meade lx200 classic 10" emc

[scotty87]

Hi everyone, i don't know if this is the right place for asking, so mods please move to the correct section if i got it wrong.

A friend of mine is looking at the above scope and has asked me for advice. Its priced at £1250 . As far as i can tell the optics look very good no scratches or flaking on the mirror. It powers up and slews around e.t.c. but I personally think this is a bit overpriced, told him that aswell. but i cannot find any for sale anywhere to compare.

what do you guys think ? Is it me being a bit tight or not ? I don't want him finding another in a months time and then it being "my fault" he overpaid for it.... 

[John]

That is pretty expensive. Here is one currently for sale for considerably less:

https://www.astrobuysell.com/uk/propview.php?view=152609

PS: I've nothing to do with the advert.

[CraigT82]

Here is another priced at £750 from a dealer based in Birmingham...

https://ensoptical.co.uk/index.php?_route_=telescopes/meade-8-lx200-classic-a

I've no association with this dealer!

 

EDIT: Apologies, just realised that one is an 8" rather than a 10"!!

Edited August 27, 2019 by CraigT82

[scotty87]

Thanks guys, ill point him to those 2 mentioned. To be honest I was expecting around a £1000 when he told me about it. That astro buy sell one is very promising.  I had I look on there too, god knows how I never spotted it. 

 

[Oldfort]

 I agree that 1250 is OTT.  I sold one that I had bought in 1993, about 10 years ago for 800, with some eyepieces, dew heater and dew shield included. It also had the lovely case. I started looking for offers around the 1100 mark, and got nowhere. 

Although the optics maybe fine, the electrics don't always stand the test of time.  I'm guessing, but I don't think the classic mount has been available for 10 years or so.  Capacitors blow sometimes, and I gather that if you are lucky, you can replace the capacitor, but if unlucky you could need a new board.  The handsets can go wrong as well.  The examples cited above seem much more realistic to me.

[michael8554]

At some point Meade started speccing them to run at 19v instead of 12v but the capacitors weren't upgraded and often fail. 

So only run it at 12v, lower the max slew rate, and get the C's replaced if you can, plenty of instructions online. 

Michael