Telescope Reviews: At a cross road.......

Well, my 14" LX200R mount died on me the other night. I took it apart and checked all the ribbon cable connectors, wire connectors, etc. for secure connection. What happens is when I turn on the power switch on the control panel, the handset background lighting comes on, the relay inside the handset clicks, then the lights inside the handset dim. No letters ever come up on the handset and the power LED on the control panel never lights up. No motor whir, no nothing. I've tried battery power as well as verified the Meade power supply works. I've disconnected everything from the main board and powered up and still no power LED.

Now, Meade will not sell me a main board to try. They say I have to send it back for 500 bucks. I hate this option but it appears I have no choice. I'd like to take this opportunity to maybe change my equipment to better gear up for serious astrophotography. Currently I image with a Cannon 20Da and also have an Orion 102ED that I do most of my imaging through while just using my 14" for the guide scope. I'd like to enlist all your collective expertise to build a serious AP setup. I was thinking of maybe getting the scope fixed and demounting the 14"R and mounting it(along with a .75x telecompressor(27TVPH) and the 102ED on an AP1200. The Ap1200 will take some heavy duty schmoozing to get past the wife though.....

What are your opinions? Also what would I expect to get for selling the LX200 mount after it's fixed?

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14" LX200R
Orion 102ED
Cannon 20Da
DSI PRO (for autoguiding)
All stored in my "Mt. Wilson Observatory" elev.610 ft.

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