Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

I'm taking a college Astronomy class and bought this as a last minute tool while on a VERY restricted budget. I have a little bit of previous experience with home telescopes but am a definite amateur. Telescopes can be very expensive and serve rather specialized purposes, but most people who want to buy their first telescope really don't know what they want, need something that's a good compromise in many areas so they can dabble and see what they like most in astronomy, and need something that wont break the bank in case they really don't get into observing much. The Meade Polaris 130 fits all those requirements and delivers a solid tool that (with a couple small upgrades) could serve well for a lifetime. I was surprised to find that most parts are metal and fairly sturdy. The scope's tube is steel. The EQ mount is heavy cast steel. The tripod legs are fairly thick steel tubing. The mirror is parabolic (which is a good thing, and somewhat surprising considering how cheap this package is). The aperture size of 130mm (5") is big enough to actually capture light to see many things in the night sky. The focuser is OK, it's built well with smooth action though it's a tad coarse, so at higher powers it can get a little tricky. The red dot finder that comes with this feels very cheap, yet it works very well and is easy to align with the scope and does a good job pointing the scope at objects. The EQ mount combined with the tripod is pretty sturdy for such a cheap package and is an important consideration as some cheap scopes really suffer in this area. The tripod comes pre-assembled so you just spread the legs, screw on the EQ mount, and then mount the scope. You certainly need to watch some videos to understand how to use an EQ mount if you haven't used one in the past, but it really boils down to pointing the scope at Polaris, locking down the main mounts solid, and then allowing the RA and Dec pivots to move freely so you can point the scope at other objects, and at that point you can track the object through its arcing path with a simple turn of a knob. It's well worth learning. In use, it does take some practice but after a couple hours of use it becomes pretty intuitive. The scope comes with 3 eyepieces and a barlow (2x multiplier) that are the weakest components in this package. The 26mm and 9mm are OK for starting out, but the 6mm is just about useless. These eyepieces will get you up and running but suffer from significant distortion from center to edge and are just not terribly clear. The very first upgrade you'll want for this scope would be some decent Plossl eyepieces. The scopes end cap dust cover can serve as a moon filter by popping out a small plug to restrict most incoming light when viewing a large bright moon. As for viewing with the included eyepieces you can certainly see a lot of great lunar details. You can see Jupiter and her moons and should be able to make out the colored bands, though with limited clarity. You can easily pick up many clusters and nebulae with the lower powered eyepieces if you learn where to look (get a star chart and/or download Stellarium for PC and StarChart for your mobile device). Try working through a list like the Messier program to give you an idea of what you should target. The scope will vibrate a small bit during focusing so you have to make small estimated focusing changes and wait just a short moment for it to settle but this is not unusual in a small cheap scope and mount. Overall, I think this scope is a great value that is well-built for the sub-200 price tag. Its weak eyepieces are typical of a cheap scope and you can't blame the manufacturer as very nice eyepieces can cost more than this entire package... they gave you something to get started with (some expensive scopes do not even come with an eyepiece as people prefer to chose their own) and you'll be doing the right thing when you buy one or more nicer eyepieces (Plossl's will start as low as $30/each) to upgrade this and enhance your observing experience for many years to come.