Meade LX-50 10"

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Meade LX-50 10"
nice optics, field tripod must be purchased seperate though, also the super wedge is recomended for astrophotography, a great scope for around $2400 including super wedge and field tripod.

Overall Rating: 8
Weight: 1 (Unreliable Vote)
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Link to this vote: http://www.excelsis.com/1.0/displayvote.php?voteid=38353

Meade LX-50 10"
This scope has a few problems that Meade just doesn't correct.

1) The declination motor does not run at a constant speed. It is poorly designed and has limited range.
2) My RA motor (my be unique to my scope) does not run at a constant speed.
3) The Declination angle has poor adjustments. It uses two screws that twists the declination plate.
4) The scope/tripod could be designed with better leveling capabilities.

I bought my scope 7 months ago and, because of Meade's poor design, have spent those 7 months buying/building fixes to try and correct these problems. Eventually I will have a scope that works (where I can take a decent photograph) but for the price they charge for their scope and acessories the scope should work properly where its delivered. Would I buy another Meade scope? NO.

Overall Rating: 6
Weight: 1 (Unreliable Vote)
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Link to this vote: http://www.excelsis.com/1.0/displayvote.php?voteid=38354

Meade LX-50 10"
Wonderful working instrument if you take the time to align it and collminate the optics. The default eyepiece and diagnal aren't the world's greatest, but the optical tube assembly is very good, and once thermally cooled, delivers excellent images.

Overall Rating: 9
Weight: 3 (Unreliable Vote)
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Link to this vote: http://www.excelsis.com/1.0/displayvote.php?voteid=38356

Meade LX-50 10"
The optics are good the mount needed a lot of help.

Overall Rating: 8
Weight: 1 (Unreliable Vote)
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Link to this vote: http://www.excelsis.com/1.0/displayvote.php?voteid=38359

Meade LX-50 10"
Good optic sharp views. Had this scope two years never had
any problem with it.

Overall Rating: 9
Weight: 3 (Unreliable Vote)
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Link to this vote: http://www.excelsis.com/1.0/displayvote.php?voteid=38360

Meade LX-50 10"
Very sharp optic nice scope.

Overall Rating: 8
Weight: 1 (Unreliable Vote)
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Link to this vote: http://www.excelsis.com/1.0/displayvote.php?voteid=38361

Meade LX-50 10"
The optics in my 10" are excellent. I built my own tripod out of hard maple( I think Meade's tripod is overpriced). The drive needs PEC ( listening Meade?).

Overall Rating: 7
Weight: 1 (Unreliable Vote)
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Meade LX-50 10"
Decent scope, but not impressed with views unless 'seeing' conditions
are almost perfect.
Unfortunately, gets blown away by most 7" or larger reflectors costing
less than half it's price !
With amount of 'tweaking' required to obtain decent images, would NOT
recommend for beginners.

Overall Rating: No Vote
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Meade LX-50 10"
instruction manual isnt the best. My Dec motor is crooked and the 60 tooth gear
is on an angle. Tripod leg seperator is poorly made where it fits to legs.
I have not had the chance to see much through mine, just got it a week ago,
and nights have been overcast. I hope optics and drive are ok. I wish the super
wedge was included in price.

Overall Rating: 7
Weight: 1 (Unreliable Vote)
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Link to this vote: http://www.excelsis.com/1.0/displayvote.php?voteid=38365

Meade LX-50 10"
A good scope for the money if you are using it for visual use. Needs a lot of help for photographic or ccd use. Small drive motors on both R.A and D.E.C use of plastic gears on D.E.C drive with to fast of a ratio for good guiding. Mounting system for R.A motor assembly needs to be upgraded mounting bolts tend to strip out. Older LX 50's don't work well with auto guiders need the upgraded 6.1 chip set make sure you put it in right or you will burn the board out!!! Problems with the hand box connection port after repeated use it becomes loose and the hand box dose not want to work. Some times on start up the R.A motor will run away "run to fast" and the scope will need to be restarted. Has a good amount of mirror flop which will knock the scope out of focus if the scope is moved about the sky the only way around this is to lock down the primary mirror and get a new focuser such as a JMI unit. The wedge that comes with it needs to be built stronger so the scope dosn't wiggle as much when focusing. Guiding correction speed needs to be slower 2x just isn't slow enough for manual guiding . The optics are the best part of the scope Meade did spend some time and care assembling the optical tube but on the rest of the scope they cut corners all over the place. To be fair the market place is very competive and if your just going to use the scope visualy then it's functional but to try and use it for ccd work is very time consuming and aggrevating. Meade should be honest in there advertising and just say that it is not intended to take pictures through with out a good amount of overhall of the drive systems. But LX 50 owners are not alone the LX 200 which was designed for astrophotography has it's problems too and the goto dosn't always work as advertised. They also have to deal with the tech lines at Meade or should I call it the voice mail lines at Meade. In closing if you want a good visual scope consider it but for astrophotography buy the optical tube from Meade and get a good mount from some one else.

Overall Rating: 6
Weight: 1 (Unreliable Vote)
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Link to this vote: http://www.excelsis.com/1.0/displayvote.php?voteid=38366

Meade LX-50 10"
I have had my Meade LX50 10" for over a year now. I have read many comments about problems with this scope. I can honestly say I have never had any problems at all. I veiw at least once a week and sometimes 3 and for times a week. I think most of the complaints come from the fact that people are trying to make this scope something it's not. It's not designed for astrophotography. But you can do a very very good job with 35mm film images with it. And yes you don't need a superwedge! It's nice but not worth $400. Yes you may have to adjust the Dec manually. So what, for another $1000 to $1500 you can buy a LX200. But I would rather do a manual adjustment once in a while then spend the money. You may not. If so don't buy Meade's low end priced SCT.
The views are as good as any scope in it's aperture and price range. I have put mine to the test beside a 11" Ultma by Celestron. The views were just as sharp and crisp. I rate the LX50 8.99 for it's class. So I round that up to a 9.

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Meade LX-50 10"
In three months of owning the LX50 I've found plenty of things I was pleased with and a plenty of things I was NOT so peased with.
I'll start with the good:

1)good opitics and high resolution.
2)easy to get high magnification.

Now for the bad:
1)plastic gears(dosen't move at the same speed all the time)
2)variable focal lenght(more than 1000mm),this applies to all SCT's
3)hard to set up, and transport by yourself
4)right asention not balanced well with a finder on(at least mine was)

If you only plan on using it for moderate or low power visual use it's good, I'd give it a 9. For photography or demanding visual use I give it a 6, you can however fix this by replacing gears and adding a Crayford focuser. To meet the demands of serious astronomy, you have to spend a lot on upgrades. For serious astronomy the LX 200 is a better bet.

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Meade LX-50 10"
I have the scope and its great! I put it to alot of hard use and it holds up very good a job well done to Meade!

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Meade LX-50 10"
I am not sure if this telescope comes with a tripod when you buy it but if it did it will be the number one telescope in the world because it is very powerful, strong and it is made by the best telescope company in the world, Meade...

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Meade LX-50 10"
I have had my scope for three years now. Here in kentucky were the weather hinders good seeing, my 10" sct pulls through what I concider to be very good concidering the weather elements stacked against it. Visualy the amount of play in the focaser needs attention, photographicly the dec motor needs to be slowed down and both motors could be more precise. I have taken many good photos and for the price, it cant be beat. All in all----you get what you pay for. BUT---- its the accessories that I had trouble with such as the red crosshairs showing up on my photos were the light would travel from my illuminated eyepiece on to the mirrors and on to the photo. Great picture with red crosshairs running through it. Also using the 6.3 focal reducer visualy produces a round looking field of view instead of flat. Photographicly, its harder to find a guide star using the focal reducer than it is shooting at F-10 and the guide star when you do find one appears much fainter. I,m wanting to purchase the 201 autoguider but am afraid of getting an unpleasant surprise. As far as the mount, I have no problems with it.

Overall Rating: 8
Weight: 1 (Unreliable Vote)
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Meade LX-50 10"
Excellent optics!

Overall Rating: 9
Weight: 1 (Unreliable Vote)
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Meade LX-50 10"
I can say that i'm happy with my LX-50. Much value for money. The optics are the best i've ever seen in 35 years of observation. The circumstances in my residence (Den Haag, Holland) are very difficult because there is a lot of unwanted light from urban light pollution. Mostly i use a broadband- or a narrowband filter during mij visual observations. The aperture of 10" makes me able to see stars upto a magnitude 12, while the theoretical visual magnitude is 14.5. The aligning on tripod is very easy and takes not more than ten minutes. The magellan computer corrector is a good working feature. In combination with a Super Wide Angle eye-piece is pointing an object a piece of cake.
The view performance is very sharp and the mechanic part is of good quality.
Anyhow, It is a very good and a solid telescope. Use of a superwedge in combination with a heavy tripod is necessary for a stable mount.
The only disadvantage is the weight of the tube assembly.

Overall Rating: 9
Weight: 3 (Unreliable Vote)
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Link to this vote: http://www.excelsis.com/1.0/displayvote.php?voteid=38376

Meade LX-50 10"
The optics are excellent. The drive unit is satisfactory. The standard wedge is the weak link causing long dampening times. I added a 1/2" thick 5.5" x 9.5" aluminum plate bolted to the back of the wedge to increase structural rigidity. Dampening time was cut in half. The field tripod works properly and is easy to adjust. The bubble level built in the top of the tripod is not accurate. Check yours with a small hand level to verify accuracy. The factory diagonal is too small and not of quality for this scope. I replaced mine with a 2" Lumicon diagonal and the optics improved even more. Clear skies everyone!

Overall Rating: 8
Weight: 1 (Unreliable Vote)
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Meade LX-50 10"
Overall pleased with the quality of this scope, standard wedge and field tripod. Optics are very good. Several nice concentric round rings appear around a star when moving in and out of focus. Planetary images are sharp. Nice contrast on deep sky objects. There is a minimal amount of mirror shift when focusing in and out. The drive works properly. I shot a few long exposure astropics with it and the errors are acceptable although not the best. A couple of corrections per minute. I was able to reach focus with a 35mm erfle 2" eyepiece using a Lumicon diagonal and adapter as well as 6.3 focal reducer. The dampening time could be better. I improved it by making an aluminum plate to screw to the back of the wedge. This cut dampening times in half, now about 2 seconds. Also, if you are considering buying any 10" SCT, see one in person first. They are very large, about 60 to 70% larger than an 8". I owned an 8" SCT for a while and it is MUCH MORE PORTABLE!

Overall Rating: 9
Weight: 3 (Unreliable Vote)
Date:
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Link to this vote: http://www.excelsis.com/1.0/displayvote.php?voteid=38378

Meade LX-50 10"
Exellent optics but collimation is the key. Very good perfomance for the money

Overall Rating: 9
Weight: 3 (Unreliable Vote)
Date:
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Link to this vote: http://www.excelsis.com/1.0/displayvote.php?voteid=38379

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