Tom Trusock
Reged: 02/26/02
Posts: 27389
Loc: Alternate Reality (TM)
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A few comments:
Quote:
The autostar GOTO function works OK on both but you have to educate the mount on a bright star within a couple of binocular fields of your desired object to find it accurately. Even then it will probably be necessary to use the "slew" spiral to put the object in the field of view of a 25mm eyepiece.
FWIW, this is not usually an issue with my LXD75 - gotos are typically right on (often appearing in the FOV at high powers), however they are noticably more accurate if I take care when aligning.
Quote:
Even if the OTA is near perfectly balanced you'll frequently get a "check mount" error when slewing to an object.
If this is what I think it is, this isn't (IME) an error per se - merely a warning that you should watch the mount. The computer is programmed for certain telescopes and certain gotos will trigger this as the scope gets closer and closer to the mount.
If you are stalling due to an improperly balanced OTA, then you 1) should balance your OTA, and / or adjust your gearing.
Quote:
Overall, I like the mount but can't wait until my Takahashi mount arrives in a month or so!
FWIW, The biggest problem I have / had with the mount was high magnification jitter. John Crilly and I got together last weekend, and John was kind enough to spend a couple of hours tuning my mount. It's MUCH better now, but you can bet that if I had the money for a Tak or Losmandy, I'd buy one. Right now, that's just not an option.
All in all, it's hard to believe that Meade and Celestron can both produce full goto GEM's at this price point. That said, truly, it's amazing that either work - let alone work as well as they do.
I had two LXD55's - both were DOA out of the box. Both worked "somewhat" when they came back from Meade or were fixed. In the end, they were "project" mounts. In contrast, the LXD75 mount was fairly useable out of the box but still required some tweaking. To be fair, I do understand that nearly every mount requires some tweaking, but that makes it no less of a pain, and after talking to various people, it's obvious the 75 requires a bit more than say a GP or GPDX. But it's also far less expensive.
I suspect you'll really enjoy your Tak.
Tom T.
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There are two theories to arguing with my wife. Neither one works.
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Wm Rison
member
Reged: 10/24/05
Posts: 34
Loc: Newburg, Maryland
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Meade does sell the LXD75 mount without an OTA.
My club just purchased one from www.telescopes.com
William
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Astro-Physics 900GTO Mount
Meade 12" LX200R UHTC
Stellarvue SV80S
Vixen FL102S, NA140SS
Coronado MaxScope 40
Canon 20D, Philips ToUcam 740K Pro
Lumenera SKYnyx 2.0 color camera
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Anonymous
Unregistered
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Good article. I have been contemplating whether or not to buy this mount for a couple weeks now and I think your article has
steered me in the direction I want to go.
Thanks,
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RRaubach
AstroCowboy
Reged: 01/26/05
Posts: 2173
Loc: Douglas (Converse County),WY
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This mount, altho' OK for smaller telescopes, is totally inadequate for the SN-10!
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Rodger
Meade SN-10 (UHTC) on Tak EM-200 mount/Antares rotating rings. Moonlite focuser.
Parallax 14.5" Newtonian on HD 200 mount (arriving soon!) w/ conical Royce mirror.
TMB 203 f/7 APO refractor on Tak NJP-160 mount.
Discovery 12.5" PDHQ
Schneider 18x80 "Flakfernrohr" binoculars/tripod mounted. Canon 15x50 IS binoculars
Unihedron Sky Quality Meter
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ToeMoss
professor emeritus
Reged: 09/18/05
Posts: 564
Loc: Jacksonville, Florida
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Quote:
This mount, altho' OK for smaller telescopes, is totally inadequate for the SN-10!
Why?
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Tom Morris
LXD75 SN8
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Raven911
Pooh-Bah
Reged: 03/12/05
Posts: 1440
Loc: New Mexico
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Mine works pretty well for my SN10. It is on the very limit weightwise for what I would put on it though. If I were using a different camera, I might have some problems. I don't get a lot of wind jitter, and I avoid touching it while in use. I replaced the tripod with an Antares pedestal mount. It made a world of difference.
I normally run mine unguided and can image for around 10 to 15 seconds or so without a lot of trailing at F4. At F10, periodic error makes guiding nescessary. 10 to 15 seconds is all I need for my current CCD. If I were using film or a less sensitive CCD, I can see where I would have bigger problems.
So far it has worked like a charm with my current set-up. I have no plans to change anytime soon.
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http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v287/Raven911/Astrophotos/
http://www.eye-of-the-raven.blogspot.com/
Celestron SC6
IM M66 Mak-Newt
100mm F6/76mm F4.5/80mm F5/SV NHII 80mm F6 Achros
SBIG ST7/Canon 300D/DSI Pro Mono/Starshoot DSCI
8 inch F7 Newt on Edmund EQ
8 inch F4.5 Project Astrograph
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Mike28
Carpal Tunnel
Reged: 06/21/03
Posts: 2889
Loc: Morris County,NJ
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Quote:
Meade LXD75
could not read review. Received a code 404 
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Mike
'The only reason for time is so that everything doesn't happen at once.” Albert Einstein
NS11GPS/Sky align
TAKAHASHI TOA150F
Celestron 80ED
TV Pronto
Burgess Bino
Coronado Ha PST
CGE mount
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jrcrilly
Refractor wienie again
Reged: 04/30/03
Posts: 22461
Loc: NE Ohio
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It's here.
I'll fix the above link - thanks!
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John C
Urban Observatory
Tele Vue Pronto
A&M/Astreya 76mm F/6 APO
TMB/LOMO 80mm F/7.5 APO
Tak FSQ-106N F/5 APO
Meade 152ED F/9 "APO"
152mm F/10 achromat
Tak CN-212 8" F/12 classical Cass/ F/4 Newt
Teeter 20" F/3.8 truss Newt w/ServoCat
LXD750, EM-200, CI-700
ST-10XME
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Tazzz
super member
Reged: 02/24/06
Posts: 149
Loc: Cambridge Ontario
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Figured I throw my 2 cent's in. I have had my LXD75 for about 3 months, I use a 8" f/4.8 newt. So far no problems when properly aligned I do 30 sec. exposure's with no star trails and now I'm experimenting with a Canon SLR hopefully for 3-5 minute exposures unguided. I do have backlash in RA but at this time it don't bother me. Good mount for the price..
Cheers Tazzz
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Dennis Rowe
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Sky Mentor 8" Newt
SkyWatcher 80mm
SkyWatcher Pro 80mmED
Canon 350D
DSI Pro W/Filters
LXD75
EQ6 PRO
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mde
member
Reged: 12/10/04
Posts: 63
Loc: the netherlands
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I am sorry, but how can you say that the lxd75 mount works for your 10sn and at the same time say you can track only a few seconds without a lot of startrailing, even at f4? sounds to me, the 10sn is indeed too big for the mount.
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--
Martijn
LX200GPS-SMT 10"
WO Z80, Coronado PST, ATK16HRC
www.xs4all.nl/~martlian
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jmcdonald
Carpal Tunnel
Reged: 06/01/05
Posts: 1503
Loc: Tucson, AZ
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I'd agree it's really too big for the mount. I just sold the SN10 (a super widefield/dso scope) but kept the mount to use with a C9.25 (10 lbs. lighter and much shorter moments). Those motors sound a whole lot happier and the mount seems to function better.
OTOH, I saw a lot of sights with the SN10 on the LXD75 and and with a bit of fiddling it worked fine for visual as well as planetary webcam photography.
And again, some people have done outstanding long exposure work with this combination. I suspect that's the exception to prove the rule though. The SN10 is a great scope but it's an awfully big load for the lxd75.
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Jerel
Discovery 12.5" modified truss DOB
Orion 100mm f/6 achromat
Garret 15x70 LW Binoculars
22-T4,13-T6
IDA Membership
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ToeMoss
professor emeritus
Reged: 09/18/05
Posts: 564
Loc: Jacksonville, Florida
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Quote:
I am sorry, but how can you say that the lxd75 mount works for your 10sn and at the same time say you can track only a few seconds without a lot of startrailing, even at f4? sounds to me, the 10sn is indeed too big for the mount.
What he said was that it could track for 10 to 15 seconds unguided without trailing. Throw in a little human involvement by means of guiding, and you've got a rig capable of decent imaging. Not sure why theres a debate here, it's been done and you can see the results for yourself if you take the time to look.
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Tom Morris
LXD75 SN8
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ClownFish
Post Laureate
Reged: 04/26/05
Posts: 5599
Loc: Islamabad, Pakistan
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Quote:
Throw in a little human involvement by means of guiding, and you've got a rig capable of decent imaging.
Sure can! I expose from 30 to 40 MINUTES routinely.
The LXD75 can be a great mount.. IF you put just a little effort and patience with it. ADd the human touch, and it is solid mount capable of very long exposures.
CF
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Learn all about POLAR ALIGNMENT with my Drift Method Tutorial and simulator!! Or visit my Foreign Service Blog!
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Raven911
Pooh-Bah
Reged: 03/12/05
Posts: 1440
Loc: New Mexico
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I am not very obsessive about my alignment. If I were, I could probably get it to track a lot better without guiding. That and the fact that I normally do not go to the trouble to set up my PEC. I simply do not need it to track much better than what I mentioned, due to my camera limitations. 8 bit tends to limit exposure times.
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http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v287/Raven911/Astrophotos/
http://www.eye-of-the-raven.blogspot.com/
Celestron SC6
IM M66 Mak-Newt
100mm F6/76mm F4.5/80mm F5/SV NHII 80mm F6 Achros
SBIG ST7/Canon 300D/DSI Pro Mono/Starshoot DSCI
8 inch F7 Newt on Edmund EQ
8 inch F4.5 Project Astrograph
Edited by Raven911 (07/12/06 08:32 AM)
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Kevin O'K
newbie
Reged: 11/24/06
Posts: 1
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None of the three links for the original review work - I'm getting a 403 error on all. Any chance of a new link? Thanks
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spaceydee
Postmaster
Reged: 04/16/04
Posts: 15346
Loc: Where the Kittens Are
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It's working for me. Did you try the one on top?
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Dee
space-scientist
student violinist
Nexstar8i,SV80S,80/9D,FC100,94 Brandon,TMB92SS,GM8
8" f/7 Discovery,12.5" Portaball, PST
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