Meade lx200 10 1993

[colinh5]

I am looking at buying an older 1993 version of this model and wondered if anyone had any comments on its performance. Does it have autostar,  I don't think it has gps but can you fit one in the way you can for a camera. are the optics good

[LightBucket]

Hi and welcome..

i have a Meade LX90 8” made around the same time, and they are almost identical tubes to the LX200, the optics are very good and of high quality, it will have an Autostar handset, not sure what version it will be though, probably version 1.

You can buy GPS modules for them, although getting quite rare, you can’t just ad your own, unless you are really clued up on electronics, then maybe. All in all a very capable scope, if you are thinking of imagin you may want to look for a Meade f6.3 focal reducer as at its native f10 it will be very slow... HTH

 

[Davey-T]

I have a later LX200 GPS 10" and seem to recall that at the time there was an guy in the USA making circuit boards to update older ones, a long shot but he may be still be around.

A post on Cloudy Nights might get better results.

Dave

[colinh5]

As a newbie i,m not quite sure what you mean by reducer as it will be slow?

 Thank you for you help though

 

[fireballxl5]

The original "classic" LX200 from that era did not have Autostar but it did have a handset allowing 'computer control' that was very good IMHO. I had a 10" LX200 classic of 1997 vintage that I loved until I got more into AP and found the tracking just too poor and so moved on to an GEM set-up. Maybe the guiding s/w at that time (Guidedog, early PHD1) just wasn't mature enough yet to deal with the kind of PE that mine had and current s/w (PHD2 in particular) would do a better job.

 

[Davey-T]

29 minutes ago, colinh5 said:

As a newbie i,m not quite sure what you mean by reducer as it will be slow?

 Thank you for you help though

 

Welcome to SGL Colin, are you planning in imaging or just visual with this scope, there is a 6.3 focal reducer available that is used for imaging to give a smaller brighter image better for imaging but there are many other shortcomings that mean it is not very good for imaging, it has excellent optics for visual observation especially for the Moon and planets.

Dave

[colinh5]

This opening up a can of worms or in my case under covering a vast shortfall in knowledge.  Firstly can i view via a laptop or just control via a laptop. second is If i can only control via a laptop then yes i want to take some images on a dslr as well as using my mk1 eyeball

 

[LightBucket]

Here is a GPS unit for sale that should work with it...

http://ensoptical.co.uk/gps-mate-for-meade-lx200-classic

[michael8554]

6 hours ago, colinh5 said:

can i view via a laptop or just control via a laptop

Not sure what you mean by "viewing", but the mount can be controlled from a computer with the right cable.

Michael 

[VNA]

http://www.astronomyreviews.com/sct/meadelx200autostar.HTM

The problem with these older Meade LX200 10" is finding parts and speak from experience. I have a mid 90s model.

For $500.00 or so installing modern new electronics is a great improvement. The optic is excellent, although heavy.

[Davey-T]

DSLR pixels and SCTs don't really suit as you end up with what's called the sampling rate of well below 1 arc second per pixel even with a 6.3 reducer, this is not to say it's impossible though, what you can do is piggy back your camera on top of it either with a camera lens or small scope.

Presumably it's fork mounted in Alt / AZ  mode not on a wedge this will also restrict your imaging attempts.

Dave