Meade Autostar 497

[Fedele]

Hi

 

a question. I found a used Autostar 497 with motors, for an eq5. does it make sense today to buy a discontinued Autostart 497, or I risk that the goto will not work well soon because it is not updated? I am not familiar with this product at all

[Cosmic Geoff]

Meade mounts do not have a great reputation.

The 497 is just the handset?

The EQ5 is made by Sky-watcher.

Lack of upgrades should not stop the mount working, unless some GPS function is involved.

Unless this mount is really cheap, complete, and in working order, I would suggest that you pass.

[Shimrod]

1 hour ago, Cosmic Geoff said:

Meade mounts do not have a great reputation.

 

I'm not sure that is a fair statement - they had some absolute disasters (the lx800 and starlock come to mind), but the lx90 and lx200 are no more or less reliable than other mounts. There are still plenty of 15-20 year mounts out there working fine.

1 hour ago, Cosmic Geoff said:

Lack of upgrades should not stop the mount working, unless some GPS function is involved.

Unless this mount is really cheap, complete, and in working order, I would suggest that you pass.

I'd agree that older electronics are the challenge - the handset on my 497 suffers from a sticky button and at some point is going to fail. Replacement would be searching the second-hand market for a replacement handset. I can control the mount by computer, but that goes through the handset as well (spot the weak point). So cheap and working (and test all the buttons) then worth a go.

[whipdry]

1 hour ago, Shimrod said:

I'm not sure that is a fair statement - they had some absolute disasters (the lx800 and starlock come to mind), but the lx90 and lx200 are no more or less reliable than other mounts. There are still plenty of 15-20 year mounts out there working fine.

I'd agree that older electronics are the challenge - the handset on my 497 suffers from a sticky button and at some point is going to fail. Replacement would be searching the second-hand market for a replacement handset. I can control the mount by computer, but that goes through the handset as well (spot the weak point). So cheap and working (and test all the buttons) then worth a go.

Here's a link you may find helpful for your autostar issue;

https://buttonworx.com/telescopes/33-Autostar.html

 

Peter 

[Shimrod]

2 hours ago, whipdry said:

Here's a link you may find helpful for your autostar issue;

https://buttonworx.com/telescopes/33-Autostar.html

 

Peter 

I hadn't come across these - I now have a new membrane on order!