Hello Friend,

It's a battle that has been going on for years.  

                                                  Meade vrs. Celestron

Two  of the major players in the telescope business, and each having it's own strengths.    And oddly enough, both
Companies head offices just happen to be located within hours of each other.

      Many years ago, I recall going to a trade show in Las Vegas, which consisted largely of photographic
dealers and the then fledgling telescope businesses also exhibited at these shows.

If you've not been to a trade show, essentially it's where dealers visit the majority of their vendors, all under
one roof, so you can see what the latest and greatest of products coming out that year are.

     At that time, the President of Meade Instruments was the founder, John Diebel.   And of course Meade had
a nice booth set up with all their newest wares on display.

And just a few isles over,  was the Celestron booth, with the President at the time, being Alan Hale.

     Now competition in the telescope business, as with any business, can be fierce.   And since Celestron
was first on the block with the commercial SCT telescope, it was always considered that Meade was
the "copycat".

    So, when John Diebel wandered over to take a look at the Celestron booth,  and see what was new,
he was not exactly welcome. (Remember, this was the pre-internet days, if you can fathom that.)

    In fact, there were some heated verbal exchanges between the Diebel and Hale,   but you wouldn't expect
any less if you put Prime Minister Harper and Justin Trudeau in the same room either.

     Fortunately, Diebel left the Celestron booth, before it got any further than that.

    The reality is that we as amateur astronomers are better off for both companies being here today.
We end up getting better product innovations, and prices are kept competitive as well.

     So whose better?  Meade or Celestron? 

I often get asked that question, and my response is a simple one.

Determine what it is you want to do first, and then determine the right telescope, regardless of brand, that
will accomplish that task.

Clear Skies,

Ray "Orange is the new Blue" Khan

PS  Later,I'll tell you about my personal encounter with John Diebel at a dinner  one evening, which stopped
      dinner in it's tracks and caused a huge amount of aggravation amongst those present.