mmalik
Carpal Tunnel
Reged: 01/13/12
Loc: USA
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Re: Motor current absorbtion
[Re: Whichwayisnorth]
#5209779 - 05/07/12 06:03 AM
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Given we haven't heard from other owners of LX800, this mount may be the only one having issues (a big presumption on my part).
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With Gary having this issue, myself and the guy you speak of that is 3 for 5 with the other two waiting for good weather or shipping. I would have much preferred it was just mine. At least then I know I can swap it out and have a chance...
Well, I stand corrected; that means we do NOT have a single successful test of LX800 reported so far. It is about time Meade got serious... ($7,299.00 mount is no trivial matter)
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ion
professor emeritus
Reged: 04/26/08
Loc: Bortle Scale 2
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Re: Motor current absorbtion
[Re: mmalik]
#5209826 - 05/07/12 07:18 AM
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I knew those threaded counterweights looked like trouble but everyone said they would allow easier more precise balancing and save many toes. Besides they would also have a quick release button. Now we have video of someone turning the heavy weights about 150 times without even achieving balance. The struggle to find the most efficient spin technique is evident as is the finger smashing potential of those rapid power spins. Where is the quick release button? Please be careful!
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Stew57
Carpal Tunnel
Reged: 05/03/09
Loc: Silsbee Texas
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Re: Motor current absorbtion
[Re: mmalik]
#5209866 - 05/07/12 08:13 AM
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I keep forgetting about the increase. I don't know why I am following this thread anymore as the raise ny Meade caused me to fold. Hope meade gets it sorted soon a lot is riding on this.
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mmalik
Carpal Tunnel
Reged: 01/13/12
Loc: USA
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Re: LX-800
[Re: yweln]
#5210095 - 05/07/12 11:18 AM
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There's a quick release button on the counterweights that allow you to slide them up and down the shafts quickly. The threading allows for small adjustments with one hand.
@yweln, I wonder how you came up with quick release button theory; there is NO such button to be found on LX800?
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Alph
Pooh-Bah
Reged: 11/23/06
Loc: Melmac
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Re: LX-800
[Re: mmalik]
#5210118 - 05/07/12 11:40 AM
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I wonder how you came up with quick release button theory; there is NO such button to be found on LX800?
The prototype had it and a Meade rep assured me that there will be a release button if i purchase a combo.
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frolinmod
Pooh-Bah
Reged: 08/06/10
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Re: LX-800
[Re: Alph]
#5210211 - 05/07/12 12:44 PM
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I keep forgetting about the increase. I don't know why I am following this thread anymore as the raise ny Meade caused me to fold.
Just wait for the next Meade blowout sale I guess? I think it's inevitable that they'll have one before too long.
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Whichwayisnorth
professor emeritus
Reged: 07/04/11
Loc: Southern California
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Re: LX-800
[Re: frolinmod]
#5210537 - 05/07/12 04:09 PM
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Any minute now some folks from Meade are arriving at my house to take my whole setup away from me OTA and all. They are going to test it over the next couple days and try to figure out WTH is going on with it and get back to me on what they plan to do about it. Options are replace what needs replacing and send me back my *repaired* system. Fix my system if there is something simple. Or replace everything. Either way I just want something I can use. Next weekend is supposed to be nice with a moon rising in the morning. Following weekend is a new moon and lots of star parties in the area for me to choose from. I'd like to get this out under dark skies and start imaging!
I'll update when I hear something.
Edit: Update: Rob Wood, VP of Engineering is the one they sent out to pick up my setup. They will mess around with it tonight and however many other nights it takes to solve the issue. He mentioned Gary(from this thread) as someone they are also working with to solve this. Using mine since I am local and we have pretty good weather right now.
Edited by Whichwayisnorth (05/07/12 04:56 PM)
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kbastro
professor emeritus
Reged: 04/20/08
Loc: Running from Clouds
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Re: LX-800
[Re: Whichwayisnorth]
#5210633 - 05/07/12 05:00 PM
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What surprised me is that people are/were gung-ho to jump on the LX-800 bandwagon without waiting for a full system test...
you would figure that a lesson would have been learnt after Celestron's CGEM mount fiasco..which many units had to be returned by many people to get a working one, and still are being returned....
kb
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Whichwayisnorth
professor emeritus
Reged: 07/04/11
Loc: Southern California
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Re: LX-800
[Re: kbastro]
#5210670 - 05/07/12 05:36 PM
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Meade ships it when they think it is ready. If everyone just stood around waiting for reports back then there would be no reports back. I don't mind being a beta tester as long as it can be fixed and I am not without a telescope for months.
If I had another system to use while I wait a few years for all the bugs to be worked out I would do that. However for me this is all eggs in one basket kind of thing. I am not getting any younger. I don't want to wait a year for version 2.0c to start rolling out with most if not all the bugs fixed. If Meade is willing to do all they can to get this fixed up for me then I'll be happy. It seems by their response they are dedicated to resolving this to everyone's satisfaction.
I am not happy I don't have a working system in my possession but I am very happy with the way they are handling it.
I was also an early adopter of the Edge14 on CGE-Pro. In fact I was the second person on CN to have one. I had a LOT of issues with the CGE-Pro and NONE with the OTA. Sent the mount back twice. Each time it came back worse. Sold the entire system along with hyperstar. I am hoping Meade will do things a lot better than Celestron did. So far they are.
If I could afford an AP1600 or Paramount ME I would get one of those instead. I had 10K to spend not a dime more.
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blueman
Vendor Blue Sky Accessories
Reged: 07/20/07
Loc: California
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Re: LX-800
[Re: Whichwayisnorth]
#5210720 - 05/07/12 06:01 PM
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You could have bought a used AP-900 and a 14" SCT for the $10k. Or a used AP1200 for $10k, with accessories but not with a 14" SCT, but I understand your situation. Money is limited and you have to do the best you can with what you got.
Blueman
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Meade ships it when they think it is ready. If everyone just stood around waiting for reports back then there would be no reports back. I don't mind being a beta tester as long as it can be fixed and I am not without a telescope for months.
If I had another system to use while I wait a few years for all the bugs to be worked out I would do that. However for me this is all eggs in one basket kind of thing. I am not getting any younger. I don't want to wait a year for version 2.0c to start rolling out with most if not all the bugs fixed. If Meade is willing to do all they can to get this fixed up for me then I'll be happy. It seems by their response they are dedicated to resolving this to everyone's satisfaction.
I am not happy I don't have a working system in my possession but I am very happy with the way they are handling it.
I was also an early adopter of the Edge14 on CGE-Pro. In fact I was the second person on CN to have one. I had a LOT of issues with the CGE-Pro and NONE with the OTA. Sent the mount back twice. Each time it came back worse. Sold the entire system along with hyperstar. I am hoping Meade will do things a lot better than Celestron did. So far they are.
If I could afford an AP1600 or Paramount ME I would get one of those instead. I had 10K to spend not a dime more.
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mmalik
Carpal Tunnel
Reged: 01/13/12
Loc: USA
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Re: LX-800
[Re: blueman]
#5210780 - 05/07/12 06:33 PM
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Rob Wood, VP of Engineering is the one they sent out to pick up my setup.
I kind of like what Meade is doing for Michael; though they could have done due diligence before shipping.
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mmalik
Carpal Tunnel
Reged: 01/13/12
Loc: USA
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Re: LX-800
[Re: blueman]
#5210797 - 05/07/12 06:40 PM
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You could have bought a used AP-900 and a 14" SCT for the $10k. Or a used AP1200 for $10k, with accessories but not with a 14" SCT, but I understand your situation. Money is limited and you have to do the best you can with what you got.
I think AP is overpriced no matter how good they are; they could lower prices a bit and they would be selling more of those things. With Meade following the same crowd, Meade may soon price itself out on high end. This would be a good time for AP to lower the prices and inject some competition into the mount market.
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JSnuff1
sage
Reged: 12/29/04
Loc: NY
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Re: LX-800
[Re: mmalik]
#5210822 - 05/07/12 06:52 PM
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Well my mount is getting delivered tomorrow, so well see what I will end up encountering.
The only reason I bought this early was because I happened to find one sitting at a dealers warehouse while it was still at the 6k price point (I feel bad for all the people that pre-ordered and still have not got theirs  ).
Either way what Meade is selling is a new system that as far as I'm concerned is worth way more than 6k or even 7-9k which other comparable mounts go for, IF and I mean and big IF the whole system works as Meade advertises it to work.
So far it obviously has not, and I cannot for the life of me figure out how they shipped these first few ones without them personal checking each one and making sure at least star lock is working at some sort of capacity out of the box.
3-4 mounts in peoples hands and NO ONE has got star lock to guide yet???
If something does not change fast this could be one deadly blow to Meade.
Now I can't wait until tomorrow haha 
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blueman
Vendor Blue Sky Accessories
Reged: 07/20/07
Loc: California
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Re: LX-800
[Re: mmalik]
#5210828 - 05/07/12 06:57 PM
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Maybe, but you do not have these kind of issues! 
The truth is, they are not overpriced, but they are not in the price range for everyone. I understand that. But they are built to much higher standards too.
Blueman
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You could have bought a used AP-900 and a 14" SCT for the $10k. Or a used AP1200 for $10k, with accessories but not with a 14" SCT, but I understand your situation. Money is limited and you have to do the best you can with what you got.
I think AP is overpriced no matter how good they are; they could lower prices a bit and they would be selling more of those things. With Meade following the same crowd, Meade may soon price itself out on high end. This would be a good time for AP to lower the prices and inject some competition into the mount market.
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mmalik
Carpal Tunnel
Reged: 01/13/12
Loc: USA
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Re: LX-800
[Re: JSnuff1]
#5210837 - 05/07/12 07:05 PM
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What I feel Meade is doing is mucking too much with proprietary stuff; they don’t need to re-invent the wheel here. Plus most of the hardware (electronics I mean) they are spending their efforts on is old school (RS232, no USB, etc.). I am not saying USB is the latest and greatest but you know what mean, they are still dealing with HW design from the 90s.
When were Meade in guide camera business; they didn’t need to muck around with StarLock camera/sensors either; why couldn’t they just slap a third party, SBIG type, guide camera on the thing and be done with StarLock of a misery. We don’t know if it’s hot pixels or what, it just could be their inferior quality sensors in the StarLock? Speculation aside, this hodgepodge of an innovation is puzzling. Only credit that goes to Meade is the concept, nothing else!
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blueman
Vendor Blue Sky Accessories
Reged: 07/20/07
Loc: California
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Re: LX-800
[Re: mmalik]
#5210867 - 05/07/12 07:22 PM
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To be fair, I think that this all looked very good on paper, a total system that is pretty much automatic. However, as the situation now shows, sometimes tying everything together in to one automatic package, can bring a lot of misery.
I was a master tech for BMW for 20+ years and I saw a great simple car that was trouble free, turn into a wonder of engineering that either worked or did not. When it did not, it was tough to figure out why. The reason, because everything was integrated and worked together, when it worked.
The same thing happened with the Meade mounts with integrated electronics, focuser and all, but alas, it did not work well or long either and those are now defunct.
It is beter to make things that work separately, but are reasonably easy to get to work together.
Blueman
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What I feel Meade is doing is mucking too much with proprietary stuff; they don’t need to re-invent the wheel here. Plus most of the hardware (electronics I mean) they are spending their efforts on is old school (RS232, no USB, etc.). I am not saying USB is the latest and greatest but you know what mean, they are still dealing with HW design from the 90s.
When were Meade in guide camera business; they didn’t need to muck around with StarLock camera/sensors either; why couldn’t they just slap a third party, SBIG type, guide camera on the thing and be done with StarLock of a misery. We don’t know if it’s hot pixels or what, it just could be their inferior quality sensors in the StarLock? Speculation aside, this hodgepodge of an innovation is puzzling. Only credit that goes to Meade is the concept, nothing else!
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gavinm
Pooh-Bah
Reged: 08/26/05
Loc: Auckland New Zealand
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Re: LX-800
[Re: mmalik]
#5210889 - 05/07/12 07:44 PM
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Plus most of the hardware (electronics I mean) they are spending their efforts on is old school (RS232, no USB, etc.).
Disagree. USB is a high-speed communications standard. Telescope commands don't need high-speed. Also USB is also limited in max length, whereas RS232 isn't really. An advantage for remote observatories. RS232 is also easier to wire up, making custom or DIY cable simpler (eg proprietary or null cables). The plugs, either DB9 or RJ12 are also more rigid than USB plugs, especially the mini-USB. For telescope control, while being an old standard, RS232 is quite sensible.
Personally I hate it - how many computers have RS232 ports these days? 
Edited by gavinm (05/07/12 08:03 PM)
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WadeH237
scholastic sledgehammer
Reged: 02/24/07
Loc: Snohomish, WA
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Re: LX-800
[Re: mmalik]
#5210907 - 05/07/12 07:55 PM
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I think AP is overpriced no matter how good they are; they could lower prices a bit and they would be selling more of those things.
How do you figure this? AP is famous for having waiting lists for their products. If anything, I think that they could justify raising prices to reduce the wait time. This is not true as much as it used to be for mounts, but I think that's because they have been increasing their production capability.
I've been on the list for 7 months to get an AP1200. When I first found out about the AP1200 was discontinued and replace by the AP1600, I started the process to get the AP900.
Based on the capabilities of the AP1600 vs the Paramount ME, I figured that the new mount would be similar in price to the Paramount, which would have put it out of my range. I was very pleasantly surprised to see the introductory price on the AP1600 was quite close to the AP1200 price. So I went back to my place in line to get the AP1600.
Yes, AP is very expensive compared to Celestron, Meade, Losmanday, etc. But I have *never* heard from an AP owner who claimed that they did not get their money's worth and more.
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frolinmod
Pooh-Bah
Reged: 08/06/10
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Re: LX-800
[Re: Whichwayisnorth]
#5210912 - 05/07/12 07:58 PM
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If I could afford an AP1600 or Paramount ME I would get one of those instead. I had 10K to spend not a dime more.
Oh man, I guess you missed last week's killer deal on a recent vintage lightly used Paramount ME over on Astromart. It even came with five counterweights, an extra hand controller and extra software. Fantastic deal. That's an ME for the price of an MX. Whomever got that is going to be one happy camper very soon now. (Unless the deal really was too good to be true and the mount had been dropped from a tall building or something.)
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frolinmod
Pooh-Bah
Reged: 08/06/10
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Re: LX-800
[Re: gavinm]
#5210920 - 05/07/12 08:04 PM
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Don't worry guys, it's still early. I suspect Meade will get it working and you'll have the solution in your hands within a few days or weeks at most. Hang in there and be patient for a bit.
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