Meade LX 10 8" SCT upgrade from my 90mm Mak

[Dreamweaver]

I went along to a telescope shop to see for myself the size and portability of a medium sized dob as this was the general consensus of people on this forum when asked as to what would be a suitable upgrade to my 90mm Mak.

My main concerns were storage and ease of portability/transportation from my flat which has stairs and things to negotiate around in the hallway like bicycles and a drum kit before loading into the car, then everything in reverse of course when I have finished.

The 8”, 10” and 12” dobs in the shop were very impressive. Big. Very big. Their motion as smooth as butter but seeing them in the flesh there was no way I was going to buy one as the size of all of them were simply too big. Even the 8” dob was too big for me given my storage and transporting concerns.

I asked for the 8” dob to be dismantled to see what it would look like and whether or not it would suit my needs and fit into the car without any problems. The gentleman kindly took apart the Meade 8” Lightbridge as far as possible but even then the base and tubes were too big for me. The base could not disassemble any further which was a disappointment. Perhaps when I move to a place that has a garden with a shed then a 16” dob is going in my Christmas stocking for sure. But until then…

Enter Meade LX 10 - 8inch SCT.

At first glance this beast was scary in the back of the shop but after the demonstration on how quickly and easily it disassembled into three very manageable parts tamed this beast in an instant. I had read reviews on this scope, all favourable so I thought I better have it before someone else does. So I bought it. I negotiated a deal as it was second-hand and got a brand new Telrad thrown in too. Fantastic. I changed the 6x30 finder to a corrected 9x50 right angle as this is what I was used to for star hoping.

First light. Sorry only Jupiter.

I was itching to get this beast pointing skyward but only had a window of an hour. I managed to get it set up in my front garden, which is the size of a postage stamp and annoyingly having a massive sodium street lamp right outside my gate. Nice. And of course there was a pretty large very bright moon last night too.

The only thing visible from my garden apart from the street lamp was Jupiter, I would have had to go into the middle of the road to see the Orion nebula but didn’t fancy getting run over so I settled with Jupiter from my pretend front garden.

The best view of Jupiter I have ever seen! The bandings were completely clear even though my 32mm EP and when magnified up to 285 times with my 7mm EP I thought I could simply pluck Jupiter from the sky and hold it in my hand! It was it was so big. The field of view at that magnification only allowed me to see three moons. I was having to tweak the focus knob quite a bit but all in all I was knocked out with the clarity, brightness and size of Jupiter! The electric tracker worked perfectly once I set the mount up correctly (I had to turn the mounting wedge through 180 degrees - this took all of three seconds to do so that was that). Simple.

Before I knew it an hour had passed and the clouds were rolling in so I stopped. During this session the view of Jupiter was getting sharper and sharper, I guess it was ‘cooling down’ as the scope was previously in my living room.

So really this scope can be broken down into two parts. The mount and wedge can remain clamped together for ease of transportation and surprisingly it’s not heavy at all. Fits in the boot of my car with ease. It’s very solid and stable when erect. The legs are not telescopic so this makes it quicker and easier to set up, taking only two or maybe three seconds to erect . The scope itself is a bit lumpy I have to admit but it has a carry handle on one of the mounting arms and when the scope is in the “rest position” it is very easy to carry around. The scope can sit quite neatly on any flat surface and look after itself when in storage. It takes three seconds, maybe five if you are a bit slower, to lift it in place onto the mounting wedge. Then you only have to tighten up the securing clamps. Job done. The setting circles seem to be large enough to be actually useful. Hopefully.

Can’t wait to take it out to better, darker skies and report back on M13. Sadly this will probably in several weeks time given our weather…

[robbie c]

Congrats on the new scope Dreamweaver that's a big jump from a 90mm Mak you must be well pleased

[breezy]

hmmmm chrimbo isapproaching and im already being asked what i would like !!

[Dreamweaver]

Yes this was a present to myself. Just need some jolly nice skies...

[E621Keith]

Congratulation. The LX10 is a lovely scope. I used one in my undergraduate Astrosoc. Very simple to operate, sharp and bright was my impression. None of the computer alignment stuff, just put the tripod own, wedge faces north and it's good to go.

PS. it was also the scope that gave me aperture fever.

[Pluto1948]

Hi Dreamweaver

I was looking for info on the LX10 and read your topic, in it you mention " The electric tracker worked perfectly once I set the mount up correctly " did you buy it with the tracker and was it the Magellan i system, the reason I ask is I have just acquired an LX10 and think it's great but if it's possible I would like to be able to track.

Pluto 1948

[michael8554]

Think he means the RA drive "tracked" correctly once he had the wedge the right way round.

Michael