Opinions on LXD75 SC8-AT?

It's been a little while since the release of the LXD75 scopes, so, has anybody had the chance to evaluate and offer up their opinions on the LXD75 SC8-AT? I'm curious how it compares to the Celestron Advanced Series C8-SGT. It just seems like there where so many comments and anticipation about the LXD75 series prior to its' release, that now it's out and not much has been said on it. Maybe some more time needs to pass before a good evaluation can happen. Thanks!

I agree with everything you've said. There seemed to be a tremendous amount of interest, but now that they are available, no reviews.

The optics of the Meade and Celestron SCTs(8") are very similiar. For a while, Celestron was optically a little better than Meade, but I believe that comparing two good SCTs from each would result in little difference optically.

The mount is the major concern. Is the lxd75 mount substantially better than the 55? Are users experiencing the same bugs as the 55?

Hopefully someone will reply.
Brock

I have the LXD75 AR5 so I can not comment on the SC8. But the mount I can comment on.

Having gone from an 8" LX90 to the AR5 on the LXd75 mount I do find some things not so pleasing.

1. The tripod legs are small (to thin) in my opnion. and too short. I wish the tripods legs were a bit longer so Im not laying down on the ground to look through my refractor.

2. The eq mount seems nice, goto's are pretty good in the same part of the sky, if I goto the opposite side of the sky, the goto's are way off. Probablly due to me not having a good alignment.

3. The mount does feel a bit stiff in movement by hand, maybe needs the "hypertune" ie. removing the cheap OEM greese and replacing with some good stuff.

4. The first batch of scopes had missing pages from the user manual (typical) so people had to figure out where certain parts went and how to do a certain procedure. I was in the first batch. Thankfully the internet is a great tool for others to find answers and swap ideas.

There are a few yahoo groups dedicated to the LXD75, I dont have their names, but can post later tonight.

also there is a section here for Meade scopes, there is some LXD 75 info there.

also over at www.lxd55.com there is a message forum just for the LXD75.

This is my first eq mount and over all im happy with it. I mainly got it so I can make a custom mount to put my camera and an 80mm spotter scope for long exposure wide field astrophotography with out the scope on the mount.

James