Meade 2045 4" SCT

3.0 Meade 2045 LX

Portable, excellent grab and go.

Poor quality control and assembly

Built: Made of metal; aluminum and stainless steel. Rugged and solid.

Mount and drive: Dual fork mount with 12vdc quartz drive and compact 3 leg table tripod. If carefully polar aligned it can keep objects centered for long periods of time. I once compared its tracking ability with my Meade DS2000 mounted telescope. I used the Orion Nebula as the target. After two hours, both still had the nebula centered in their field of view.

Optics: Sharp images. The four stars in the trapezium in the Orion Nebula are easily seen under most seeing conditions.

Manufacture and Quality Control: Unacceptable. This scope has a reputation for fair to poor optics which I is think is not deserved. In my opinion, their problem was the poor quality control and sloppy assembly practices of Meade Corp. I purchased my scope new some 20 years ago. I never could collimate it and was extremely disappointed in its performance. The scope gathered dust on a shelf for most of the past 20 years and was used primarily for terrestrial viewing.

Recently, I dusted off the scope and said what the heck; why not try one more time to collimate it or give it to my grandson for a toy. In the process I measured the secondary mirror's position and found it was not centered in the corrector plate. The secondary is held by one screw that passes through a hole in the center of the corrector plate. The corrector plate hole is slightly larger than the secondary mounting screw; thus, it is easy to mount the secondary mirror off center. I centered the secondary mirror and finally after all these years was able to collimate the scope.

What a difference collimation makes. Sharp images of Jupiter and many of the brighter deep space objects. It has gone from being a hanger queen to my primary viewing scope. I have a goto DS2090AT-TC that I use to find my way around the heavens. I then find the object in my 2045 as its performance is superior to the 2090 refractor. I plan to purchase a larger scope (150-200 mm) soon. At that time, I will put the 2045 on my DS2000 mount as I must admit I need the aid of a goto to find most stuff and my grandson will get my 2090 refractor as a toy.

Note: On this scope, Meade does not mark the correct position of the primary mirror or corrector plate. If you dissemble it, make sure you place marks so that you can properly align the primary mirror to the corrector plate. The absence of these markings makes me suspect that Meade never did match the corrector plate and primary mirror for these scopes; however, this is speculation as I really don't know.

Synopsis: After finally finding and correcting the problem of the off-centered secondary mirror, I am at last very happy with my Meade 2045 SCT. It is small and compact; a perfect grab and go scope. If you come across one and don’t mind tinkering a bit to make sure it is properly aligned, it makes a great first scope for someone or a grab and go. The scope and three legs of the table tripod easily fits in a salesman’s travel case and has no problem fitting underneath the seat in front and can go with you on vacations.

Specifications:
Optical design: Schmidt Cassegrain Catadioptric
Clear Aperture: 102mm
Focal Length: 1000mm
Focal Ratio: f/10
Near Focus: 15 feet
Resolution: 1.1 arc secs
35mm angular film coverage: 1.38’x1.96’
Telescope mounting: Fork type, double tine
Electronic motor: 12Vdc Pulse motor
Setting Circle diameters: Dec- inches; R.A. - 6 inches
Manual Slow motion controls: Dec and RA
Optical tube size: 4.6 inches dia x 10 inches long
Secondary mirror obstruction: 1.8 inches Dia; 20%
Telescope size swung down: 7x10x11 inches
Net weight: 12 pounds