Excelsis Ratings/Reviews - Votes:Meade LX-90 8"

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Meade LX-90 8"

I'am very happy with the ease of use and the overall abliity to get started right out of the box.

Overall Rating: 10
Weight: 1 (Unreliable Vote)
Date: 04/03/2005 07:21:38 pm PST
By: Anonymous (xxx.xxx.100.198)
Link to this vote: http://www.excelsis.com/1.0/displayvote.php?voteid=430165

Reply Replies: 0

Meade LX-90 8"

I am a fairly new user, but I have owned another 8" SCT a dozen years ago. I have to say that I really enjoy the easy portability (for an 8" SCT) and the GO TO function. Last night I went out adfter sunset and viewed about 6 or 8 clusters, and some nebulas that I used to try to find in my previous scope. I was finished and back in the house by 9:30PM for hot choclate with brandy. Although the searching can be half the fun, the GOTO has made my wife come outside and we now enjoy the viewing together. For this alone the scope it worth it.

I have a lot of high trees in the area which limit my near horizon viewing. So I am looking forward to compiling my own "sky tour" suited to my backyard for when friends come over. It can be uploaded into the Autostar.

The optics are certainly good enough for my 50 year old eyes, actually I find the optics excellent. I purchased TV plossls. Stability is far and away better than needed for visual work. I'm not an astrophotographer (but I might try it sometime). I set the scope in the yard for about 30 to 45 minutes before I go outside, and set up is very easy, as we all know. I would buy it again in a heartbeat.

One thing that could use improvenment is the star diagional. I think it should come with a 2" model that has brass compression rings and a 1.25" adatpter instead of the supplied one. Either that or put nylon thumbscrews into the EP holder rather than the steel one. Also, the Autostar now has a holder so that it attaches to one of the handles on the fork ... but it still gets in the way of the finder scope if you are viewing near zenith. I am planning to make an eyepiece holder/table that clamps between the tripod and the scopemount, and it will be the new mounting location for the Autostar unit.

Not much of a downside here. IMHO this is a real bargain for an "average backyard user" and then some.

Thanks for reading ... now go enjoy your scope.

Herb

Overall Rating: 10
Optics:9 Mount:10 Ease of Use:10 Value:10
Weight: 1 (Unreliable Vote)
Date: 10/25/2007 08:12:53 am PST
By: Anonymous (xxx.xxx.81.11)
Link to this vote: http://www.excelsis.com/1.0/displayvote.php?voteid=570731

Reply Replies: 0

Meade LX-90 8"

This review is for the LX 90 with ACF optics. The optics on the ACF version are very good. Stars resolve to a nice bright point. I had looked through a refractor with ED glass, a 10 inch dob and a Celestron at a star party. We were viewing Jupiter. The view in the LX 90 ACF was the best of all of them. It showed as much detail and contrast as the refractor. To me Jupiter's moons appeared to be brighter than in the other scopes. What I also like about this model versus the popular Nexstars is that you can manually slew the scope and are not dependent upon having a power source.

Now for the negatives. It is heavy to lug around and mount on the tripod. You have a single bolt that screws into the telescope and it is quite stiff. Also, the spreader on the tripod legs is awkward to get properly situated. I don't understand the whole leveling and pointing north thing since this telescope has GPS. Doesn't it know where north is? The biggest flaw with this and other Meade telescopes is the hand controller. Not only is it not user friendly it is extremely sensitive. One day it works, the next it's dead. And lastly, why isn't there an option to turn off the annoying audio play by play?

Overall Rating: 8
Optics:9 Mount:9 Ease of Use:7 Value:5
Weight: 1 (Unreliable Vote)
Date: 10/15/2011 05:17:07 am PST
By: Anonymous (xxx.xxx.79.62)
Link to this vote: http://www.excelsis.com/1.0/displayvote.php?voteid=598455

Reply Replies: 0

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