Light bridges? Advice

[Patrick Gilliland]

I have a budget of £1500 to get a better scope.

Light bridges are cheap so what do I loose over say a similar size lx200.

Can you get goto versions?

Looking for best value for money and thought would be worth looking at, all other advise welcome as always

Thanks in advance

Pat

[John]

The Lightbridge dobsonian is not available with drives - it's a manually driven design. Which Lightbridge are you thinking of ? - they come in 8, 10, 12 and 16" sizes.

The LX200 is a GOTO fork mounted schmidt-cassegrain, again available in a number of different sizes.

Both scopes have pros an cons and both are good examples of their type but it's like comparing chalk and cheese as the two designs are entirely different in their concept.

Do consider the Skywatcher and Celestron brands as well as they are just as good as their Meade equivalents - better in some ways.

If you can say more about what you are looking for in a new scope, that would help.

[Patrick Gilliland]

To be honest it's about bang per buck based on £1500 budget. I could stretch to maybe a 16" light bridge (I am not locked on a brand just meant as example) but this budget limits me to a 6" - 8" Sc or other type of scope. Not having goto may be biggest problem as my son will also want to use and he is in wheelchair as has cerebral palsy. With handset he can pick object once I have aligned. But I see celstron have gps star finder gizmo that I could fit to light bridge and create a manual go to solution. But core decision is bang for buck. One other factor is I live in London travelling for aforementioned reasons not the easiest so need something that can help combat light pollution, I have assumed bigger is better here but this could be incorrect.

Thanks for the help

Pat

[E621Keith]

The 16" Lightbridge is a very tall scope and can't be use sitting down. The focal length is 1800, which means the viewing position can be as much as 6 feet off the ground.

I'd suggest going for a SCT on fork mount because of lower viewing position. If you don't mind not being able to do astrophotography, a fork mount system is easy to set up and very comfortable to use.

I had some very nice views in South Kensington with my old University's 8" LX10 using narrow band filters. I'd recommend a Nexstar 8 SE and spend the remaining part of your budget on a IDAS light pollution filter, a nebula filter and some eyepieces.

[John]

... I'd recommend a Nexstar 8 SE and spend the remaining part of your budget on a IDAS light pollution filter, a nebula filter and some eyepieces.

Having absorbed the new information regarding your requirements that would be my recommendation as well

[Patrick Gilliland]

Thanks all, secured a lx200 10" with quite a few lenses and kit for a great price today, pick up next Friday. 3 years old but looks like a good deal. My boy is very happy. Thanks again for input.