SCHMIDT-CASSEGRAIN SHOOTOUT: MEADE LX85 v. CELESTRON NexStar SE

In this video I am going to be comparing a Meade LX85 and a Celestron NexStar 8SE telescope. I currently own two Meade Schmidt-Cassegrain telescopes and I used to own another one in the 1990s but I have never owned a Celestron telescope. So, I decided to rent a Celestron for two weeks so that I could have a comparison between these two brands of Schmidt-Cassegrain telescopes and see how they compared. This is a limited comparison to what I believe are the entry level Schmidt-Cassegrain telescopes from each company. I think I used the closest match I could find in the Meade LX85 and the Celestron Nexstar 8SE. The major difference between the two is that the Meade comes with Meade's advanced coma free (ACF) technology (I believe all Meade's SCTs now come with ACF) and the Celestron does not come with Celestron's Edge HD technology that they use to eliminate coma. Other than that, it seemed like these two models were pretty closely matched in terms of the optics. In this video I compared them by testing them under dark skies with a star test, collimation test, by looking at deep sky objects, by observing some double stars, observing the planets, and just testing out how each telescope performed optically. At the end I'll give you my assessment.