Wish i hadn't bought that...

[valleyman]

Ix gold wedding ring is my big mistake , Could have bought Jodrell Bank by now hihi, just joking.

[great_bear]

A few little thoughts on this thread:

Believe it or not, my 16" Lightbridge is my most regretted purchase

I think it's extremely generous of you to be so honest in your appraisal; you may have saved someone else a lot of bother with this admission.

the polarising filter is too fiddly to really use that much.

Unscrew the two halves and put the swiveling bit on the end of your diagonal, and the other half onto your eyepiece. Then you just swivel your eyepiece to adjust the brightness. If you find the image through your diagonal has gone a funny color, rotate the swivelly polariser on the diagonal first until the colour goes neutral (this happenes because diagonals can cause eliptical polarisation).

One final thought - maybe this thread should be a sticky!

[Michael Rapley]

Thanks for the polarising filter tip, i'll be trying this tonight

[Mutley]

Any eyepiece that isn't one of the bargain second-hand naglers I exclusively use now.

The OO mirror cell was also hopeless and wouldn't hold collimation if the scope was flipped on its back.

I had this same problem with an OO Europa 250. They advised me to tighten the mirror clips a bit. but not too much. Thanks a bunch guys.

[Hypernova]

And now this focuser adapter plate of astroboot which doesn't fit

[beetlejuice]

Believe it or not, my 16" Lightbridge is my most regretted purchase. I was under the delusion that I could pop it in the back of the car and take it out to a dark sky site on whim - never done it. Iffy optics and cheapo chipboard base have both caused me lots of bother. f/4.5 is ridiculously fussy on eyepieces/collimation too.

However, the views are great and 16" will never come that cheap again, so for that, I've persisted with it. Hopefully it will be back in full action once the nights draw in.

Andrew

Hi Andrew

This could be the answer to your Lightbridge woes. 1stBase Collapsible Dobsonian Mounts

Bob

[hawk eye]

My Meade ETX125PE. The most time wasting excuse for a goto scope. Couldn't find North with it's "Level North technology" which has now been upgraded by.... a handheld compass! Cheap gearing made in mexico, no manual overide anddespite every type of alignment I tried it still was out by about 40 degrees, I spent nights "training the gears" and I am very computer literate and understand astro navigation. Fortunately the shop agreed that it was not fit for purpose so I got a full refund.

I now realise goto scopes are not worth the money as it's far more rewarding using charts and learning the skies and for the same money you can buy a bigger scope whcih provides stunning views.

[great_bear]

I now realise goto scopes are not worth the money

Not all go-to systems are the same!

[hawk eye]

I forgot to mention that this was my third meade scope as the first one'seyepice holder was 5 degrees off vertical (it was made like that in error) the second one had a badly damaged battery compartment (straight from the warehouse) so it took a month before I could even set one up. I think their quality control is non-existent.

[hawk eye]

Not all go-to systems are the same!

I'm sure they are not but honestly, why bother trusting a computer when you can find the object with a chart? I bought the Meade to entertain studio clients in late evening sessions so the goto system made sense, however the Meade couldn't even remember what time it was and I always had to program the handset from scratch every time I turned it on which seems pretty silly. I think they spend more on hype than on quality of design. I 'm looking forward to going to a start party to hopefully see a goto system that actually works properly, just out of curiosity.

[JohnC]

Just to add perspective:)

I have owned a number of meade scopes with goto, they all worked perfectly for years.

EQ6 goto also works as advertised.

[gary1968]

I 'm looking forward to going to a start party to hopefully see a goto system that actually works properly, just out of curiosity.

I presume you aint seen a Skywatcher HEQ5 or EQ6 running under EQMod, simplicity and accuracy every time........ I wouldn't trade my HEQ5 for any other mount on the market just now.

Gary

[beetlejuice]

Just to add perspective:)

I have owned a number of meade scopes with goto, they all worked perfectly for years.

EQ6 goto also works as advertised.

Well I had an ETX 125 (non-LNT) and its goto could be a bit wayward. It would work fine for the first hour and then gradually lose interest even when running off a mains adapter. Meade's QC is not the best and it's just a matter of luck if you get a good one. My Skywatcher EQ6 Pro though has always been spot-on, as is my EQ5 Synscan.

[shaunster]

I can also vouch for meades dire quality control and mechanics with the state of my old lxd55 mount...

That mount was my most regretted purchase, the 10"snt is very good though

[Ags]

I bought a SkyWatcher 9mm LER eyepiece and sent it back after one night. Internal reflections were horribly intrusive when looking at bright objects.

[great_bear]

I presume you aint seen a Skywatcher HEQ5 or EQ6 running under EQMod, simplicity and accuracy every time.

Yes I agree (in fact that's what I was referring to) Having my little white astronomy netbook with Cartes de Ciel controlling the HEQ5 is perfect - especially under badly light-polluted skies where star-hopping doesn't work.

The system doesn't detract from the fun - it's part of it.

[Bryndalf]

Im starting to think my worst astro purchase was my house...need to buy one further away from light polution and further south.

My Tasco refractor is totally rubbish...but it did get me started so cant fault it for that

[Coco]

Making my obsy with no room for growth

Buying Celestrons 15x70 Binoculars.. ( lost one eyepiece one dark night in the lakes - cheapo glue - fell to bits )

Guy...

[hawk eye]

Meade ETX125PE. Never could figure out North, noisy groaning gears whilst tracking and this was the third model they sent me. The first one's eyepiece holder was not vertical, about 5 degrees off. The second one had a damaged battery compartment and all straight from the warehouse, never been opened. Very shabby build quality - in mexico apparently - more hype than build. Utterly utterly useless and a bad intro to astronomy, fortunately my 10" auto Dob has more than made up for a miserable 2 months