Anonymous
Unregistered
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Hi everyone,
I'll be joining you all shortly in this forum because I have just got hold of what I think is a bargain and I would like your advice. 
I have just bought an LX200 (8") OTA on an LX200 wedge, with a fully driven LX10 mount. Also included is a Telrad finder, eyepiece and star diagonal.
The whole kit is being sold for £450, I have spoken to the seller and he seems genuinely nice and has a good reason for selling. So rather than risk having it posted and possibly damaged during transit I am driving the few hours to collect it on Saturday and try it before I buy it.
Having never used an SCT before or a mount like this, what should I be looking for to ensure the unit is in good condition? It is 3 years old, has had little use and has mainly been used by the man's wife for astrophotography.
I know to look at the obvious things (image quality, collimation, condition of optics) but I know very little about SCTs.
Thanks for your advice, I'm so excited I will not sleep at all until Saturday!  And I expect it to rain on Saturday night as well! 
Jason
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Anonymous
Unregistered
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Hi Jason, no advice, just congrats on a cool find. Hope it is in pristene condition. Going to keep you reflector?
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Echo
Post Laureate
Reged: 09/29/03
Posts: 3320
Loc: So Cal
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Hi and congrats! The collimation is supposed to be be pretty easy on these so it can be fixed if it's a bit off. I confess I've not tried it yet but the manual seems straight forward. I really hope this works out for you. I love my SCT and would buy it all over again with no hesitation. Good luck and clear skies for Saturday.
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Queen of GOTO
Life is short.... get a massage!
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Anonymous
Unregistered
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Jason,
good deal there thats a nice scope. I have a Celestron 8" and can tell you what to do to assure you have no probs & good views. First look to see if he has installed collimation knobs on the secondary, if not dont sweat it not a big deal. You will however want some adjusting knobs either hand made from a hardware store or a set of Bobs knobs. Making your own will be 20 times cheaper tho. You will want to check collimation on a calm evening with no diagional just a eyepiece in the back of the scope, defocus a medium bright star and see if the concentric rings from the secondary are all equal from center to outside. Be sure the star is exactly in the center of the field thats importaint. If all the rings look good with a dark center you are good to go, if the rings look like a comet then you will need to readjust the secondary, the knobs will allow you to adjust without having to use a screwdriver a whole lot easier believe me not to mention you dont have to worry about scratching the corrector with a screwdriver either anymore. If you need any other collimating info just ask me & about 1000 other schmidt/Mak users will be more than happy to help you tweak perfection. Other than that you have a fine instrument which is fantastic for deep sky fuzzys as you will soon see. I did a long drive for mine too so we have something in common there too! Dave
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jrcrilly
Refractor wienie again
Reged: 04/30/03
Posts: 22464
Loc: NE Ohio
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There aren't many pitfalls to avoid; that's a pretty straightforward setup. With a quick polar alignment it'll track for you once you locate an object yourself. It uses the same optical tube as the current LX200 models except for the corrector plate coatings, which were still pretty good on that model. Make sure the corrector plate and primary mirror are clean and undamaged. If it has a Dec motor you can check its operation but I don't think the RA motor on that model runs fast enough to see it do anything unless you are actually looking through it at high magnification.
An 8" fork-and-wedge mounted SCT is a great general purpose instrument; small and light enough to be portable but with a solid enough mount and good enough tracking for high magnification use or light imaging.
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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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rboe
Numbfinger
Reged: 03/16/02
Posts: 39716
Loc: Phx, AZ
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You're going to have fun with that scope. Perhaps a ToUcam in your future too! Hope the scope is all that you think it is.
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Ron
NS11GPS
Pronto
16" dob
15X70 Obies
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Anonymous
Unregistered
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Hi everybody,
thanks for your kind responses, I'm still too excited (!) and hope when I go to see the scope it is in good condition.
Echo, Dave - the scope has "Bob's Knobs", I had to ask somebody whether they were winding me up or being serious! LOL! So I now know that should make collimation easy.
Tom, I know the LX200 is a step back from my Newt in optical quality but I think the sacrifice is worth it to have a stable, fully driven mount. I may have to sell my Newt to fund the LX200, which I'm a bit sad about but I can't see me using both of the scopes. I understand I can use a focal reducer to drop the LX200 to f/6.3 if I want a faster scope again.
Toucam for Christmas?! Yes indeed Ron!
John, your knowledge of Meade product lineage and specifications is astonishing! And highly amusing, I think you know everything I am likely to enquire about! I have loads of questions to ask because I've been reading about the scope on the internet so I know what to expect but I don't want to bother everybody with silly questions before I get the scope.
I have been reading though, and a little knowledge can be a dangerous thing! Will I have to polar align manually (with a star test, I'm used to a polar scope in the mount of my Newt) every time I use the scope, and then play about with the RA axis and do something with sidereal time (whatever that is!)?
If I'm running before I'm walking just shout at me to calm down!
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jrcrilly
Refractor wienie again
Reged: 04/30/03
Posts: 22464
Loc: NE Ohio
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Quote:
I have been reading though, and a little knowledge can be a dangerous thing! Will I have to polar align manually (with a star test, I'm used to a polar scope in the mount of my Newt) every time I use the scope, and then play about with the RA axis and do something with sidereal time (whatever that is!)?
I'm more familiar with the models just before the LX-10. They came with a finderscope that had a polar reticle in it. Based on time & date one would rotate the reticle and then put Polaris onto an off-center crossmark, which would place the (invisible) celestial pole in the center. For visual use, it was plenty close enough to put Polaris in the center. Just like your polar scope in your RA axis, actually.
There's a possibility of some nomenclature confusion here: The LX-10 was the last of the Quartz-drive manual Meade SCT's. It came with a variable RA tracking motor - the Dec motor was optional on earlier models but may have been standard on the LX10. The LX200 uses the same optical tube but heavier forks and the computerized drive system. The LX10 can't be used effectively without a wedge, while the LX200 can.
Around here a used 8" LX200 would go for maybe $1300; a used LX10 for $900. I don't know the current exchange rate but last time I did know 450 Euros would be an OK price.
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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
Edited by jrcrilly (11/11/03 03:04 PM)
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jrcrilly
Refractor wienie again
Reged: 04/30/03
Posts: 22464
Loc: NE Ohio
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I'm really, really sure the LX10 has been phased out - but I see the Meade website still shows it (for some reason) so you can get the real skinny here:
http://www.meade.com/catalog/lx/lx10.html
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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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Anonymous
Unregistered
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Jason, ya gotta do what ya gotta do! 
Good luck with the purchase and come visit us every once in awhile in the reflectors forum!
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Echo
Post Laureate
Reged: 09/29/03
Posts: 3320
Loc: So Cal
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Jason,
If I can align the Lx200, believe me, you can too! I am absolutely, directionally challenged and must use a compass to find north every single time. It's a bit of a running joke around here now. As to using both scopes, I'd wait and see on that. You might like some objects better in the Newt. I really hope this works out for you. By the way, nice photo in the gallery. It's always nice to see who we are talking to.
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Queen of GOTO
Life is short.... get a massage!
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Anonymous
Unregistered
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You mean Jason isn't an Anime character??? Really???
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Anonymous
Unregistered
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Quote:
You mean Jason isn't an Anime character??? Really???
Oh no I've been caught! LOL! I sneaked a photo of myself into the gallery and used the Anime character because it's more flattering. 
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Anonymous
Unregistered
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Quote:
I'm really, really sure the LX10 has been phased out - but I see the Meade website still shows it (for some reason) so you can get the real skinny here:
http://www.meade.com/catalog/lx/lx10.html
Ah brilliant, thanks John! I've never seen it mentioned anywhere so I assumed it had been phased out as well. I think I may be confusing myself a bit, because it's the LX10 mount I'm getting, with an LX200 wedge and LX200 OTA. I'll save the Meade LX10 page as a pdf for future reference.
Do you know if one can still purchase the Magellan 1 computer controller? And is it an early/primitive GOTO system?!
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Anonymous
Unregistered
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Quote:
Jason,
If I can align the Lx200, believe me, you can too! I am absolutely, directionally challenged and must use a compass to find north every single time. It's a bit of a running joke around here now. As to using both scopes, I'd wait and see on that. You might like some objects better in the Newt. I really hope this works out for you. By the way, nice photo in the gallery. It's always nice to see who we are talking to.
Hi Echo, I'm sure I will figure out polar alignment after I've played with the mount for a bit, but the polar finder scope on my Newt is extremely helpful.
I was thinking about the larger secondary mirror obstruction on the SCT, and whether I would notice it significantly compared to my 8" Newt. Is it that noticeable do you think? I may keep the Newt but, if I was going to have 2 scopes, I think I would rather have a refractor as my other scope.
Thanks for the comment about the photo. I saw a lady in Sky & Telescope or Astronomy (can't remember which!) talking about her trips to mount Pinos and for a while I really thought it was you! I was even going to send you a message about it! It wasn't you though, was it?!
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Echo
Post Laureate
Reged: 09/29/03
Posts: 3320
Loc: So Cal
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Jason,
I'm not in any magazines. There are some pofessional astrophotographers who work up there a lot. It's a fantastic spot.
I don't think you're going to notice the secondary obstruction. I've never really noticed it even with low power, wide field eyepieces. The extra aperture will be nice for deep sky objects. I'd like to get a small refractor soon myself. I'm going to piggy back it on the SCT on good viewing nights and will set it up on it's own for iffy grab and go nights. It's such a shame that prices are so high over there on astronomy related items. It has to be extremely frustrating for you.
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Queen of GOTO
Life is short.... get a massage!
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Victor Kennedy
Pooh-Bear
Reged: 05/22/03
Posts: 9840
Loc: Slovenia
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Unfortunately, Echo, prices are higher in Europe, but at least we can get a decent beer. 
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To err is human; to moo is bovine.
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Echo
Post Laureate
Reged: 09/29/03
Posts: 3320
Loc: So Cal
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Victor,
I have not had a real beer since I left Germany. Boy do y'all have us beat in that department. I'd mail you an eyepeice if you could send me a good brew!
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Queen of GOTO
Life is short.... get a massage!
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Anonymous
Unregistered
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Tina, you should come to the Northwest then. We have real beer here - just ask any of us!
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Echo
Post Laureate
Reged: 09/29/03
Posts: 3320
Loc: So Cal
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Real unpasteurized beer?
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Queen of GOTO
Life is short.... get a massage!
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