Meade Lightbridge Dobsonian (10")

[FLO]

Today, I put together and had a good play with one of Meade’s new range of Lightbridge Truss Dobsonians (10").

http://www.meade.com/lightbridge/index.html

I was particularly interested in its design and build quality. (I own a 10” Revelation Dobsonian with the same mirror-set so already appreciate its optical quality). Suffice to say that the mirror comes center-marked (it doesn't on the Revelation!) for easy collimation and the spider-vanes (that support the secondary mirror) are nice and thin for increased contrast.

The Lightbridge assembles quickly and easily into a solid, substantial and attractive (my opinion) telescope.

The altitude (up/down) bearings are two CNC machined alloy disks that turn inside felt lined cradles - the action is remarkably smooth though I did notice there was no tensioner so you might need to counterbalance a heavy eyepiece.

For azimuth (left/right), they employ a ring of needle-bearings as supplied with the Revelation. I find these tend to rumble in the Revelation, though to be fair, Meade have improved on the design by adding an adjustable bearing around the Azimuth center-bolt. Either way, it is a simple job to remove the bearings and substitute them for the usual three Teflon pads. (This is of course subjective – I know two users who like the needle-bearings).

Meade have retained the Revelations silky-smooth Crayford focuser and a cooling fan but have specified a new laser-finder that offers a choice of three switchable targeting reticules. (The Telrad is beginning to look dated alongside this and other smarter ‘new kids on the block'). Meade also include a better eyepiece - the 2” wide-field 26mm Series 4000QX. (In the states, this version with the laser-finder and QX eyepiece is sold as the Deluxe Version)

All things considered, I am very impressed with the Lightbridge. If I owned one, I would probably fit Teflon pads on the azimuth bearing and blacken the inside of the aluminium truss poles along with a couple of smaller areas inside the tube. Fortunately, the truss benefit (easily transported/stored) is lost on me as my current Dob’ remains ready-to-go at a dark-sky location. Otherwise…

[OXO]

Hi Steve,

Sounds like a nice piece of kit, interesting it's the same focuser as the revelation, i read that it was a Crawford style focuser in(The Night Sky magazine USA). Teflon was also mentioned as being one of the only things missing from an other wise perfect scope.

How long do you think it would take to assemble and disassemble Steve?

Nice Report..

James

[Saso]

I found this lightbridge dobsonian very interesting.

Thank you for sharing your review and opinion.

Saso

[tom.yates]

Sounds like a little tweak here and there and you would have a good scope, good review Steve.

[The Warthog]

Sounds like a nice piece of equipment, but I am wondering why you need a cooling fan on a truss Dob. Good review. Steve.

[Naz]

Sounds like a nice piece of equipment, but I am wondering why you need a cooling fan on a truss Dob. Good review. Steve.

For blowing away the cobwebs after the long periods of cloudy weather

Or in Caz's case, keeping the garden snails cool.

naz

[The Warthog]

Sounds like a nice piece of equipment, but I am wondering why you need a cooling fan on a truss Dob. Good review. Steve.

For blowing away the cobwebs after the long periods of cloudy weather

Or in Caz's case, keeping the garden snails cool.

naz

Maybe it would help dissipate the skunk odour. :puke:

[Kaptain Klevtsov]

Sounds like a nice piece of equipment, but I am wondering why you need a cooling fan on a truss Dob. Good review. Steve.

For blowing away the cobwebs after the long periods of cloudy weather

Or in Caz's case, keeping the garden snails cool.

naz

Just to put the record straight and do the decent thing, it wasn't caz who expressed a dislike for snails, it was I who recounted a dream of the slimy things on my Newt's mirror. The things get everywhere in and around our house. I regularly find them inside the car and van, they infest everything, but I can't poison them as the frogs eat them. Just to be clear that's the ones that live in our pond, before the Mod. thing happens.

Captain Chaos

[Naz]

Sorry to Caz then, thanks for putting me right Capt. Must have had a Tog moment.

naz :? :oops:

[FLO]

How long do you think it would take to assemble and disassemble Steve?

It took 20 minutes to build from scratch - the base arrives Ikea flat-pack style and the spanner/screwdriver is provided.

Once built, it takes about five minutes to assemble the truss tube - easy

... I am wondering why you need a cooling fan on a truss Dob. Good review. Steve.

Good point WH,

(The fan is the same as supplied with the Revelation - a PC case fan).

There is another thing I forgot to mention: With the 10" Revelation, the springs that push against the mirror are too weak for my liking making it fiddly to collimate. Meade 'appear' to have addressed this problem by specifying stronger springs for the lightbridge (I must see if I can order a set of Lightbridge springs for my Revelation and test them )

[The Warthog]

Sounds like a nice piece of equipment, but I am wondering why you need a cooling fan on a truss Dob. Good review. Steve.

For blowing away the cobwebs after the long periods of cloudy weather

Or in Caz's case, keeping the garden snails cool.

naz

Just to put the record straight and do the decent thing, it wasn't caz who expressed a dislike for snails, it was I who recounted a dream of the slimy things on my Newt's mirror. The things get everywhere in and around our house. I regularly find them inside the car and van, they infest everything, but I can't poison them as the frogs eat them. Just to be clear that's the ones that live in our pond, before the Mod. thing happens.

Captain Chaos

*Giggle* *snort!* Shut up, Warthog! They are good fried in a little garlic butter with red wine, though. Yum!