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Congrats ....... and fingers crossed to everyone who has ordered one of these

Scott

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Just got word that the LX850s are being shipped to us recall customers. Should be getting our scopes next week or the week after depending on location and OTA size.

I am beside myself. Ordered my 14" November 2nd, 2011. Received it May 15th, 2012. It was picked up for recall June 20th. and now it is on its way Feb. 2013.

Very excited!

Tony

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Mount base looks quite rickety with such a stand back look at the whole setup; how solid is it? This design being a mimic of Mach1, base should have been 900GTO kind instead. Thx

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The polar forks should be up the job. If it was "rickety", the issue should have cropped up on the LX800 thread.

I guess the base just looks rickety because of the narrower stance compared to the AP/Bisque mounts.

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Yes. Best of luck to all. I'd like to see this product succeed.

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+1

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WWIN, so you're under NDA because you're a beta tester or because...? How was Jason able to talk with us?

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My Mach1 doesn't feel rickety tho so why would the Meade?

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Because Mach1 is half the capacity of LX850.

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Ditching the internal "crayford" focuser would not surprise me. While it is a good idea in theory, it is not necessarily easy to implement due to the high precision machining necessary to make it work right and a bad implementation of the design would likely be even worse than the standard SCT design of sliding on the baffle tube. Mirror shift in the standard SCT design is relatively consistent in magnitude and direction with each scope whereas if the primary riding on ball bearings was not riding on a perfectly flat and smooth track, the focus would be all over the place and the adjustment mechanism to strighten the primary on the bearings to the optical axis would be fairly complex. It will be too bad though if they did not get it to work because I think that it was the one advancement that the new scopes made over the competition.

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Mirror shift in the standard SCT design is relatively consistent in magnitude and direction with each scope whereas if the primary riding on ball bearings was not riding on a perfectly flat and smooth track, the focus would be all over the place and the adjustment mechanism to strighten the primary on the bearings to the optical axis would be fairly complex.

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No I am talking about the wording. No longer do they specifically state zero shift nor do they talk about not needing mirror locks. They still have the internal crayford type focuser but obviously they could not make it do what they originally claimed it could do so they changed the wording.

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What about the mirror lock you said they added? And the included junk electric focuser to which you refer? I see no reference on the website to either of those.

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Bearings or not, SCT is primarily a visual platform.

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Since when?

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No I am talking about the wording. No longer do they specifically state zero shift nor do they talk about not needing mirror locks. They still have the internal crayford type focuser but obviously they could not make it do what they originally claimed it could do so they changed the wording.

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What about the mirror lock you said they added? And the included junk electric focuser to which you refer? I see no reference on the website to either of those.

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The mirror lock was mentioned by Jason in that the new 14" he got has a mirror lock now. And the electric focuser is listed in the contents section of their site and also there is a separate thread about it on Cloudy Nights.

www.meade.com/lx850 last item on this list "Zero image-shift microfocuser for exact electronic control of focus."

They are not doing us a special favor by including the electric focuser, I can only believe that they are trying to head off complaints as to why the mirror does in fact shift when you focus and why it will not hold its focus and why the mirror flops around. So the addressed the mirror flop by adding a lock and the other potential complaints by adding an electric focuser. As many others have already mentioned in the other thread about the focuser, it is loud and uses set screws instead of compression rings so it will mark up whatever you use it with. Thus many folks will not use it and will end up buying another motorized focuser. So maybe the 8-12" OTA's won't have the lock, I have no idea. I just know the 14" that Tony is getting will have one.

Edited by Pak (02/12/13 01:59 PM)

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I have the old model electric focuser from Meade. While it is a relative focuser, and therefore lacks absolute positioning, it did very well and only started to struggle when loads got close to 1 Kg. I would assume the focuser has been improved with the new model.

You also have to look at this focuser the same way you would look at the Kit lens on a DSLR. Both Canon and Nikon make great DSLRs but everybody knows that if you wanted a good lens, you wouldnt bother with the kit lens. It's only there to get you started

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I have the old model electric focuser from Meade. While it is a relative focuser, and therefore lacks absolute positioning, it did very well and only started to struggle when loads got close to 1 Kg. I would assume the focuser has been improved with the new model.

You also have to look at this focuser the same way you would look at the Kit lens on a DSLR. Both Canon and Nikon make great DSLRs but everybody knows that if you wanted a good lens, you wouldnt bother with the kit lens. It's only there to get you started

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I guess we'll know next week or the week after.

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I think that's the healthiest attitude we can take towards these mounts. After all, other than people who signed a non disclosure agreement and Jason, there's not a lot people having used these mounts out there. Jason had some minor negative comments but I don't recall they had anything to do with the focuser. So we wait till the real deal gets out and people actually start using them.

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But I have been inside enough SCTs to see the potential design and implementation issues associated with such a design and Meades design and implementation of new ideas hasn't exactly been flawless lately.

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You made a derogatory comment on something you have no clue. As a vendor you are not supposed to comment on other vendors products...

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No I am talking about the wording. No longer do they specifically state zero shift nor do they talk about not needing mirror locks. They still have the internal crayford type focuser but obviously they could not make it do what they originally claimed it could do so they changed the wording.

This car does 0-60 in 3.5 seconds. This car will go 60mph.

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All very interesting about the focuser etc.....
Just had a look at Meade Store, LX850 it seems you get both the Zero Shift Crayford style and electronic focuser with the ota mount packages. Still dont see anything about mirror locks though. We shall see
One would hope this info is current and uptodate. Still as has been said we'll just have to wait until the general public get there grubby mits on them

Good luck peeps
Scott

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the possibility that the design and implementation of the system could prove difficult.

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Rickety, I do not care if it looks like the leaning tower of Piza,

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the possibility that the design and implementation of the system could prove difficult.

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You are way over thinking this. The crayford focuser on the OTA is still there and (at least on the two samples I have seen) works very well. There is no shift during focus and the fine control provides precise focus. However, holding the big 14" mirror becomes problematic with gravity changes (although they tell me they have made improvements even beyond the sample(s) I have.) For the 14" they added the mirror lock. Since you can't focus with the OTA knob when locked they through in the electric focuser. I think they are shiping one with all the scopes as well. It's OK for most people but for those who want temp control, digital precision, knock yourself out and upgrade.

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Thanks Jason. That's good to hear. I would really like to see some kind of bearing system become standard for SCT primary mirrors. I know how I would build it, but then I tend to build things to last through a nuclear blast sometimes. So if their new system can throw around a 14 inch mirror with minimal shift due to the focusing mechanism itself (understanding that gravity always wins), that I think that will be a good advancement in the basic design of the SCT.

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I can tell you that the 14" on the LX850 is more solid than my 12" RCX 400.

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Asteron, I will report ASAP w/Pictures and first light report.

Also, I got a call from Meade about my scope. I should have tracking info by midweek. And, he informed me that I had a $500 credit on Meade gear for all the trouble. I thought that was pretty cool and will spend the money on a 6000 series 80mm APO. Should make a nice little piggy-back scope.

Tony

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And he's posted a first light image:

http://www.meade4m.com/index.php?/gallery/image/141-m81-first-light-with-lx85...

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Stars are elongated and show peaks at each end. Guiding was not too great if you ask me. But hey, if it is good enough for you, go for it!
Blueman

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