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Posts Made By: Jake Jacobson

August 29, 2003 05:57 AM Forum: Equipment Talk

Celestron X-Cel ED Eyepiece

Posted By Jake Jacobson
Trevor -

Yes, they do exist. Orion also makes a line of "ED" eyepieces, that appear to be from the same factory as the Celestron ones.

-Jake

September 7, 2003 10:44 PM Forum: Equipment Talk

6" Konus vs. 6" celestron achro

Posted By Jake Jacobson
Hi Kent -

Other than the tube color, those are both the exact same scope, made in the exact same factory by Synta.

This scope is also sold under the name "Skywatcher".

So I guess that you really have narrowed it down to -one- scope! Get whichever one you get a better deal on.

-Jake

September 9, 2003 09:08 AM Forum: Equipment Talk

This is NOT s.a.a.

Posted By Jake Jacobson
Thank goodness this is not S.A.A.....

Now can we get back to "equipment" please??


September 10, 2003 02:29 AM Forum: Equipment Talk

Most disappointing telescope purchase.

Posted By Jake Jacobson
8" LXD-55 SN. After 3 replacement mounts from Meade, it still never worked right. I don't even have time to list all the other problems this scope had. I ended up using it for parts to make other mounts of mine GOTO. After stripping away the motors and polar scope, I threw the original mount in the trash, and kept the OTA, which is decent, but not excellent.


September 10, 2003 06:13 AM Forum: Equipment Talk

Slow motion control knobs

Posted By Jake Jacobson
Hi Bruce -

Those slow-mo knobs are junk, and they always break - usually it is the metal clips inside the knobs which hold them onto the shafts that break..

Order some nice ones from focusknobs.com - I immediately ordered an aluminum set from focusknobs.com for my Skyview mount - at $19 for a pair, it was well worth it. They are well made, fit perfectly, look great, and will never break.

It is suprising, because the skyview mount is actually quite well made, but the hollow plastic knobs are such junk!

-Jake

September 11, 2003 05:53 PM Forum: Meade

Autostar Woes: Whatup wit dat?

Posted By Jake Jacobson
Hi John -

As far as I know, the Autostar is not compatible with the LX-200 classic. You need to use a LX-200 controller in order for it to work correctly.


September 11, 2003 06:12 PM Forum: Equipment Talk

CG-5 question

Posted By Jake Jacobson
Hi Matt -

The CG-5 can handle an shorter 8" newtonian. I use this setup all the time for mainly planetary and some deep sky imaging. My OTA is an 8" f/5.

That being said, it is not the ideal setup for imaging. If it is too breezy it vibrates enough that I cannot image. Dampening time is around 3-4 seconds after focusing. On mine, I am still trying to find if the source of vibration is in the mount itself, or flexure in the legs where they connect to the mount. I actually am suspect of the latter, since it seems to vibrate in a direction consistent with leg connection. The new tubular steel legs on the CG-5 most likely address this problem nicely.

The next step up from the CG-5 would be the EQ-6, which would be a very stable setup with an 8" newt. The downside is that most reports of the EQ-6 mount are that it has pretty large periodic error, which would make it a less desirable choice for imaging.

Beyond that, you start getting into the ideal mounts for imaging with an 8", mainly which are made by Losmandy. They are very expensive, and worth it if you are doing serious astrophotography and long exposures.

For me, the CG-5 has been fine, since I only do casual CCD imaging (i.e. shorter exposures).

Hope that is helpful.

-Jake


September 11, 2003 06:19 PM Forum: Equipment Talk

HELP!!!!!Any one own a Meade lxd55 SN-8 telescope

Posted By Jake Jacobson
Hi Ricardo -

I had one and it was a serious lemon. I had the mount replaced a few times from Meade, as well as several other parts.

Even after Meade sent me all the parts, it never did GO-TO very accurately. The mount was not very smooth, either, and shook horribly in the slightest breeze. Also, many of the screws and metal parts are made out of some sort of cheap casting that breaks very easily. Basically, to get these to work, you will need to work on it making several improvements.

The optics were fine, but the focuser was horrible.

There have been a lot of quality control problems with this line of scopes, so if you order one you should be prepared to send the mount back to Meade at least once.

Personally, I do not recommend these scopes until Meade gets the problems with them corrected.

-Jake

September 11, 2003 06:35 PM Forum: Equipment Talk

Best improvements in performance

Posted By Jake Jacobson
Well, I have a few -

These are my biggest "bang for buck" improvements -

1. Observing chair (homebuilt)
2. Rigel quickfinder
3. Replaced slow-mo knobs with nice ones from focusknobs.
4. Lasermate deluxe collimator - mainly because it makes collimation such a breeze as compared to using a chesire.

-Jake

September 13, 2003 06:18 AM Forum: Equipment Talk

SAC8?

Posted By Jake Jacobson
George -

The original SAC-8's have a very homemade look to them. Many of them even had hand-written pieces of tape on them, instead of silk-screened print to mark the controls.

SAC has since developed a nice commercial enclosure for the SAC-8's, and I believe they will put yours in the new housing for free if you send it in to them, they were doing this for a while.

-Jake

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