Meade 884 Deluxe Field Tripod

I bought this tripod when I purchased my Meade EXT 90 EC telescope. I've read that the most important feture of any telescope is the mount. This has an excellent mount that holds the views rock steady. It comes with a nice carring case type bag. It is a polar type mount which means that you can center the view to the attitude you are at. This feature makes the optional Autostar work at its best. This fine tripod is a high end piece of equipment that will last the life of any telescope. I was very happy with the way it performs. If I could spend any amount of money I would pick this one. You need this tripod if you are serious about high quility equipment and for the price it's the best possible choice. Meade products are the best quility equipment used by professionals. This tripod is a must if you want the best.

Reader Reviews
The mount is adequate for mounting an ETX scope in altitude-azimith mode, but a beefier mount is needed if one wants to use an ETX125 in polar mode for imaging. An annoyance I have experienced with the tripod is that the clips on the mounting bolts tend to slip off, especially in polar mode. Each of the two mountng bolts has a clip, washer and spring that can be difficult to find in the dark if the clip slipping causes them to shoot in a random direction. This tripod as sold is difficult to polar align. I bought a third party bolt to replace the rod that holds the tilt-plate to make adjusting the angle of the tilt plate easier. There is no easy way to adjust the azimuth of the scope in polar mode; one has to rotate the whole tripod. For most users, this is a great mount, but those planning to take long exposure photographs/images with their scope will be frustrated with this mount.