With its relatively large 70mm aperture, yet affordable price, Meade's DS-70 refracting telescope makes a perfect instrument for the serious beginner. It features a multicoated, achromatic two-element objective lens and precise, smooth altitude and azimuth movements for easy object location. It includes Meade's StarNavigator software, which displays more than 10,000 celestial objects for help in locating galaxies, nebulae, star clusters, stars, and planets. It also includes a full-length adjustable aluminum tripod.

The DS-70 exhibits Meade's fine attention to detail and quality, from the precision-polished crown and flint optical glass components and contrast-increasing multicoatings, to oversize bearings on both telescope axes that facilitate great precision in tracking. It offers a resolving power of 1.6 arcseconds, a limiting visual magnitude of 11.3, a 250x maximum practical visual power, and a 5mm by 24mm viewfinder.

The DS-70 is built to be fully compatible with Meade's dual-motor electronic controller and Autostar computer controller, for easy location and tracking of celestial objects.