Beginner advice meade lx200 ecm 10"

[Joaquarossi]

Hi all, New to this forum and relatively new to astronomy.

I recently decided to purchase a telescope after selling my 8" skywatcher dobsonian years ago. 

I saw a meade lx200 10 inch ecm. On researching this I found it was known as a "classic" I called around and was advised that getting parts for it would be extremely difficult because of its age. The guy selling knew nothing about it and had bought it but not used it. He was asking 650 for it which seemed very cheap to me. 

 

I guess my question is what would you all advise as a good goto telescope, did I miss a bargain there? I want something thats good to look through as well as a little photography of the moon/planets possibly, something fun to use that I can set up for the family to enjoy too.

 

Thanks in advance all advice welcome.

 

Aaron

[Cosmic Geoff]

The general opinion of Meade instruments are that the optics are very good, but the mounts are not so good or unreliable.  I assume this is a SCT.  £650 is not a lot for a 10" SCT, even without the mount, and you should not worry too much about the age of the optical tube assembly.  (For comparison, a new 10" SCT tube assembly only might cost around £2000.) The complete setup will be big, heavy and not ultra-portable.  Other than that, if it works, fine.  

Should the mount fail however, you could be looking at a large amount of money to re-mount the optical tube on a modern GoTo mount (e.g. from Skywatcher.)

Definitely have the mount powered up and put through its paces before you buy.  Once you have confirmed that the mount is working , it's your choice 🙂

[Joaquarossi]

Thanks, the seller wasn’t very helpful and rapidly dropped the price when I said I’m not so keen so a few alarm bells ringing, I haven’t seen it but I worry if the mirrors are scratched it may be more hassle than it’s worth. 
It was a sct yes, I’ve been looking at those as I thought they would be smaller and easier to transport and set up but I’ve been told they’re very heavy and as you say not so portable. 
 

Does this forum have a buy sell section? I think buying from an enthusiast would be more reassuring maybe. 
 

thanks for the reply 

[Cosmic Geoff]

11 minutes ago, Joaquarossi said:

but I’ve been told they’re very heavy and as you say not so portable. 

That should be put in context, for your future reference.  I suspect that a 10" LX200 would weigh something like 30KGs for the OTA and mount unit. (You can look up the details yourself if you are interested).   The 10" SCT OTA on its own would be bulky and weigh around 10Kg, but ANY OTHER KIND OF 10" SCOPE WILL BE LONGER AND HEAVIER.

As a beginner, I suggest you go back to basics and decide on a budget, and what degree of portability, whether basic (manual) mount or GoTo would suit your needs.  On the whole, it would be wise to start with something small and simple and scale up later.

Yes, we do have a buy/sell section but the rules have just changed which may affect you.

Edited September 27, 2021 by Cosmic Geoff

[Joaquarossi]

I did have a 8 inch dob for a few years to learn some basics, I sold that and have wanted a go to telescope since. There seems to be a lot to learn. Thank you for the help 

[michael8554]

I agree with the previous posts.

A bargain if you have previous experience of Meade Classics.

Too much for a beginner.

And some general tips for buying a Classic (not applicable to LX200GPS and other newer Meade mounts):

Due to aging, many of the capacitors in the base and in the handset need replacing before they go "pop"  - there are many posts and videos on how to replace them.

Also only run the mount with a 12/13.8V source, the later Meade suggestion to use 18V only worsened the capacitor load.

Michael

[Joaquarossi]

Thank you, I have done a lot of reading about the issues with capacitors on these mounts. I spoke to my local telescope shop and they too suggested it was very cheap and the optics generally are bullet proof so possibly worth it even if the mount ends up breaking down I could remount for around the 1200 pound mark and it would be a very capable scope. I’m going to view it in an hour and see what it looks like. 
Any more tips for when I view it? 
 

thanks. 

[Cosmic Geoff]

Check for general condition. Does it look clean and cared for? Any missing or damaged screws? The corrector plate should be undamaged. A bit of dust and dots of tree sap can be cleaned off.  And if you are concerned about its size and weight, try lifting it.  Could be 61 lbs excluding tripod & wedge.  Get it powered, see the handset light up and run the RA and Dec drives.

[Joaquarossi]

34 minutes ago, Cosmic Geoff said:

Check for general condition. Does it look clean and cared for? Any missing or damaged screws? The corrector plate should be undamaged. A bit of dust and dots of tree sap can be cleaned off.  And if you are concerned about its size and weight, try lifting it.  Could be 61 lbs excluding tripod & wedge.  Get it powered, see the handset light up and run the RA and Dec drives.

Thanks, the seller bought it but hasn’t really used it and I don’t think knows much about them. In terms of the mirrors what’s a “definite don’t buy” condition?
I hear mould can eat away coatings. Scratches aren’t worth polishing out due to cost.
I’ll give it a thorough look over  

 

thanks 

[Cosmic Geoff]

10 minutes ago, Joaquarossi said:

In terms of the mirrors what’s a “definite don’t buy” condition?

The mirrors are not exposed and the only communication to atmosphere is through the eyepiece hole, so the most you can do is look in the corrector plate and see they look shiny.  If the outside looks in good condition, the mirrors should be fine.  If they clearly ar not, dismantling, re-coating and re-assembling will be expensive.

[Joaquarossi]

37 minutes ago, Cosmic Geoff said:

The mirrors are not exposed and the only communication to atmosphere is through the eyepiece hole, so the most you can do is look in the corrector plate and see they look shiny.  If the outside looks in good condition, the mirrors should be fine.  If they clearly ar not, dismantling, re-coating and re-assembling will be expensive.

Great. Let’s hope it’s well looked after, sounds like a bargain at 650 I think. Even if I end up remounting? 

[Cosmic Geoff]

Good luck. I have seen a 16" Meade LX200 in an observatory, which must be two or three decades old by now. They had some trouble with the mount a couple of years ago but the optics are still fine.

[Joaquarossi]

20 minutes ago, Cosmic Geoff said:

Good luck. I have seen a 16" Meade LX200 in an observatory, which must be two or three decades old by now. They had some trouble with the mount a couple of years ago but the optics are still fine.

Thank you for the tips much appreciated. Will see what it’s like, don’t have to buy it. Plus be good to see what one is like weight and size wise. Never know it might all work fine 

[Joaquarossi]

Update…. I now own a 10inch classic lx200. 
 

the guy had recently bought it but found it too much for him, he explained the mount had been sent to France to a shop out there that overhauls the capacitors etc. All the motors work, looks in great condition and has hundreds of pounds worth of eye pieces and adapters etc so I’m happy with the purchase. 650 isn’t bad. Might look into changing the power supply as the standard is 18v and I’ve heard it’s safer to run on 12? 
 

may also be running it outside on a power bank. Anyone know if this is ok to do? 

[Cosmic Geoff]

44 minutes ago, Joaquarossi said:

may also be running it outside on a power bank. Anyone know if this is ok to do? 

I read somewhere very recently that the recommended voltage is 12 to 13 volts, for longer life.  Any sort of power bank with adequate capacity should do (e.g. a car engine starter or an astro power tank).  There would be no mains voltage or trailing lead to trip over.   It sounds like you got an absolute bargain.   Unless a dew shield was included you should get one, as this really should be a standard accessory with every SCT.

 

[Joaquarossi]

1 hour ago, Cosmic Geoff said:

I read somewhere very recently that the recommended voltage is 12 to 13 volts, for longer life.  Any sort of power bank with adequate capacity should do (e.g. a car engine starter or an astro power tank).  There would be no mains voltage or trailing lead to trip over.   It sounds like you got an absolute bargain.   Unless a dew shield was included you should get one, as this really should be a standard accessory with every SCT.

 

I’ll do a bit more reading around it and see what I can use. I’ve got a 100 watt hour power bank inverter so should be like mains. I was thinking maybe I’ll replace capacitors for peace of mind anyway as I don’t 100% know when it was done. 
it comes with a heater strap which I haven’t heard of before and I’m not sure how it would work to keep moisture off and keep views clear?