Meade StarNavigator114 The StarNavigator114 is a fully GoTo digital telescope that includes Meades revolutionary AudioStar Computer Controller. AudioStar features our Astronomer Inside digital audio technology, which tells you interesting and educational information about a celestial object as you are viewing through the eyepiece. Its built-in speaker allows everyone around the telescope to listen and hear about the 500 plus celestial objects contained in its database, including planets, nebula, star clusters, our Moon and more. Size, shape, history, origin, and distance from our planet are a sample of what you will hear with Meades revolutionary AudioStar hand controller. Internal Clock. Set-up is quick and easy. Time and date are precisely calibrated at our factory. AutoStar Suite Astronomer Edition includes planetarium software and Instructional Videos to teach you the night sky and how to use your telescope. Assembles in minutes. Includes everything you need to explore your universe. A first look at the rings of Saturn or the craters of the Moon can inspire a lifetime of exploration. Go to any star party anywhere in the world and you'll see more Meade telescopes than any other. FEATURES: AudioStar handheld computerized controller automatically guides your telescope to over 30,000 objects. Astronomer Inside lets you listen thru the built-in speaker about the 500 plus objects in its database. Large 114mm diameter reflective mirror captures more light for brighter images and greater detail. AudioStar Multi-media Computer Controller.
Meade 8-Inch LX90-SC (f/10) Schmidt-Cassegrain Telescope
Learn more
The AudioStar computer controller helps you quickly find and GoTo over 30,000 objects in the night sky. View planets, stars, galaxies, nebulae, comets and more all at the push of a button. Dont know what you want to view this evening? Then go to the Tonights Best tour in your AudioStar. It automatically selects the best objects in the sky for that particular time and location. The AudioSta

Brand: Discovery Channel Model: STARNAVIGATOR114 Dimensions: 12.00" h x 17.00" w x 27.00" l, 24.44 pounds AudioStar handheld computerized controller automatically guides the telescope to over 30,000 objects Astronomer Inside provides audio educational information via a built-in speaker for over 500 objects Internet updates to keep the AutoStar current with software upgrades, guided tours and comets 2 Meade 1.25" eyepieces, MA25 mm and MA9 mm, for magnifications of 40x and 111x Large 114mm diameter reflective optical tube captures more light for brighter images

Most helpful customer reviews 17 of 17 people found the following review helpful. Surprisingly good little goto telescope By SteveDotNet I've owned a few of this type of AutoStar telescope before and had heard that Meade redesigned the Goto mount so I decided to get one. The quality of the StarNavigator is much improved over its predecessors. The tripod is a bit more solid and less shaky and the mount's goto accuracy is much improved. That being said, this isn't what I would call the ultimate beginner's telescope because AutoStar is a sophisticated combination of hardware and software (firmware actually). If you take some time to learn where the three or four brightest stars in your part of the sky are, the alignment process won't be an issue. But make sure you read the instructions a couple of times. AutoStar is a bit complex, but once you get the hang of the basics, it's pretty awesome. The AudioStar handset is the AutoStar software with tons of informative audio clips that play for a particular object as you view it through your eyepiece. As I said, I've owned a few of this telescope's predecessors so I had an a/c adapter handy. I would recommend this as an accessory to anyone thinking about buying this telescope. While it will run on 8 AA batteries for a few hours, as the batteries drain the mount's accuracy will decrease significantly. You can expect the Goto to be off after about 45 minutes of use on batteries. An a/c adapter for these telescopes can be found on Ebay or Amazon for about $20, about the cost of a few packs of batteries.
Definitely worth the price when you consider the replacement cost of batteries over time. I don't recommend rechargeables. They just don't perform very well. These telescopes do weird things when there isn't enough juice in the batteries for them to run correctly. The packaging and initial quality of the product out of the box is very good. The improved tripod is solid and steady enough for its product segment, the focuser is smooth and solid, the mirror was spotless, the collimation was dead on out of the box, and the eyepieces were decent given the price of the telescope. I set up the telescope, set the "High Precision" option to "On," went through the drive training process, aligned the red dot finder, and was ready to go for the evening. Pay attention to the "Train the Drives" instructions. You'll need to do that every few months to keep the mount accurate because it compensates for normal wear and tear on the gears inside the mount. Take a few minutes to watch the included DVD before taking the telescope out for the fist time. It will be very helpful. With an a/c adapter (not included), the telescope tracks accurately all night long. I went through the alignment process, chose M8 (The Lagoon Nebula) in the Summer Southern sky as my target, pressed Goto and the telescope fired up and moved to the South. Within a few seconds, M8 was centered in the eyepiece. I listened to the very cool AudioStar presentation, and left it there for a few hours just to see how it would do. M8 stayed in the eyepiece the entire time and the views were what I expected from a 4.5" telescope.
My previous experience with this type of telescope was with a DS2114-AT-TC and it was good for about 5 minutes before objects would start to drift, even with an a/c adapter. Apparently, Meade's efforts to redesign the internals of the Goto mount paid off. Bottom line: This is a great $200.00 Goto telescope. But you'll need to put in a little effort to learn how to use it. The AudioStar controller is a nice touch and has some very informative narrations. Get an a/c adapter. You'll be glad you did. Parting Advice: Find the nearest astronomy club. I had my first telescope for about a year before I knew to look for one. I learned more my first night out with the club than I had in the entire year I had owned my first telescope. Amateur astronomers are generally pretty friendly and love to help new folks learn how to use their