Meade LX200 12

I am about to purchase a new meade lx200 12 uhtc. I probably have performed too much research on this scope. Each time I am about to make the purchase, however, I come back to one item, Quality Control. I have looked on Astromart for a used scope, but have decided to purchase a new one. I am struck, though, by the larger number of Meade Lx200 scopes for sale, over the Celestrons, especially ocassional comments about the superiority of the Celestron 11 to the Meade 12, despite the additional inch of aperture. This is in contrast to many of the recent reviews I have read. Is it that the Meade scopes are larger and heavier than most first imagined--which seems to be a common theme--or is there still an optical and general quality control problem? Any help is appreciated.

Gregg D. Bernstein
Augusta, Maine

You're always rolling the dice with Meade (and Celestron too). Here are a few things you can do to alleviate your concerns:

1. Buy from Oceanside Photo and Telescope, and pay for their additional warranty. Their website has the details. (I don't work for them.)

2. Buy the LX200 scope, and then have the dealer send it directly to Clay Sherrod to have him "supercharge" it. He'll turn up most problems and be able to fix many of them right away. (If you buy a used scope, you can do this too.)

3. Get the UHTC option, if for no other reason than resale. Most people think it is slightly better than the standard coating option.

4. Strongly consider the upgrades that many LX200 owners end up with: high-end 2" diagonal (TV, AP, etc.), dewshield, counterweight setup, etc. etc.. These will make the scope more usable and allow it to deliver better results.

I think you'll make yourself crazy trying to determine of Meade is better than Celestron. They're both mass-produced scope makers, and both can produce excellent scopes and optics, and both can produce dogs.

A 12" LX200 with excellent optics and reliable mechanicals and electricals can be a lot of fun to use. And having said all of this, I've owned 3 LX200s in the past, never had them supercharged, and never had a problem with any of them. I think I was kind of lucky.

Doug

I'm not sure we can correlate problem LX200's with sales numbers on Astromart. Meade's $100 million+ sales dwarf Celestron, so there may be more 12" SCTs on the used market. The NexStar series has not been problem free either.

We used to have a 12" LX200 in a local group and marveled at its size, especially the tripod. Lack of portability and sore backs may have more to do with used sales than instrument quality.

Hi Gregg,

I can speak from personal experience as I have had a Celestron (8” SCT) and now have a Meade (12” LX200GPS w/ UHTC). And I can say that I have been satisfied with both products. You can search a number of forums on Celestron and Meade and find a number of happy and disgruntled customers. I think that’s true for any company in business today. I don’t think that you could go wrong with either selection. I’ve personally dealt with Celestron’s and Meade’s customer service department and both have been great to me. And that’s what counts the most; if there happens to be a problem, you want to know if it’s going to get taken care of.

Now, with that said there are a few things about the LX200GPS you should know. Be prepared to upgrade the scope when you receive it, for example the bolts that are in the tube are not stainless steel (they will rust in less than a few months of normal use), there is a stainless steel kit available to remedee this problem. You will probably need to upgrade the DEC Lock mechanism with the kit that’s available. Also, there is an upgrade for the plastic gears that drive the DEC and RA drives, the upgrade kit has stainless steel gear which are must better. There are a few other minor upgrades but you get the point.

Just remember, there is no such thing as the perfect scope. What ever you decide, I’m sure you’ll always find something that’s in need of improvement.

Clear Skies
David Pope