Telescope Reviews: Lx80 Multi-mount

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OzAndrewJ
professor emeritus

Reged: 11/30/10

Re: Lx80 Multi-mount new

[Re: Mkofski]
#5463219 - 10/10/12 01:18 AM

Gday Mike

Quote:

Do I understand you correctly? The reduced CPU availability does not seem to effect real world use?

Correct.
I have not seen any visible effects associated with this during normal usage. I was just pointing out the differences between rs232 and ST4 guiding for Mark.

One other thing to note.
The way guiding is applied appears to have changed in the latest firmware.
It used to be done by applying a high speed "burst" adjust or a motor stop.
ie it could not reverse ( which is one of the reasons AltAz pulse guiding didnt work )
Now it appears to just start the motors and guide at normal guide speed till a timer trips.
Sooo, with serial pulseguiding
sending :Mge2000# involves one motor adjust set, ie apply guide speed then revert to tracking after 2 secs.

The 909 lump gets polled once every 100ms ( and it takes 50ms to actually read it).
As such, if you held down the west slew direction for say 2 seconds
then in theory, there will be 20 apply/revert operations at 100ms each.

I dont know yet how well that will work.

Andrew

Post Extras:

TALK2KEV
sage

Reged: 03/08/06

Loc: Oklahoma

Re: Lx80 Multi-mount new

[Re: OzAndrewJ]
#5463405 - 10/10/12 08:19 AM Attachment (50 downloads)

wow this would be great if it works, I still have my LX80 I known the payload is light. but it just might be OK with my 80mm which I Wanted an replacement for my aging LXD55.I picked up another OTA 8" Mak f/12 its heavy 22lbs without camera and guide scope that will have to stay on CGEM-DX if I can only get a break in the weather! you can see in the photo the 8" Mak beside the 8" RC

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Lee Jay
Pooh-Bah

Reged: 02/27/08

Loc: Westminster, CO

Re: Lx80 Multi-mount new

[Re: ur7x]
#5463437 - 10/10/12 09:08 AM

Quote:

Quote:

To me, it's not an AP mount, and reports are that it works just fine for basically everything else.

You have to ask yourself, if its not an AP mount, what is PEC for? What is the guide module for? And to a lesser degree why even use it in polar mode?

My ETX-125 has a polar mode option. Do you think a 5" f/15 Mak with no guiding is a good AP platform? Yet, I've loved using it in polar mode at times for a number of reasons. It prevents having to deal with field rotation during planetary photography and stacking. When viewing targets that go straight overhead, it prevents that annoying rapid acceleration as the target approaches zenith. When a satellite is passing straight overhead, you can follow it. You can even set the polar mode up so that tracking the satellite is nearly a single-motor operation. It's also been nice for wide-field using the piggy-back approach.

Post Extras:

ur7x
super member

Reged: 01/08/12

Re: Lx80 Multi-mount new

[Re: Lee Jay]
#5463473 - 10/10/12 09:31 AM

Still curious what you think PEC is for, or what Guiding is for on a mount that is not an AP mount.

Post Extras:

Lee Jay
Pooh-Bah

Reged: 02/27/08

Loc: Westminster, CO

Re: Lx80 Multi-mount new

[Re: ur7x]
#5463541 - 10/10/12 10:22 AM

I don't think it's not an AP mount, I think it's not a long-focal-length long-exposure AP mount. PEC is still useful for planetary (video) photography and wide field, and the thing doesn't even come with the ST4 guide port. Since they obviously didn't test is using the internal guiding (or they would have caught those bugs before shipping), it seems to me that this mount isn't really intended for this purpose.

It seems to me that long-focal-length long-exposure guided astrophotography starts at Atlas and iEQ-45 and proceeds up through the mid-range of CGE-Pro and LX800, and on up to AP and Software Bisque and above at the higher end. People seem to be expecting this mount to perform like an Atlas or CGEM-DX, when this is a convertible mount (not a dedicated GEM) that doesn't even come with a guide port.

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Starhawk
Post Laureate

Reged: 09/16/08

Loc: Tucson, Arizona

Re: Lx80 Multi-mount new

[Re: Lee Jay]
#5464033 - 10/10/12 03:23 PM

Lee, are you serious? For short focal length with short exposure, you don't need a mount at all. A camera tripod works for that.

-Rich

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Mkofski
professor emeritus

Reged: 07/19/11

Loc: Greenfield, Indiana, USA

Re: Lx80 Multi-mount new

[Re: TALK2KEV]
#5464036 - 10/10/12 03:27 PM

Kevin,

What brand is your 8" Mak? I have an Orion 7" that is f/15 but wold like somthing a little bigger and a shorted FL.

Post Extras:

TALK2KEV
sage

Reged: 03/08/06

Loc: Oklahoma

Re: Lx80 Multi-mount new

[Re: Mkofski]
#5464056 - 10/10/12 03:45 PM

Its Astro-Tech AT8M I have a 6" Russian Mak F/15 very heavy built like a TANK! I need to get wide dovetail plate on the 8" Mak .I need some clear sky so I can test some Equipment! Have you updated your firmware yet for the LX80? So $40.00 to have the port ready for ST4 guiding and PEC working, very interested in playing around with that to see if everything is working or not! I would love to have a three mounts set up imaging, I know at some point the LXd55 will get a rest but the LX80 is going to have prove its self before cob webs collect on the Lxd55.

Edited by TALK2KEV (10/10/12 04:23 PM)

Post Extras:

Lee Jay
Pooh-Bah

Reged: 02/27/08

Loc: Westminster, CO

Re: Lx80 Multi-mount new

[Re: Starhawk]
#5464098 - 10/10/12 04:23 PM

Quote:

Lee, are you serious? For short focal length with short exposure, you don't need a mount at all. A camera tripod works for that.

-Rich

Yeah, sometimes. By "short focal length" I mean 200mm or less, and by "short exposure" I mean up to 30 seconds or so, and you do need tracking for that.

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OzAndrewJ
professor emeritus

Reged: 11/30/10

Re: Lx80 Multi-mount new

[Re: TALK2KEV]
#5464116 - 10/10/12 04:39 PM

Gday Kevin

Quote:

wow this would be great if it works,

After a bit of digging, i can see lots of stuff has changed re guiding and PEC.
ST4 guiding "appears" to work on my bench units ( using a late version full APM909 clone ), but true sky testing with a long FL scope will prove how good it is.

The PEC has had a major rework, and i'm not sure there yet.
The method of calculating errors appears better, but the resolution appears to have been reduced. Ie it was 150 bins per rev of the worm and it is now 50.
( Ie for an LX80, the bin time is now around 11 seconds )
Also, not sure re playback processing.
Gotta do a bit more diggies.

Andrew

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Starhawk
Post Laureate

Reged: 09/16/08

Loc: Tucson, Arizona

Re: Lx80 Multi-mount new

[Re: Lee Jay]
#5464183 - 10/10/12 05:45 PM

If that's the plan, save some money and get one of those funky iOptron cubes.

-Rich

Quote:

Quote:

Lee, are you serious? For short focal length with short exposure, you don't need a mount at all. A camera tripod works for that.

-Rich

Yeah, sometimes. By "short focal length" I mean 200mm or less, and by "short exposure" I mean up to 30 seconds or so, and you do need tracking for that.

Post Extras:

Lee Jay
Pooh-Bah

Reged: 02/27/08

Loc: Westminster, CO

Re: Lx80 Multi-mount new

[Re: Starhawk]
#5464242 - 10/10/12 06:36 PM

Quote:

If that's the plan, save some money and get one of those funky iOptron cubes.

Way too little. I want to use the same mount for a big SCT.

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TALK2KEV
sage

Reged: 03/08/06

Loc: Oklahoma

Re: Lx80 Multi-mount new

[Re: Lee Jay]
#5464294 - 10/10/12 07:14 PM

Andrew

I will do some PE test as soon as I'm able, the weather here sux. 11 sec, wow bin time.

Let me know what you dig up

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Starhawk
Post Laureate

Reged: 09/16/08

Loc: Tucson, Arizona

Re: Lx80 Multi-mount new

[Re: Lee Jay]
#5464760 - 10/11/12 01:34 AM

Uh, yeah, that's been tried with the LX 80; it didn't work worth beans.

-Rich

Quote:

Quote:

If that's the plan, save some money and get one of those funky iOptron cubes.

Way too little. I want to use the same mount for a big SCT.

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Mkofski
professor emeritus

Reged: 07/19/11

Loc: Greenfield, Indiana, USA

Re: Lx80 Multi-mount new

[Re: Starhawk]
#5464770 - 10/11/12 01:51 AM

Quote:

Uh, yeah, that's been tried with the LX 80; it didn't work worth beans.

-RichL

Quote:

Quote:

If that's the plan, save some money and get one of those funky iOptron cubes.

Way too little. I want to use the same mount for a big SCT.

Not everyone is unhappy with the performance of this mount with a 10" SCT.

Post Extras:

Lee Jay
Pooh-Bah

Reged: 02/27/08

Loc: Westminster, CO

Re: Lx80 Multi-mount new

[Re: Mkofski]
#5465044 - 10/11/12 09:42 AM

Regardless, I'm now interested in the AZ-EQ6GT. It's not out yet, but the latest estimates on practical load capacity are 25kg for visual and 18kg for imaging. It has dual encoders and the Atlas/EQ6 history behind it, but it'll likely cost twice as much as the LX80. Comes with dual saddles though, and probably comes with lubricant in the bearings.

Now to figure out how to purchase an LX800 f/8 12" OTA, which all the early-adopters loved. The mounts might have been troublesome, but the scopes appeared to be solid from early reports.

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ur7x
super member

Reged: 01/08/12

Re: Lx80 Multi-mount [Re: Mkofski]
#5465049 - 10/11/12 09:44 AM

True, we have people who are unhappy with this mount with 8 and 9.25" SCT's as well as people who are unhappy with the 10's...

Is a non-AP mount that can be used as an AP mount (if you have the right OTA, likely not the one that it was shipped with), that has a whole bunch of AP features, that so far no one has posted any AP pictures with...

We no longer need to defend this mount, It still has several known mechanical issues and QA/Manufacturing issues.. Till Meade makes it right, it will just be a footnote in the history of Amateur Astronomy.

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Mkofski
professor emeritus

Reged: 07/19/11

Loc: Greenfield, Indiana, USA

Re: Lx80 Multi-mount [Re: ur7x]
#5465916 - 10/11/12 08:01 PM

Quote:

We no longer need to defend this mount, It still has several known mechanical issues and QA/Manufacturing issues.. Till Meade makes it right, it will just be a footnote in the history of Amateur Astronomy.

ur7x,

Thanks for your input. If I had paid attention to your earlier post I would have realized that there is no point of any further discussion on this mount. All of us that are happy with our "footnotes" should just return them and buy AP900s.

Post Extras:

ur7x
super member

Reged: 01/08/12

Re: Lx80 Multi-mount [Re: Mkofski]
#5466164 - 10/11/12 11:37 PM

Quote:

Quote:

We no longer need to defend this mount, It still has several known mechanical issues and QA/Manufacturing issues.. Till Meade makes it right, it will just be a footnote in the history of Amateur Astronomy.

ur7x,

Thanks for your input. If I had paid attention to your earlier post I would have realized that there is no point of any further discussion on this mount. All of us that are happy with our "footnotes" should just return them and buy AP900s.

Neilson and others tried to help you with your purchase decision. It is not hard to see and document the numerous issues with this mount. You even tried a "lets find 10 happy LX80 owners" thread... and you couldn't even find 10 happy customers. You found 7ish people who are "OK" with the mount and zero, that have had any AP success with it.

The mount has great promise and someday could make for a great mount at a fair price, right now, it isn't.

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David Pavlich
Transmographied

Reged: 05/18/05

Loc: Mandeville, LA USA

Re: Lx80 Multi-mount [Re: James Cunningham]
#5466513 - 10/12/12 08:52 AM

This thread needs to be locked for a while. No further good information is being posted, so I'm going to give it a little vacation.

David

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