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Meade Instruments LS 6" ACF- 6" LS LightSwitch Telescope - ACF Optics
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Sky & Telescope Hot Products 2010 WInner!
- The Meade 6" LS ACF Telescope features patented LightSwitch™ Technology for complete, stress-free user alignment.
- The Meade LS-6 ACF telescope Astronomer-Inside™ provides a full audio/visual lesson guide to enhance your experience.
- Engineered with a built-in Integrated Sensor Module (ISM) which includes GPS and Level North Technology (LNT™) sensors.
- The Meade LS-6 telescope includes the built-in ECLIPS™ CCD Camera, able to capture and display images right at the scope - or store for later use!
- See the long description for the latest information on LS firmware updates.
- Buy this telescope and receive a FREE LCD Color Monitor! Find out how by clicking on the Sales tab to your left! Already made your purchase? Don’t forget your rebate form!
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Meade - 6" LS-6 ACF Telescope with LightSwitch Technology & Built-in Imager
 For a lot of telescope users, aligning the telescope is always a frustrating experience - even when it is considered a "Go To". There's always something you have to know... Be it the perfectly correct time, the date, your latitude or longitude. How many new users have been stumped by not knowing the names of the alignment stars? Or not being able to see an alignment star that is blocked by a tree or a house? All of these little things can add up to beginning an observing evening in an unpleasant way and that's not what enjoying astronomy is all about. Now imagine yourself setting up a very portable telescope called the Meade LS-6. Thanks to its new LightSwitch™ Technology, you simply turn it on and let it do the work. Inside a built-in Integrated Sensor Module (ISM) takes over the job and Global Positioning System (GPS) connects with overhead satellites to automatically recognize your telescope's position on Earth. Once this fix takes place, this means your telescope also understands the local time - without even looking at a watch! As silent as a cat on wheels, the Level North Technology (LNT™) sensors take over and the Meade LS-6 seeks out two alignment stars and automatically begins charting out a "real time" night sky map in its memory banks for your own personal time and location.
But, the Meade LS-6 ACF Telescope doesn't stop there...
It's a marvelous experience to look through a telescope at a distant object - but nothing can match the experience of knowing things like how far, how fast, how hot, how high, etc. Thanks to The Astronomer-Inside™, the Meade 6" f/10 LS-6 delivers like no other telescope on today's market can. Right at the telescope the user has the capabilities of a complete audio/visual library at their fingertips... just waiting to give you a full tour of the night sky. Thanks to a built-in speaker and video-out jack, the whole family can share in the fun! Just think of what a great outreach tool the Meade LS-6 can be...
But don't stop there, either... the Meade LS-6 has even more to offer.
 New Tripod copy_lo.jpg) Built on the foundation of Meade's superb Advanced Coma Free Optics in a size capable of revealing all the Messier objects and such a huge portion of the NGC catalog as to keep most observers happy for a lifetime, this telescope is going to offer outstanding planetary and lunar views at a professional level. What more could you ask? What's that you say? Eyes like a CCD camera? Then stop dreaming and take a look at tomorrow's technology... the built-in ECLIPS™ CCD Camera. Now you can take vibrant, high-resolution, low-noise images of objects right at the telescope and view them on the spot using the scope's video output function. What's more, you can also store them on an MiniSD card for later modifications - or sharing! Just exactly what does that mean? Can you imagine sending Grandma an email with a picture of comet you just viewed? Or how about an image of Saturn? For those who really like challenges, a built-in CCD camera means you can push the Meade LS-6 beyond its visual limits by taking timed exposures of objects far fainter than the human eye can see - and revealing them right at the telescope before your eager eyes!
If this sounds like the telescope for you, then read on....
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Meade LS-6 LightSwitch Telescope Features...
- Single arm fork Altitude-Azimuth (Alt-Az) mount provides rigid structure with large precision roller bearings on both axis designed to carry large OTAs.
- Precision worm gear drives with 4.875” main gears in both axis for smooth and accurate
tracking and slewing.
- Long fork arm length to allow clearance with the base for most cameras.
- Runs on internal “C” cell batteries for 3-5 hours of portable field operation with hand control holder built into base.
- Off-On LightSwitch and USB and other ports for accessory equipment.
- Heavy-duty stable tripod with quick attachment of the mount
- 6” ACF optical tube assembly (OTA) provides 6" clear aperture with 1524mm focal length for an f/10 system.
- Advanced Coma-Free optical system for performance that only professionals or extreme
amateurs have had.
- Standard SC threaded back cell that accepts most existing accessories designed for all
Schmidt-Cassegrain models over the last 30 years.
- Integrated Sensor Module (ISM) with GPS and Level North Technologies (LNT).
- Electronically Controlled Locate Identify Position System (ECLIPS) CCD imaging module.
- Multimedia output includes professionally produced audio and video content for hundreds of objects and custom guided tours designed for your location, time and date.
- Multimedia presentations feature the voices of Sandy Woods of “Star Date” astronomy radio program and George Woods, Hollywood actor and the voice on many productions.
- Built-in speaker in drive base and audio out jack for audio instructions and object
descriptions.
- Video out for video presentations and images of many objects, instant display of images from
the ECLIPS imager and easy on-screen menu navigation.
- AutoStar III hand controller easily control telescope for automatic location of objects, tours and many other features including 100,000 object database.
- ECLIPS CCD Imager is an essential part of the LightSwitch alignment system.
- Sensitive wide-angle color 640x480 CCD imager for taking your own astrophotographs.
Save your photos on a MiniSD card (user supplied).
- With a video monitor connected to the video out jack, see real-time images of the objects you
see in the eyepiece.
- New electronics provide full USB support for accessories like additional DSI CCD cameras.
- MiniSD card slot for easy software upgrades and storing your astrophotographs.
Meade Product Number: 0610-03-10 Important Information on Meade LS Firmware Update: The quote below is from Meade Instruments, dated 12/09/09: In keeping with Meade's tradition of providing firmware updates and upgrades to our valued customers in order to keep their telescopes up to the latest standards, we are pleased to announce that Version 1.3 for the
LS 6" LightSwitch telescope is ready for downloading. Here are a few of the many refinements and additions included in Version 1.3:
1. Improved GPS Reception: Configuring the GPS chip with different options and increasing sensitivity, the time-to-acquire has been cut by as much as 50%. There are many variables that affect GPS signals, but these changes should allow many users to get fixes under less than optimal conditions. 2. Improved LightSwitch Alignments: Several changes have been made to make finding the alignment stars more accurate and reliable. After the two alignment stars have been found and centered, a more advanced calculation is done to confirm it is a successful alignment. 3. Control of Optional Video Monitor: The Display Key (labeled “DISP” or Key #9) on the AutoStar III handbox now allows the user to turn off or on an attached optional video monitor. This allows for optimal viewing through the eyepiece. 4. AutoStar III Display Adjustments: The Brightness and Contrast settings have been moved to the Utilities Menu. 5. Various System Fixes and Enhancements: Several changes have been made to memory and SD card handling as well as other housekeeping issues.
To download and install the new firmware, run the AutoStar Updater (ASU.EXE) version 5.9 or higher and follow the instructions. If you have an older version of the Updater, use this link to download the latest version (http://www.meade.com/ls_update/lsupdateindex.html.) We hope that these improvements make using your LS LightSwitch telescope even easier and more enjoyable.
User Reviews
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Review Date: 6/15/2009
Reviewed By: Les Varga
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I placed my new ETX-LS 6: ACF in a dark backyard last Saturday night and flipped the switch on and walked away to set up my LX90-12. I went back to the ETX-LS about 10 minutes later and was surprised to see it was waiting for the next command after a totally successful hands-free alignment. I decided to just go the the Tonight's Best tour and, again, was surprised when I was able to see each and every object in the view finder. The ACF optics were beyond my expectations. I am very pleased with this scope...it works as advertised and I commend Meade for the excellent job on this one. The build quality of the telescope was also very good. I would recommend this telescope to anyone. |
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Review Date: 6/9/2009
Reviewed By: Eddie Kennedy
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First Use, First Light
I picked up my ETX-LS from OPT. It just so happens
that, that night was SDAA's star party at Balboa park. Setup was a breeze, I install a monitor for viewing, told it to do an auto alignment it did as advertised. I looked at the moon, and saturn before the clouds rolled in the views sharp and breath taking, the tracking excellent. Meade did it right, this is a very good buy I look forward to many years of service, it's great to be able to share this with my friends and to do this as public service. I want to thank the staff at OPT for the Best service anywhere thanks. |
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Review Date: 3/18/2009
Reviewed By: Keith Hoffman
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Beta test went well!
Greg from Meade brought a beta test ETX-LS to OPT, and we had the privaledge of demo-ing the unit. I was VERY impressed. I was not expecting a full multi media presentaton a-la MySky, but that is what the LS delivers, a full experience, explaining exactly what was going on with the alignment procedure, with video along with the audio. A video out jack as well as a USB out jack is provided, to display the video (not included with scope. The ETX-LS explained that it was getting data from GPS sattelites, and checking for North, level and tilt automatically. After the initial checks, it then automatically slewed to Sirus, and displayed a crosshair view of the star being centered automatically by the Eclips camera. The 2nd and 3rd stars were obstructed by buildings, but the 4th one was not, and the scope aligned successfully.
Our first target was M42 with the included 26mm Plossl, w... |
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