Yes, it is without coating, but at least they tell you that it's is without coating. Meade advertised their RCX is a RC scope, but it is actually not a RC design. It's like a company selling battery powered watches, but advertised as a mechanical watches... they all tell time, but it is not the same.heh, to think just the optics without coatings, being sold as rc astrograph, isn't that a bigger misrepresentation than meade?[
"The universe is composed mainly of hydrogen and ignorance." aplanatic sct or advanced sctwhat would you suggest the rcx technology be called?
Basically, a R-C telescope uses hyperbolic primary and secondary mirrors to correct for spherical abberation and coma, offering a larger flat field. Hyperbolic mirror are expensive and difficult to make, so R-C telescope is very expensive.what are the characteristics of the rc design?
RCX use a hyperbolic secondary mirror with a corrector lens and spherical primary mirror.why the rcx doesn't qualify?
I didn't see any reports on comparing the RCX and R-C, so can't really comment on this. But base on what I know, R-C produce a large, sharp flat field across the entire field... may be the ultimate photographic instrument... I wonder how RCX perform??what advantages would a rc-design scope offer that the rcx doesn't?
May be "MCT"... Meade Cassegrain Telescope...what would you suggest the rcx technology be called?
"The universe is composed mainly of hydrogen and ignorance." 
as i remembered meade never claim it to be "true RC, so i checked... this is what meade says in its website http://www.meade.com/rcx400/index.html :weixing wrote:...Meade advertised their RCX is a RC scope, but it is actually not a RC design...
note that it makes distinction between the RCX and the "classical" RC.The RCX Advanced Ritchey-Chrétien Optical System
It is generally accepted that the Ritchey-Chrétien or Classical RC system is the premiere optical design for medium to large aperture astronomical telescopes. The primary benefit of a Classical RC is the fact that it is an aplanatic design which means it is coma-free. Coma is an optical aberration that causes star images to appear comet like with tails that point away from the center of the field of view. The further from the center, the larger the effect. Fast Newtonians suffer from this aberration the most, followed by other reflecting optical systems of various designs. The Schmidt-Cassegrain or Schmidt-Newtonian design typically has ½ the coma of a Newtonian of the same focal length. The Classical RC design uses a hyperbolic primary mirror and a hyperbolic secondary mirror to create an aplanatic optical system which has no coma. This system produces small round star images all the way to the edge of the field of view.
Meade’s engineering team recognized the advantages of the Classical RC design but explored the possibility of using Meade’s unique engineering and manufacturing expertise to improve on the basic design. The result is the RCX optical system which is also an aplanatic, coma-free design with small round star images to the edge of the field. The RCX design is very similar to the Classical RC and achieves the same benefits by using a hyperbolic secondary with a new advanced front corrector plate and primary mirror that together perform as a hyperbolic primary. This design has several advantages over the Classical RC design.
The RCX eliminates the secondary mirror holder support vanes (spider) that cause diffraction spikes. Because almost all reflecting telescopes produce diffraction spikes, many people are used to seeing them and don’t consider them an aberration. But in reality, they are a large distortion that reduces image contrast, lowers resolution and presents an unrealistic view of the sky to the eye or the astro-imager.
The RCX design reduces the amount of astigmatism that is inherent in the Classical RC design.
The RCX, due to the front corrector plate, is a closed tube design. This keeps the primary optical components protected from dust, moisture and other contaminates that might fall on the optical surfaces of the primary and secondary mirrors.
While the RCX optical system is as difficult to manufacture as a Classical RC, it was chosen because of its superior performance (i.e., no diffractions spikes, reduced astigmatism and closed tube). Due to Meade's years of experience in designing and manufacturing sophisticated corrector plates and optical systems, we are in a position that very few, if any, other companies enjoy. Applying this expertise and Meade's resources, we are able to produce this advanced optical system at a fraction of the price that other companies would have to charge, if they could produce it at all.
Isn't MCT referred to Maksutov Cassegrain Telescope?weixing wrote:May be "MCT"... Meade Cassegrain Telescope...what would you suggest the rcx technology be called?
Have a nice day.
. "The universe is composed mainly of hydrogen and ignorance." 
