Meade LX-6 2120

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Meade LX-6 2120
I like the LX-6 except that I've been spoiled by trying out a friend's LX-200 and the go-to has me hooked. The LX-6 has a less stable mount than the 200, thicker metal but not as wide and it lacks the newer scopes extra ribbing in the forks which adds to the LX-200's rigidity. The wide field is better in an f-6.3 ota than an f-10 with a telecompressor on deep sky, but for planetary the f-10 ota had the advantage in contrast.

Overall Rating: 8
Weight: 1 (Unreliable Vote)
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Meade LX-6 2120
Very bad scope! I own one and I´m not happy....


Gregor D.
xzh708a@tninet.se

Overall Rating: No Vote
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Meade LX-6 2120
Bought a LX-6 used for $750 and used it for 5 years doing CCD and 4X5 photography. Excellent pictures, though I must admit, I had experienced a wierd RA drive error. RA correction somehow got stuck into advance mode. No warranty, and didn't want to ship back to Meade to fix for 200 dollar(quote, no shipping either, wanted whole scope too not just the base?) Well, decide to use electronic wisdom, learned drive system with O-scope, DVM, and etc. Replaced a .99 cent chip(frequency divider), fixed problem. Used for another 2 years. Great scope IMO, however, I would advise to check the optically integrity(Corrector plate should be coated, not clear). Run it thru some star tests and so and ask for a return if not satisifed. Though, if you can pick up one of these for a low cost go for it. Many our jumping on the goto bandwagon, so one should find one cheap. Keep me busy for five years and one can always look to buy a LX-50 mount if the Optical tube is still good. However, I can't imagine one to actually throw out a scope when recoating mirrors is rather cheap to do. But then again one must learn the sky to navigate if the dso's are not included. I actually integrated Mel's goto system on this scope, worked like a champ.
Joe

Overall Rating: 9
Optics:9 Mount:9 Ease of Use:9 Value:10
Weight: 5 (Veritable Vote)
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Link to this vote: http://www.excelsis.com/1.0/displayvote.php?voteid=185936

Meade LX-6 2120
Bought mine secondhand for £550. Its the 10" F10 Premier model made in 1992. I had heard a lot of stories about the secondary missing their coatings and the drives packing up. But to my surprise the scope was in prestine condition, a real gem. Couldn't believe how big it was though and its no lightweight either. Still enough for one person to a manage though, just!
The optics are awesome. After spending some time collimating and giving the Meade 2 hours cool down time. I turned it on Saturn. With a 10mm Vixen LV, it really was a perfect image. Best of all, there was a new LX200 10" setup next to mine and using the same eyepiece, we could barely tell them apart. Much to his dismay and my joy.
Where the LX6 does fall down compared to its modern day counterparts, is its wedge and fork mount. It doesn't take much to have the image dancing around the eyepiece, where as the LX200 is rock steady. Hence, this is why I gave the mount only 8. It makes up a bit for being so smooth and the drives track beautifully for visual use. The field tripod is excellent, a real sturdy job.
Deep sky viewing is a pleasure. However, my Orion XT10 F5 dobsonian is superior in this department. But the Orion is also better than the LX200 10" aswell.
The bottom line is, for very little outlay, you can have most of an LX200 10" for a fraction of the cost. Especially if you can do without goto.
Great scope, a definate 10 overall.

Overall Rating: 10
Optics:10 Mount:8 Ease of Use:10 Value:10
Weight: 1 (Unreliable Vote)
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Link to this vote: http://www.excelsis.com/1.0/displayvote.php?voteid=193396

Meade LX-6 2120
I have the Premiere version (f/10 optics instead of f/6.3) and my example is superb. Probably the best SCT optics I've used (star test is bang on - same inside/outside of focus - no astigmatism, roughness or TDE). It's a big scope - about the same "heft" as a similar LX-200 (but the forks are a bit more slender). Overall this is a high quality unit with tons of gadets. Mine is at least 11 years old, and all the gadets still work! Optical performance was on par if not a bit better than my Meade 10 inch Starfinder. Overall, this scope performs very well. I'd say this is a good bargin if you can find one - it's got all the features of the LX-200 minus the GOTO (although the CAT system comes close!). Buyers of f/6.3 units should check the optics before purchasing - I've heard of issues there. Overall, I'd say if you can find one of these gems used, you've got yourself a great scope! VERDICT: Recommended.

Overall Rating: 9
Optics:9 Mount:9 Ease of Use:9 Value:10
Weight: 11 (Trustworthy Vote)
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Meade LX-6 2120
I used the f/6.3 version of this scope for over a decade. It afforded excellent views of deep sky objects, even some very faint targets. Under good conditions, M31 and M42 would fill the field of view and offer a lot of fine detail. One memorable night, it showed M33, a famously elusive target, in amazing form. But, as I aged, I found the prospect of lugging this heavy monster out to a dark sky site and struggling to set it up with its massive equatorial wedge to be less and less attractive. It sat unused for over a year, so I finally sold it recently. Do I miss it? Well, I certainly miss the outstanding views. But I do not miss the agony of transport and set-up, at all. The Contemporary Meade and Celstron 10" SCTs (without equatorial wedges) are probably much more manageable, though. These days, I'm content with my 4" apo refractor.

Overall Rating: 8
Optics:10 Mount:7 Ease of Use:7 Value:8
Weight: 5 (Veritable Vote)
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Link to this vote: http://www.excelsis.com/1.0/displayvote.php?voteid=448136

Meade LX-6 2120
I've had my LX6 6.3 for almost 20yrs now and I still like it. Some of the multi-coating on the corrector is starting to come off so I parked it for a while and used my other more managable scopes,80mm SV Nighthawk being my favorite! It also rides as a guide scope,Nextar 114 GoTo,Skywatcher 80mm F-9 Achro. They are fun and easy to use and transport BUT when I bust out the "old horse" I can go deep! and it tracks very well. And worn coatings don't seem to play much if a role in diminishing the view. Large secondary means less sharp on Planets but I never bought this scope for that purpose(besides I have other scopes for Planets) I used it for astrophotograghy and it worked well with a Lumicon Giant Easy-guider,Pictor 201 auto-guider back in the days of film when you sometimes had to guide by eye! with a guide-scope hence the Stellarvue NHAP. If you can find one of these "beasts" Go for it! You'll love the wide views and the tracking...John M. Reilly

Overall Rating: 9
Optics:9 Mount:8 Ease of Use:8 Value:8
Weight: 1 (Unreliable Vote)
Date:
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Link to this vote: http://www.excelsis.com/1.0/displayvote.php?voteid=594814

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