Meade LX90 12” ACF First light

[garryblueboy]

So have just finished the second outing with my newest scope the Meade LX90 12” ACF having previously owned a CPC 11 Deluxe  I knew this was not going to be a easy set up 

but to my surprise I found the LX 90 to be more manageable and felt much lighter to lift the fork assembly onto the mount after leaving a couple hours to cool off 

I aligned the tube north and switched it on I opted for two star align it took me to Sirius straight away and placed in the Eyepice of my 24mm Panoptic off to the left slightly so centred and off to Rigel same there so centered and that was it all aligned so started the tour M42 wow great depth all main stars fully resolved great detail in the nebula clouds thought I’d check the colimation so on to Sirius and to my suprise bang on diffraction pattern so really pleased checked out several other targets Andromida the Pladies m34 all perfect centered in the Panoptic 24 I didn’t bother to change it out as the views of most targets including the moon were clear and sharp so far I’m more pleased  than I was with the CPC Edge I had last year it works straight out of the tin and the Audiostar hand set is a joy to use 

[Sunshine]

Thats a big scope! i was wondering about what made you drop the CPC1100 Edge for the ACF, i missed that post, i'm assuming the CPC let you down?

[Chris]

Very nice. and you're one strong dude, my 8" is at the very limit of what I can manage (you ought to hear some of the noises I make trying to lift the scope onto the tripod location pin!). I have a soft spot for Meade despite what some say, and I've been seriously considering buying one of the 2018 model ETX's as a more manageable goto to join the CPC. 

Nice report and keep eating your spinach!  

[John]

Nice scope. My astro society have recently installed one in our dome. I was having a play with it a few nights back.

[garryblueboy]

7 hours ago, Sunshine said:

Thats a big scope! i was wondering about what made you drop the CPC1100 Edge for the ACF, i missed that post, i'm assuming the CPC let you down?

Hi Yes it was very cumbersome I originally had a C11 Edge OTA Sold it to get a full set up wish I hadn’t optically It was fine set up another story although the lx looks and you would think just as combasome it surprising not and so much easier to set up I looked for used a C11 Edge ota but prices were like new and this came up and so far it works like a dream and has had more use in hours in one week than my Cpc had in a year 

[garryblueboy]

6 hours ago, John said:

Nice scope. My astro society have recently installed one in our dome. I was having a play with it a few nights back.

Thanks John to be honest over the years I’ve always had better luck with the Meade I remember a lx 90 8 inch I had it worked flawlessly sold due to aperture fever and now with this I think it’s just as good but bigger Sirius looked stunning through it the other night and it takes me only minutes to set it up on my own so hopefully she stays not sure her indoors approves but I’m sure a new handbag or something will ease the burden lol ? 

[garryblueboy]

7 hours ago, Lockie said:

Very nice. and you're one strong dude, my 8" is at the very limit of what I can manage (you ought to hear some of the noises I make trying to lift the scope onto the tripod location pin!). I have a soft spot for Meade despite what some say, and I've been seriously considering buying one of the 2018 model ETX's as a more manageable goto to join the CPC. 

Nice report and keep eating your spinach!  

To be honest Chris it feels  more like a lighter scope compared to the CPC 11 , I did struggle with that and I’m fairly fit and the Goto was awful this is so much easier if a deal came up now like when you got yours I probably would have got the CPC800 to be honest the lx 12  it doesn’t feel much more weight than 9.25 Cpc I had few years back 

[Sunshine]

11 minutes ago, garryblueboy said:

Hi Yes it was very cumbersome

I too once found myself there, a couple of years ago I bought a new CPC1100, optically it was great and Goto worked like a charm but, it was just a monster to handle. my home has 3 levels including the basement, keeping it on the main level was out of the question as it is a family space and my wife would have a coronary. Unfortunately, this meant I had to manage stairs whenever taking it out and this was suicide, carrying the fork/OTA assembly down steps was terrifying, I couldn't see the steps, this led me to come to a hard decision and let it go a mere 6 months later. Either the scope went, or I would end up taking a horizontal trip to the hospital one day.

[garryblueboy]

Yes sunshine I agree I’m lucky I don’t have stairs to negotiate but still struggled with the the CPC11Edge the fork assembly seemed hard to carry safely this feels lighter and has  two normal hand grips as aposed to one and a recessed one the CPC just wasn’t user friendly to me 

[Merlin66]

I used the Lx200 12” OTA for many years, but it weighed in at 17+Kg.

eventually changed to the C11 on a NEQ6 mount.

 

[Telescope40]

Hello Gary. 

Nice kit.I used to have the 10 in version and was very happy with it. 

Have to agree that the gotos were good and no one will knock Meade from my experience with my example. 

Sold it to fund a mount upgrade but still have good memories of it. 

Hope  it turns out to be with you long term 

 

John

[garryblueboy]

1 hour ago, Merlin66 said:

I used the Lx200 12” OTA for many years, but it weighed in at 17+Kg.

eventually changed to the C11 on a NEQ6 mount.

 

I know Merlin I had the c11 edge on CGEM Mount but sold to fund what I thought was the way forward a CPC 11 Deluxe wished after I hadn’t but I’m happy now 

[Chris]

6 hours ago, garryblueboy said:

To be honest Chris it feels  more like a lighter scope compared to the CPC 11 , I did struggle with that and I’m fairly fit and the Goto was awful this is so much easier if a deal came up now like when you got yours I probably would have got the CPC800 to be honest the lx 12  it doesn’t feel much more weight than 9.25 Cpc I had few years back 

Good to hear you manage it ok, Garry. Just out of curiosity, what was the issue with the cpc goto? I can't fault mine other than it doesn't always pick up the GPS signal, so I've had to input the time once or twice. Two star align nails it bang centre every time.

I've seen demo's of the Meade goto online and it does look good. I quite like that their smaller ETX range have a proper fork arm rather than a shaky single arm. 

One of the things I enjoy about the CPC Edge is the rock solid shake free views, as well as the optics. 

Keep us posted on your Meade 12". it's quite a scope!

[garryblueboy]

3 hours ago, Lockie said:

Good to hear you manage it ok, Garry. Just out of curiosity, what was the issue with the cpc goto? I can't fault mine other than it doesn't always pick up the GPS signal, so I've had to input the time once or twice. Two star align nails it bang centre every time.

I've seen demo's of the Meade goto online and it does look good. I quite like that their smaller ETX range have a proper fork arm rather than a shaky single arm. 

One of the things I enjoy about the CPC Edge is the rock solid shake free views, as well as the optics. 

Keep us posted on your Meade 12". it's quite a scope!

Hi Chris It was very erratic in the end I think there was a main board error which was replaced under warranty if I was to go the CPC route again it be either 8 or 9.25 I wouldn’t say the 11 was rock steady either about same as the LX really if there’s any wind it shows very slightly I just find the ease of the set up better on the Meade sure it’s heavy but manageable and the optics are sharp right to the edge .

[garryblueboy]

18 hours ago, Lockie said:

Very nice. and you're one strong dude, my 8" is at the very limit of what I can manage (you ought to hear some of the noises I make trying to lift the scope onto the tripod location pin!). I have a soft spot for Meade despite what some say, and I've been seriously considering buying one of the 2018 model ETX's as a more manageable goto to join the CPC. 

Nice report and keep eating your spinach!  

By the way there’s a nice little 125 ETX Premium on sale at a very good price on here and ABS they are a cracking little Mak I had one gave me great views of Mars when it was at closest point few years back and easy to align 

[Chris]

19 hours ago, garryblueboy said:

By the way there’s a nice little 125 ETX Premium on sale at a very good price on here and ABS they are a cracking little Mak I had one gave me great views of Mars when it was at closest point few years back and easy to align 

Thanks, I saw that and was contemplating it as it was a good price. Two reasons why I wanted a 2018 model though are the tubes are detachable of the 80 and 90mm models, and I think they got rid of the hard stop that can damage the drive, but I do need to double check this.