Lightswitch vs Celestron GPS

[ictoos]

Hello all!

I've been stargazing for about 2 years now, limited due to job and 2 kids, but all the same do it when I can.

I'm ready to upgarde and was taken with the Lightswitch tech which is attractive to me because it automates so much. I'm learning the sky and showing my daughters 6 & 8. Curiously alignment is not as fascinating to them.

So, I have the jack for a new scope, do I get the 8" Meade

http://www.telescopes.com/telescopes/catadioptric-telescopes/meade8inchlstelescopewithlightswitchtechnology1.cfm

or

Buy a large aperture and attach the $180

http://www.opticsplanet.com/reviews/reviews-celestron-telescope-accessories-93968.html

to it. Will it give the same functionality as the dedicated unit?

Thanks in advance!

Kerry

[Capricorn]

If I had the choice of the 2 you quote I would be tempted more by the Meade at this time.

The Meade LS is not a common scope here in the UK, I think it is more so in the US.

Meade beefed up the drive train so problems they used to have in that area should be eliminated. Will say I have 3 Meades and never experienced a problem in the drive train or any other part.

Recently here there have been several posts about Celestron/Skywatcher scopes and in particular the electronics which seem to be having QA problems. At this time it is this which would bias me towards the Meade. Equally as said the LS series is not common here so I hear/read nothing about them going wrong perhaps owing to not many around to read about.

Your girls are growing up with systems and computers like setup etc for them, so they will wonder why anyone would want to do the alignment when a chip can do it. Times they are a-changing.

How good the Meade LS is I have no real idea, I would suggest a visit to the Cloudy Nights forum, US based one. They have a Meade section, also a Celestron one, and I would guess there is more information and experience available there. They will still benefit from being put on the ground as level and orientated as best as possible. It simply means the computer has less errors to account for, so should be more accurate.

I would find out about the general reliability as if anything goes wrong repairs will be costly, but that is true of all these scopes. As you are in the US check about support by both Meade and Celestron. I would suspect that the degree of Celestron support has been reduced since they became part of Synta. I have no idea if the support aspect is still as it was when Celestron were US owned.