Instruments

Ratings:Top:Astronomy:Places To Buy:Meade Instruments

 Info  Votes  Messages  More Stats  Up One Level
Vote
Page 1 of 2 Next

Meade Instruments
If you buy a Meade scope, pray it doesn't need to be sent back to Meade. I can't think of any other company with a customer service staff as completely useless as Meade. I honestly believe that there isn't a soul there: John Piper, Ossie Ossly, Amy Harrington, Mike, or William that knows the difference between their butt and a hole in the ground. Either that or they've got the stupid act down cold. I had to send a scope back to them for repairs. Each time when I called to check on the scope, no one there could give me a straight answer as to where the telescope was as far a being repaired. Since all telescopes that are damaged and sent back are put back on the assembly line, they should be able to tell you exactly where it is located. No! Each time I called I got a different answer. One time when I called they said it was in shipping ready to be shipped. When I called a week later to see if it had been shipped, they said it was going through Quality Assurance. They also said it was supposed to be shipped UPS. It came back via ABF freight. Amy Harrington was supposed to call me back 3 times. She never called once! She is completely useless in my book. I sure hope Meade improves their customer relations. If something else goes wrong with the scope, I am selling it as is and buying a different brand. Are you listening Meade?!

Overall Rating: 2
Weight: 1 (Unreliable Vote)
Date:
By:
Link to this vote: http://www.excelsis.com/1.0/displayvote.php?voteid=45859

Meade Instruments
Very good service in delivering a "old"handcontroller for their LX-3 mount

Overall Rating: 10
Weight: 1 (Unreliable Vote)
Date:
By:
Link to this vote: http://www.excelsis.com/1.0/displayvote.php?voteid=45860

Meade Instruments
I have mixed opinions about Meade. I had a problem with a leg on my tripod and they sent a new one out right away. I also called to find out exactly what the spec numbers meant on the back of my Meade mirror and noone not even there so called optics shop could tell me what the numbers were. Who handwrote those numbers at meade if no one knows what they mean.

Overall Rating: 5
Weight: 1 (Unreliable Vote)
Date:
By:
Link to this vote: http://www.excelsis.com/1.0/displayvote.php?voteid=45863

Meade Instruments
How can I define "incompetence"? I'll give it my best shot.
They're Customer "Service" Dept. is an utter joke. John Piper, Ossie Ossly, Amy Harrington, Paul and William are a major liability to this company. They are completely unprofessional, uncaring, and simply ignore you, your concerns, and the terms of your warranty. When you purchase a $2,400 Meade LX200 which does not work right, you should expect to be treated with a certain level of professionalism and fairness. I am sworn to never purchase any Meade product of any kind ever again. They suck!!

Overall Rating: 1
Weight: 1 (Unreliable Vote)
Date:
By:
Link to this vote: http://www.excelsis.com/1.0/displayvote.php?voteid=45864

Meade Instruments
I too have "mixed feelings" about Meade. They refused to honor their lifetime warranty on the Meade LX5 telescope, which they marketed with a lifetime warranty at the time.(minus 2 points) They did a great job of fixing the scope however, they shipped the scope back without a mirror retaining bolt, which the manual clearly states never ship the scope without it. (minus 1 point) WERE THEIR QUALITY ASSURANCE FOLKS ASLEEP?

They also shipped the scope back with the wrong controller,(minus 1 point) they gave me someone elses LX200 controller, when advised they shipped it immediately, and asked me to ship back the LX200 controller which I did though they never sent me the money to ship their mistake back (Minus another point).

Finally, I wrote John Diebel the owner and CEO and did not receive any reply. (minus one more point) They are better than Celestron, where I have encountered much worse customer service. WIsh there was another company I could deal with.

Overall Rating: 4
Weight: 1 (Unreliable Vote)
Date:
By:
Link to this vote: http://www.excelsis.com/1.0/displayvote.php?voteid=45865

Meade Instruments
Interesting post about the lifetime warranty they touted several years ago. I also had a 2120 LX-5 that I purchased as a first telescope. Several years later with more experience, I found that the optics were pretty bad. I wrote customer service at Meade to find out what to do and later talked to them on the phone. The customer service guy told me that once a customer uses the scope and dosen't complain, then they consider him satisfied. That's fine if you know what quality is. I then asked about the lifetime warranty and he told me that it did not exsist. I asked him if he wanted a copy of the Astronomy Magazine Article from several years ago in which they tested a Meade SCT. It's optics were as bad as mine and they sent it back. In the article, Meade is quoted as saying that they would fix optical defects in any Meade telescope regardless of age. The response to that was basically sorry, but no, but I could pay them $500+ for new optics. No thanks Meade, you already got enough of my money.

Overall Rating: No Vote
Weight: <none>
Date:
By:
Link to this vote: http://www.excelsis.com/1.0/displayvote.php?voteid=45866

Meade Instruments
I had a problem with my 6"starfinder pier losing about 7minutes per hour,i did all the checks as far as properly having both axis balanced,when i finally called Meade about this they said they would send me out a replacement board and motor,it arrived in about 3 days,i put installed the new parts and this set was worse than the 1st set it lost about 10 minutes per hour,back on the phone to meade and they said they would send out another board and motor,this set arrived in about the same amount of time and i installed this set of parts,these fixed the time lose in the tracking but now it tracked backwards lol,to make this shorter i ended up using the 3rd motor(the motor was the problem all along)and the 2nd board.I believe the Meade reps handled this ver well and said they were more than willing to replace the mount if the last package didn't fix my tracking problem.I've heard alot of bad about Meade and i agree that they're qaulity control needs helps,but they're service reps i felt was very good and prompt.If you guys think Meade is bad just try dealing with Celestron lol!
My rating of 7 should really be a 7+

Happy Gazing !!!!!

Overall Rating: 7
Weight: 1 (Unreliable Vote)
Date:
By:
Link to this vote: http://www.excelsis.com/1.0/displayvote.php?voteid=45867

Meade Instruments
March 25,2001
Dennis R Berg
Bismarck,ND

I have to say Craig and his staff at OPT are the most friendly,courteous and knew what they were talking about when I ordered a Meade LX200 10" scope. All accessories arrived with the scope when requested so I did not have to wait to start viewing. Craig even followed up with me to make sure I had everything. Everything I have needed has been in stock at OPT so there has been no waiting. As long as I am watching the stars and doing photography, I will keep on doing business with OPT and recommend them to others.

Overall Rating: 10
Weight: 1 (Unreliable Vote)
Date:
By:
Link to this vote: http://www.excelsis.com/1.0/displayvote.php?voteid=45868

Meade Instruments
I wish you people would get off of Meade! In any business there will be some failures by employees. I am not aware of any business that I have had dealings with have been perfect. Most of you who complain the most heatedly, it was probably your lack of knowledge that was the main problem.

Overall Rating: 10
Weight: 1 (Unreliable Vote)
Date:
By:
Link to this vote: http://www.excelsis.com/1.0/displayvote.php?voteid=45869

Meade Instruments
I have bought one Meade telescope from meade. It was the LXD500 8" SCT. Everything arrived in perfect condition. The optics meet all the specs. I also bought the dual axis drive for the mount which was broken. So i called Meade. They were very friendly and helpful. I sent back it back and a new one arrived in about a week. It worked great. I would definitly buy from Meade again. Right now im considering buying a 12" LX200.

Overall Rating: 9
Weight: 1 (Unreliable Vote)
Date:
By:
Link to this vote: http://www.excelsis.com/1.0/displayvote.php?voteid=45870

Meade Instruments
I bought a 8"Meade reflector that was the poorest excuse for a scope I ever saw.I sent it back for a refund and got ripped off for over $100 plus shipping. I make it a point never to buy anything Meade makes. Their reflectors are cheap third world JUNK!!!!

Overall Rating: 0
Weight: 1 (Unreliable Vote)
Date:
By:
Link to this vote: http://www.excelsis.com/1.0/displayvote.php?voteid=45871

Meade Instruments
I feel that the support is fine. I have been waiting almost three months for a back ordered tripod and the telescope did not work properly when I bought it. It took about a month to resolve the problem.

Overall Rating: 5
Weight: 1 (Unreliable Vote)
Date:
By:
Link to this vote: http://www.excelsis.com/1.0/displayvote.php?voteid=45872

Meade Instruments
If you go to the Better Business Bureau web site www.bbbsouthland.org/howtoreport.html, for the Los Angeles area and put in Meade, you will get a reliability report for Meade Instruments. The Better Business Bureau is has no interest in astronomy so you wil get an objective report on Meade as a company.

Overall Rating: No Vote
Weight: <none>
Date:
By:
Link to this vote: http://www.excelsis.com/1.0/displayvote.php?voteid=45873

Meade Instruments
I have a Meade LX200 8" which I bought used. I also bought a used Meade wedge, which did not come with any bolts for attaching to the LX200 base. I called Meade to purchase some, and they told me they would send them out to me FREE of CHARGE!!! I informed them that I had purchades both items used, but they said that was okay, they take care of their users. I for one am convinced, my next scope purchase will be a larger Meade.
ericrobinson@charter.net

Overall Rating: 10
Weight: 1 (Unreliable Vote)
Date:
By:
Link to this vote: http://www.excelsis.com/1.0/displayvote.php?voteid=45874

Meade Instruments
Yo tengo el meade lx-5, y desde luego se trata de un buen aparato. El tripode que incorpora es el mismo que el del modelo superior Lx-200. El mando de control que incorpora puede modificar la velocidad del motor de AR a 8x y 2x,y el de declinacion (incluyendo el motor adaptado), ademas de sincronizarlo a la velocidad de la Luna, Solar o Sidereo. Se puede controlar el enfoque e incliso incluye una pequeña linterna roja.El panel de control de la base tiene muchas mas funciones que el Lx-10, incluso que el Lx-50. He estado buscando por Internet mas informacion sobre este modelo y no he encontrado nada, es un modelo que pasó casi inadvertido por el mercado que por lo visto surgió como respuesta a la competitividad de celestron C8 y parece que lo vencía tecnicamente en mucho. No he encontrado mas un buscador con reticula iluminada de un tamaño tan considerable ¡¡9x60!!, un espejo diagonal de dos pulgadas. El sobrenombre que se le daba a este modelo era el de QUARTZ. No entiendo porque MEADE no incluye los manuales de instrucciones de los modelos anteriores, Celestron aún mantiene los del C8 en formato PDF. Piensen que aquellos que adquirieron el aparato con "garantía de por vida", han perdido los manuales y tienen derecho a recuperarlos aunque sea por este sistema digital. Reivindico una vision retrospectiva de los modelos que se han dejado de fabricar, por parte de Meade y Celestron...

Overall Rating: No Vote
Weight: <none>
Date:
By:
Link to this vote: http://www.excelsis.com/1.0/displayvote.php?voteid=45875

Meade Instruments
Personally, my piece of meade equipment (Lxd-500 102/achr) was very well put together and gives me super images. I soon found out that my viewfinder would not focus to infiniti. Without any questions asked, the sent out a new one and it was on my doorstep in a week. I also stripped a screw (whoops) while configuring my mount and they sent out another, again with no questions asked. That service gives Meade a 10.

HOWEVER, the people there that are supposed to help you are idiots. They sound like they just got over a hangover and do not answer questions well at all. If i were to talk to one one the street about astronomy, i would never ever guess that they had a telescope, let alone answered questions about your telescope. This takes it down 3 points.

Overall Rating: 7
Weight: 1 (Unreliable Vote)
Date:
By:
Link to this vote: http://www.excelsis.com/1.0/displayvote.php?voteid=45876

Meade Instruments
I have been dealing with Orion for two years now and the service is excellent.
had to problems. Very good company to do business with.
5/20/01/jzazza

Overall Rating: 10
Weight: 1 (Unreliable Vote)
Date:
By:
Link to this vote: http://www.excelsis.com/1.0/displayvote.php?voteid=45877

Meade Instruments
Who says Meade doesn't have an Email address? I found one, sent my concerns about Dec lock adjustment and low and behold, got a telephone call about a week and a half later.
This for a pre-owned LX10..........WoW!! However, when prompted about OTA alignment, they insisted the scope would have to be shipped back to Meade. I'll handle it through MAPUG but I was impressed. I purchased through dealer KHAN SCOPE in Toronto. When called, they promptly passed the buck on to MEADE, who it seems, will go out of the way to help. Perhaps it's in the presentation.

Overall Rating: 8
Weight: 1 (Unreliable Vote)
Date:
By:
Link to this vote: http://www.excelsis.com/1.0/displayvote.php?voteid=45878

Meade Instruments
I made a Pre-Mature rating of Meade. I would like to say that, in my case, their customer service is great. They send you out things with no argument and help you solve the problems you have. Please disregard my negative remark above.
Their customer support is very, very good.

Overall Rating: No Vote
Weight: <none>
Date:
By:
Link to this vote: http://www.excelsis.com/1.0/displayvote.php?voteid=45879

Meade Instruments
I have owned a 8", 10" and 12" SCT. The only scope I had trouble with was a brand new 10" LX200. The dec motor did not work right out of the box. Of course with anything mechanical and computerized there is a chance for problems. How many people have bought a "PERFECT" brand new car without a single defect? Nobody, I would bet. Yet they cost thousands more than a scope and we accept the car as is. My dealings have all been first rate and very fair. Anything I have needed was handled immediately and parts shipped overnight. I don't know about some of the other people above, but from my dealings I find some of the complaints hard to believe.

Overall Rating: 10
Weight: 1 (Unreliable Vote)
Date:
By:
Link to this vote: http://www.excelsis.com/1.0/displayvote.php?voteid=45880

Page 1 of 2 Next

[Click Here to Login]
Don't have a login? Register!

Starting out in Amateur Astronomy
 
How to use This Site
Why Register?
Voting Guide