13 replies to this topic

[RickScofield]

A friend called Meade support regarding an issue with, his not yet 2 year old ETX90 and Meade Support told him that they do not repair ETX's that old. The ETX90 sold almost 2 years ago is the same as those being sold today so are these considered throw aways if they need repair? If this is true then how can Meade expect to sell them if they don't support them?
RickScofield

[MistrBadgr]

Hi Rick,

 

The ETX scopes are not designed for repair.  They are designed for replacement.  As I understand things and assuming that I am correct: If something goes wrong during warranty, the person simply send in the scope, Meade sends the person a new one, and the old one gets thrown away.  It is cheaper to do that than spend the shop time for repairs.  For a scope that is out of warranty, the person can send one in, pay some set fee, receive a new scope, and Meade throws the old one away.  Again, the people get the new scope for less than what the shop time would cost for repair.

 

Hope this helps,

 

Bill Steen

[RickScofield]

Bill,
Thank you. Shop time and labor costs would prohibit the ETX 90's repair. A new ETX 90 is around $425

[MistrBadgr]

Rick,

 

Your friend might want to call Meade Customer Support and ask about this.  The price for sending one in for repair/replacement from Meade for the DS mounts is $160, while the retail price is $225.  There may be a similar price reduction for an ETX, but I don't know for sure.

 

Bill

[RickScofield]

Bill,
Turned out to be a user issue that Support didn't catch. The ETX is alive and well.
Thank you,
RickScofield

[MistrBadgr]

Thanks, Rick!

 

That is good to hear.

 

Bill

[JupiterETX]

There's always Dr. Clay's Supercharge service.  Check it out here.  $375 for all ETX models and it has a good reputation.

[donald]

I take issue when someone says that the scope is a throw away and just go buy a new one.I'm glad that people have the money to just throw it away.Come on ,just where do people place their values.For the money that's paid for these scopes Meade ought to be ashamed of themselves #1 for making such a plastic geared unit that breaks down and constantly has issues, # 2 for having the gall to leave people stranded to go find someone to repair their cheaply made product. I thought that this is a hobby that we're supposed to have fun with and not an albatross around ones neck.If meades sales went down,we'de see how fast meade would pay attention to it's customers and repair scopes at a reasonable price. Hey Meade,either stand up and take responsability or get off the pot.

[MistrBadgr]

I appreciate your sentiments in that it does sound wrong to have a scope costing several hundred dollars being considered throw-away.  However, there are some points I would like to bring out.  The first one being that the plastic gears are, in truth, an upgrade from metal ones.  The original DS 2000 scopes had metal gears and they wore out rapidly, requiring fairly frequent replacement.  The situation changed with the use of plastic ones.  I have worked over many DS 2000 mounts with plastic gears and have tried to wear them down deliberately with metal working sand paper to change their shape.  Eventually, after many hours of work on one scope, I managed to get the shape I was trying for.  However, after that experience, I came to understand why Meade went to the particular plastic they are using.  I believe I will be long gone from this earth before any of those gears in my DS 2000 mounts will ever wear out!

 

The second point is to note the repair price offered by Dr. Clay.  The price is $375, which is a fair price for the time spent when someone completely goes through a scope, but is getting into the lower end of the list price range of even the newest ETX series.  I do not know for sure what the "repair" price Meade would charge for replacing a damaged scope after its warranty period, but it would be in keeping with an actual repair cost or less.

 

The third point I would like to make is that, as I understand the situation, both DS and ETX scopes, of the vintage mentioned, were made by a company in China and independent spare parts were simply not available to Meade.

 

A fourth point, though one that I think is unfortunate, is that the repair inquiry was made at the time the transition from the old series, which was no longer made, and the new series was being developed.

 

I have made an inquiry about the situation with the new ETX Observer series, which I believe is being made by a sister company in the Sunny system.  I will post any information I get in this thread.

 

Best Regards,

 

Bill Steen

[donald]

Thank you for the enlightenment of the gears,as for Meade backing up their product they seem to have a low rateing.If I were to buy a vehicle and after the warranty was out the company told me they wouldn't repair it and I wouldn't be able to buy parts for it I certainly wouldn't buy that vehicle again.Now it's like OK we just came out with a new scope so forget you as far as any problems with the scope you bought that ran out of warranty cause we want you to throw it out and buy our new one.I lucked out on finding someone to repair my scope.I hope that on the meade forums or other astronomy sites that a list of repair places or people who repair them be put so that people get a break.As I understand it DR. Clay puts in metal gears.It's like the example of buying an I phone for 500.00 then the next day a newer type phone goes on the market and yours is obsolete,(great).Meade came out with their observer of which I understand the difference is in the controller so why can't they take care of customers with older models and also like its competition, have a meade GPS module to add onto any meade scope.

[MistrBadgr]

I have often wondered why there is not a unit that could be mounted to, really, any scope, since there are cell phones that can show the night sky and you can move them around to see different parts of it on a screen.  Seems like there could be some brackets made by someone that could do that service.

 

As far as support for the older ETX scopes is that there is no connection any longer as it relates to the ETX with the manufacturing company...no parts, no drawings, no anything.  Any warranty issues, I am sure, will be honored in some way.  However, as I understand the situation with scopes out of warranty there is no direct support from Meade.  I will try to find out more information on this issue.

 

Bill Steen

[MistrBadgr]

I did receive some information about any of the older ETX scopes that have something go wrong with them while under warranty.  They will be swapped out for one of the new ones.

 

Bill Steen

[avatarWen]

Hello

[MistrBadgr]

Hello