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Meade LX200 GPS 10"

I like this scope alot despite its weight.I bought the JMI case (almost a must) and a mounting assistant plate by peterson MFG ("A" MUST) plus the Meade super wedge for my CCD camera. Also get a good diagonal, I'm using a everbrght 2", but this is probably overkill for a SCT. I also purchased the "eye-opener" from
peterson's that not only increases light and image quality, but allows me to pop on & off the focuser rather than screwing it on & off. I have a large selection of 1.25 eye pcs but last month I (finally) purchased a 31 nagler. I stopped by Lumicon and happened to find a 2x,2" powermate, teleview sent them to try. this is a prefect combo for this scope and about all Im using most of the time. Getting back to the scope the mirror lock is nice,& the quick hot keys are great,saving time by allowing you to go to caldwell/NGC/messier ect. very fast. The optics very good for a SCT(Jupiter and saturn looked great) and the new optical coatings seemed to make a substantial difference on galaxies(any body do a side by side test yet???)
My scope is front HEAVY with the meade dew shield and you need the counter weights(or that 31 Nagler) but I also have a Losmandy dovetail on it which may add to the problem. I had problems with the dec knob slipping and the GPS lock but Meade repaired it and now it works great. As far as the GPS the reciever is fast but It seems if I am at a site thats far from the auto site its better to enter the true long/lat numbers.
DOES ANYBODY KNOW A WAY TO SKIP THE COMPUTER SELECTED STARS AND SELECT YOUR OWN ALIGHNMENT STARS IN THE "AUTO" MODE? I live with a limited Earthly FOV in my back yard and the automatic mode is the only mode that self levels the scope. This sucks. You never know for sure where its going and if it slews into a tree or house your screwed , you have to shut down level the tripod and use the 2 star method, about a back breaking 15 min. proceedure vs setting the scope on the tripod and turning it on.

Overall Rating: No Vote
Weight: 3 (Unreliable Vote)
Date: 06/29/2002 06:41:16 pm PST
By: Anonymous (xxx.xxx.207.196)
Link to this vote: http://www.excelsis.com/1.0/displayvote.php?voteid=108769

>I like this scope alot despite its weight.I bought the JMI case (almost a must) and a mounting assistant plate by peterson MFG ("A" MUST) plus the Meade super wedge for my CCD camera. Also get a good diagonal, I'm using a everbrght 2", but this is probably overkill for a SCT. I also purchased the "eye-opener" from
>peterson's that not only increases light and image quality, but allows me to pop on & off the focuser rather than screwing it on & off. I have a large selection of 1.25 eye pcs but last month I (finally) purchased a 31 nagler. I stopped by Lumicon and happened to find a 2x,2" powermate, teleview sent them to try. this is a prefect combo for this scope and about all Im using most of the time. Getting back to the scope the mirror lock is nice,& the quick hot keys are great,saving time by allowing you to go to caldwell/NGC/messier ect. very fast. The optics very good for a SCT(Jupiter and saturn looked great) and the new optical coatings seemed to make a substantial difference on galaxies(any body do a side by side test yet???)
>My scope is front HEAVY with the meade dew shield and you need the counter weights(or that 31 Nagler) but I also have a Losmandy dovetail on it which may add to the problem. I had problems with the dec knob slipping and the GPS lock but Meade repaired it and now it works great.  As far as the GPS  the reciever is fast but It seems if I am at a site thats far from the auto site its better to enter the true long/lat numbers.            
>DOES ANYBODY KNOW A WAY TO SKIP THE COMPUTER SELECTED STARS AND SELECT YOUR OWN ALIGHNMENT STARS IN THE "AUTO" MODE? I live with a limited Earthly FOV in my back yard and the automatic mode is the only mode that self levels the scope. This sucks. You never know for sure where its going and if it slews into a tree or house your screwed , you have to shut down level the tripod and use the 2 star method, about a back breaking 15 min. proceedure vs setting the scope on the tripod and turning it on.



I have the same problem in my backyard with regards to alignment stars. When you computer has finished the GPS sync and displays an alignment star you can simply press the 1 of the two arrow buttons at the bottem of the hand controller. This is also handy when the computer choses a star that is surrounded by other stars.

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