Has anyone bought an lxd55 ns recentely, pls reply

Hello fellow astronomeres, i just bought an lxd55 sn, But I am very concerned because I’ve read tons of posts discussing problems involving the tripod of this telescope. Has any one received one recently?, how did it come up? Was it good or did it have a problem?, Have Meade quality standards gotten better lately on this type of telescopes. Thanks again, please reply since I am worried.

Clear skies

Ricardo R. Amador

I think you'll find that the OTA and associated optics / mechanics will be fine right out of the box, but the mount/tripod will be the weak link. Some are good ... others are best just taken to a scrap yard. The majority though will need a little to a lot of tinkering to work well. I'm in this last group.

I received mine in July and am still working on getting the GOTO + tracking to function properly. I've basically taken the whole mount apart and performed a hyper-tune (see ldx55.com). I'm also on my second set of motors/encoders. It's getting better, but still need some fine tuning.

The tripod is also somewhat marginal, especially for the larger OTAs. I actually took the LXD55 mount and put in on a heavy duty Meade field tripod (it's rock solid now). I use the LXD55 tripod for my short tube refractor and binoculars. If you don't extend the legs much you should be fine ... but anti-vibration pads would be a worthwile investment.

I've learned quite a bit by doing these things, but then I've always enjoyed taking things apart and trying to make them better. I don't believe that buyers are expecting to do any of these things though. It's kind of like getting a new car and immediately having to replace the water pump, battery and radio. The dealer will be glad to send you the parts so you can install ... or you can send the car back and wait several weeks for a replacement.