I've read Sky and Telescopes review of the Meade lightbridge dobsonians.
The review is an essentially glowing report of the scopes. Optics are four star rated and except for some relatively minor (and correctable) issues with the collimation and flocking of stray light, you've got one heck of a deal on these scopes.
Perhaps. But I would have been more impressed if these scopes were not supplied directly from Meade but purchased, instead, as off-the-shelf randomly sampled scopes, obtained in the same manner as an amateur would buy them from a vendor. It appears from the article that Meade supplied no less than two scopes when one was requested for testing.
I would have been further impressed if the optics were tested both quantitatively and qualitatively, ie PV wave rated and an assessment of the smoothness of the optics as seen under a foucalt tester. A ronchi test was reportedly done with no reported problems.
I would have liked to see a reported limitation of the inability to attach DSCs to these scopes due to the size and configuration of the flange on the altitude bearing. Perhaps this will be addressed by an enterprising vendor but it remains a significant limitation in my opinion.
The review is an essentially glowing report of the scopes. Optics are four star rated and except for some relatively minor (and correctable) issues with the collimation and flocking of stray light, you've got one heck of a deal on these scopes.
Perhaps. But I would have been more impressed if these scopes were not supplied directly from Meade but purchased, instead, as off-the-shelf randomly sampled scopes, obtained in the same manner as an amateur would buy them from a vendor. It appears from the article that Meade supplied no less than two scopes when one was requested for testing.
I would have been further impressed if the optics were tested both quantitatively and qualitatively, ie PV wave rated and an assessment of the smoothness of the optics as seen under a foucalt tester. A ronchi test was reportedly done with no reported problems.
I would have liked to see a reported limitation of the inability to attach DSCs to these scopes due to the size and configuration of the flange on the altitude bearing. Perhaps this will be addressed by an enterprising vendor but it remains a significant limitation in my opinion.
