AR6 Review by Mark Schilling

I ordered my scope November 18th so I was surprised when I
got a call last week from Anacortes notifying me that it
was ready to ship from Meade. They had originally quoted
Meade at 2-3 months.

BTW, Sarah Hodges is a wonderful sales person. I strongly
recommend Anacortes in general, and Sarah in particular, to
anyone interested in purchasing equipment from a group of
professionals who give very personalized and friendly
service.

The scope arrived yesterday. I was quite nervous about
what kind of condition the equipment would be in. Between
reports of factory defects and damage in shipping I was
very concerned about having problems right out of the box
and having to play the RMA game. I have to admit though,
that when I originally expressed my concerns to Sarah she
assured me that Meade had literally shipped thousands of
these scopes and that her experience with them had been
almost universally positive. She reminded me that people
are most likely to write about their experiences when they
are negative and that I should be careful when reading
between the lines of the message board testimonials.

I was at the front window when the UPS truck pulled up so I
got to watch the driver unload the boxes and carry them to
the door. I was surprised he didn't use a dolly but he
moved the boxes around with a satisfactory degree of care.
Given the horror stories I've heard on this board I was
half expecting him to throw the boxes to the ground and
then kick them up the driveway.

The "external" boxes had a few very small dings but the
"internal" boxes and styrofoam packing blocks more then
adequately protected the components. Yes, there were TWO
layers of boxes!

Two 5" sections of styrofoam were in fact broken off the
main "block" but they were chips off the outside of the
blocks and didnt' extend into the component area. I taped
them back in place because I intend to use the styrofoam
inserts to line my home-built cases.

All of the components were wrapped in seperate plastic bags
and taped closed. Nothing looked like it had been opened
and then re-taped and all of the components were SECURELY
wedged into their styrofoam slots.

I examined every piece individually for any signs of damage
or defect. I had read many stories about broken finder set
screws and lose components but everything I examined (with
2 small exceptions) was in perfectly good shape.

I was especially impressed with the wrapping of the OTA.
Not only was it wrapped in a large plastic bag but there
was also a close fitting layer of tissue paper around the
tube itself, protecting the lovely finish!

When I got it all unwrapped I looked everything over again
for any signs of damage or defect whatsoever. I even did
what you all recommended NOT doing which was to shine a
bright flashlight down into the main objective. I was
emotionally prepared to see lots of "debris" and was
utterly surprised to find absolutely NOTHING to mention.
There was no film on the elements, no flecks of paint or
signs of out-gassing. No fingerprints, smudges, bits of
missing coatings, dust between the elements, or loose
O-rings. I looked very closely all the way down the OTA to
the focus tube. I saw several baffles and everything was
painted with a nice even coat of flat black paint. There
was not a single imperfection that I could point to and go
- AHA! I was ready to make all kinds of allowances but it
was not necessary.

I did notice a fine 3" hairline crack in the side of the
dew-shield but it did not extend to either end and might
only have been in the finish as no light passed through it.
I have a feeling I know how it got there though. The only
other flaw that I found was that the dew-shield did not fit
into it's cowling, at the end of the OTA, all the way
around. It appeared that the diameter of the dew-shield
was slightly greater then the cowling it was intended to
fit within. I suspect that someone tried to squeese the
dew-shield a bit to get it to fit and in the process caused
the slight crack that I saw. Since the dew-shield is not
in the cowling all the way around I'm not sure what is
keeping it from falling all the way out but it actually
seems fairly secure. To be sure, I will take care not to
put any undue pressure on it.

I proceeded to assemble everything from the ground up.

If you are a first time telescope owner, like I am, I
recommend reading the assembly instructions before
attempting to put everything together. Not because the
assembly is not intuitive, but in a number of instances I
saw things that initially alarmed me, only to discover
later on that I didn't fully understand what I was looking
at.

For instance, when I set the mount onto the tripod head and
tightened the azimuth screws, I was shocked by how
insecurely the mount sat on the tripod. Only later did I
discover the large screw beneath the tripod head that
securely tightens the mount down onto the head.

From that point on I followed the assembly instructions and
everything went together just fine.

There are a couple of steps, like the one I mentioned
above, that if they are not done correctly I could see
where damage might result. Several of the components are
quite heavy and if the pieces are not assembled in the
right order very high loads could be placed on certain
components.

Properly balancing the scope in both axis of motion is
critical to smooth slewing. The instructions state that it
is necessary to make sure that the scope does not tilt on
its own in any direction when the Declination and R.A locks
are free.

I actually believe it is important to go further then this.
It is possible for the scope to not move on it's own and
yet still be relatively unbalanced, held in place only by
friction within the bearings.

I found that by exerting pressure on alternating sides of
the scope it was easier to tilt it in one direction then
the other. This indicated a slight imbalance, although not
quite sufficient to cause movement on it's own.

By adjusting the balance further I was eventually able to
get it to where equal pressure on either side was required
to move it. I'm sure this will translate into lesser loads
on the motors and a longer lifetime.

The tripod seems the weakest link in the whole assembly,
followed closely by the mount. I fail to see how all the
modifications people recommend for the legs can amount to
an adequate "solution" when the head of the tripod itself
is quite "wobbly". Yes, you may be able to dampen out
subtle vibrations, but there is so much play in most of the
mechanisms that undesired large-scale movement is all but
assured. Just pushing on the scope in different direction
causes a LOT of shift and tilt. Get everything locked down
as tight as you want, with spreaders and tensioners, and
then push down laterally on the tripod head. There is
nothing in the connection of the legs to the head that
prevents it from settling in the opposite direction by
several degrees.

I used to be a professional photographer and I would never
have tolerated such an unstable mount for my much lighter
weight camera gear. I simply cannot see how this fails to
adversely effect pointing accuracy and tracking.

Well, as they say, you seldom get something for nothing,
and the overall package appears to be well worth the tiny
price tag.

Since it is completely cloud-covered here in Cleveland I
was unable to perform a "real" alignment, so I did a fake
one in my living room. I also have not actually viewed
through the optics yet since I have nothing far enough
away, within reach of my living room window, to focus on.

GoTos seemed very smooth and precise. At one point I was
warned that a GoTo might result in the OTA hitting the
mount. I tried it anyway. Sure enough, the handle on the
bottom of the OTA contacted the tripod just as I aborted
the slew.

A small negative adjustment to the contrast and brightness
overcame the initial necessity of having to view the
AutoStar display at an angle in order to read it clearly.

I had previously purchased an Orion mirror-star diagonal to
replace the admittedly cheap looking diagonal that comes
with the scope (all plastic). In addition, I had bought a
Meade 18mm SWA and Meade 2x apo barlow, along with all of
the optional cables and power adapters.

I have a 58" payphone pedestal ($20 used) that I will be
using for a pier on my back deck. It is solid steel and
exactly the right height. It even has a cutout in the
front of it where I intend to mount a power/communications
connection panel.

I am also planning on purchasing a ToUCam Pro for
astro-imaging and already have the cables and adapters
required to drive the scope from my Visor Deluxe PDA and
from my laptop PC.

I'll let you all know how the rest of it goes. I am really
looking forward to all of the learning experiences ahead.

Not withstanding my comments about the tripod I am very
happy so far. Now if the clouds would only part for just a
little while...

Clear skies!

=====
Mark Schilling

"The most beautiful experience we can have is the mysterious ; it is the
fundamental emotion which stands at the cradle of true art and true
science." - Albert Einstein

41?34'12"N, 81?32'12.1"W