Meade Lightbridge 12" Rating?

[gustavo_sanchez]

Hello,

I am waiting to receive a Lightbridge 12" I ordered. I have been reading a lot about it, but I have recently found a site where almost all of the reviews for this scope were very negative, to the point of giving it about 2/10 overall. That's very poor. I understood that this scope, although not perfect (is not that expensive anyway), was very good. What are your thoughts?

[RobH]

Don't listen to them!

We have one and I think it's great....beat a 20 inch Obsession dob when it came to views of Jupiter at a star party in August. Lots of detail in the cloudbelts.

Dust lanes in Andromeda, detail in the spiral arms of M81.....you'll get a lot of enjoyment and great views with it. Globular clusters are spectacular.

Do a search on mods you can do....there are a few things that are worth improving , but this can be done easily and cheaply.

Have fun.

Cheers

Rob

[brantuk]

You'd be welcome to join the Dob Users group (click link in my signature). There's a thread on "dob mods" where you can post (and obtain) ideas

[NGC 1502]

A lot of good advice above, but I'd like to add that whatever you buy, cars,

cameras, astro kit, someone out there will have a dim view of it, others will

love it. For what its worth, I reckon you will be very pleased indeed with

your LB 12.

Cheers, Ed.

[John]

I had a LB 12 for a year a really liked it. There are a number of well documented modifications that can be done to improve it but that's the same with most dobsonians. Optically it was a nice scope, which is what really counts.

[gustavo_sanchez]

In the case I want to replace a part of the scope, there are any replacement parts available?

[John]

In the case I want to replace a part of the scope, there are any replacement parts available?

The collimation screws and springs for the primary and secondary cells can be replaced with Bob's Knobs replacements which are available from the USA fairly easily. If you a buying used it's possible that this would have already been done.

Astrozap make excellent light shrouds, although you can make your own of course. The focuser and finder are standard upgrades and a number of third party products will fit.

The 1st thing I replaced on mine was the supplied 26mm QX eyepiece which was surprisingly poor I felt.