Telescope Reviews: Which 6" 1200mm Refractor?

The LXD-55 series does not exist anymore (except if you look to purchase used units), it's been replaced a few years back with the LXD-75. The much improved LXD-75 made further advancements with the mount and the tripod supplied with all of the scopes in the series, not only achros. The OTAs, however, have not been majorly redesigned whatsoever - but yes, the lens cell of LXD-75 AR6-AT and AR5-AT are collimatable. BTW, no matter what you can read around here, that job is not as simple as it sounds. I know people who made it worse instead of better and had to cough up some serious buck to get it done right.

The AR-6 telescope is a 6" (152 mm) achromatic refractor by Meade. It sells for $1,200 with free shipping. The AR-5 scope is a 5" (127 mm) achro by the same manufacturer. Its price everywhere is $1,000 with free shipping. Both are great instruments, virtually the same except in the aperature and the focal length, I think the CA is minor but it sure is there on the brightest of the objects, the supplied mount is excellent for visual use, not nearly as much for the astro-photography and/or digital imaging. Oh, the same applies to Celestron's CG5-GT (which is supplied with their CR6-GT) or SkyWatcher's EQ5-PRO (supplied with the 150AR), they are all primarily designed for visual enjoyment of our night sky. Their whole packages can be bought for $1,100 and $1,245, respectively.

I own the 6" achro by Meade and, of course, I am subjective like everybody else here. I like it a lot and its presence alone is worth the money, at least to me, and, needless to say, I respect it much more when I use it under the stars. It impressed anyone who either looked at it or through it - or both. Even my wife who is not a space buff by any measure but instrumental in whether money will be spent on household items or astro-gear likes it a lot and believes that it was money well spent!

So I would recommend it with no reservation aside from the fact that it's sort of heavy and bulky (like ALL 6" scopes you and others here mentioned which are F8) so not a good choice if you are forced to move it around a lot and it's, of course, not an ED or APO refractor and it's not as nicely/expensively machined as scopes costing quite a bit more (none of the achros, which are aparently under consideration here, are; they are all mass produced and corners have been cut by their manufacturers here and there). If any or all of these "cons" are a problem for you then do yourself a favor and save at least 2-3 grand more and buy something totally different (and definitively better). Well, even for a grand more you could get a nice ED (some call it APO but let's not start that discussion here!

) of the smaller size, let's say 100-127mmm (4-5") or somewhere around it. I wish you best of luck!

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Astronomy Technologies Astro-Tech AT80ED 80mm f/7 ED doublet refractor
Meade LXD75 AR6-AT achromatic refractor 152mm/F8
Meade Adventure Pack 10x50 binoculars
Meade Series 4000 Super Plossl EPs
OPT 2" Quartz Dielectric Diagonal
OPT 2" ED 2X Barlow