Meade 12" Lightbridge

[pastiche]

I am looking at a Meade 12" Lightbridge.

What do you all think?

[Essex Stargazer]

I am looking at a Meade 12" Lightbridge.

What do you all think?

Hi

Nice scope

[paul mc c]

Im no expert but i have one and love it,needs a few mods but nothing serious.

Paul

[brantuk]

It's a brilliant scope but have you seen one in real life. They are big and heavy so you'd need to be sure it's manageable for you. The views are fantastic though

[pastiche]

Hi Brantuk,

Yes I have seen one. I must admit the first time you see it it does take your breath away!

Can't wait to try it out.

[hemihaggis]

have you had a scope before ?

[pastiche]

Hi Paul Mc C,

What sort of mods?

How easy do you find the telescope to transport and use?

[pastiche]

Hi Hemihaggis,

Yes, I currently have a Meade ETX 105

[John]

I owned a Meade LB 12" for a while. It was a good scope but did need a number of modifications to get it working well for me. It was also pretty heavy and, in the end, I downsized to a much lighter 10" newtonian, which gets a lot more use.

IMHO the Lightbridges need more mods than the Skywatcher equivilents do "out of the box" although the optical quality is very similar.

[JamesM]

I regularly observe with someone who has the same scope and having looked through it - the views will not disappoint! I have no knowledge of the modifications that are needed but I have been able witness the set up times and how it all packs away and both are very quick. Yes its heavy, more awkward than anything but you will certainly need to break it all down (tube and mount carried separately etc) Great scope and not too expensive compared to some kit out there.

You will certainly get your use out of it providing the weather plays along too.

James

[ChrisEdu]

Have a look on ebay - someone is selling a nice kit based on a Lightbridge. I think it might be the 16" version - starting price £1k.

[pastiche]

Thank you all for your comments, much appreciated.

I will certainly go and look at the Skywatcher scopes before I make my final choice though.

[earth titan]

I have a 12" lb. Love it for it's sheer transportability.

It wasokay out of the box, but since having it I have 'unstuck' all the mirrors and fitted 'Bobs Knobs', and a full length shroud to keep light out. It's gonna get flocked later this year and the struts powder coated black anc at some stage, I shall fit a new focuser.

These are just nice to haves though and just ways of spending more money.

[John]

With mine I found the light shroud, replacement primary collimation springs and "Bobs Knobs" pretty much essential. Also needed a counterweighting system for heavier 2" eyepieces as the LB OTA get's top heavy real quick - my fault for wanting wide views I guess

I enjoyed the scope a lot though - you have to hand it to Meade for producing the 1st mass production truss dobsonian range including the mighty 16"

[Moonshane]

I have never used one but suspect it will be a great scope. if you buy a dob, and have an interest in tinkering, then you'll always have something to improve and for me, as I do!, this is one of the joys of dob ownership.

my main criticisms of the LB design are 1) the small side bearings. this makes the balancing a lot more difficult as suggested above. 2) the size of the base - it is very large for the size of the tube - I think my 16" dob has a smaller footprint at 21" and 3) the base materials (chipboard is prone to wet conditions affecting it adversely but this is not a major issue mentioned a lot so maybe they have improved the sealing of the materials used.

as others say, the optics are likely to be superb for the price.