Posts Made By: Jason Gauthier

I am trying to decide which scope to upgrade to. . .the most important feature will be portability and I will be using it for casual observations several times a week in my yard.

I had an 8" Meade Dobsonian, but it was so cumbersome, I simply didn't want to lug it back and forth, so went to an ETX-70. In retrospect, that was too much of a jump down.

I am now looking at the ETX-125 and LX90. They are fairly close in price (when adding the Autostar and tripod to the ETX - about a $250 difference), so my main concern is the ease of lugging them around. I figure the ETX will be no problem, but the LX90 is roughly 60lbs. How much of a pain is it to move the LX90 around? ANY advice would be much appreciated.

The Sirius domes lower half of the shutter opens outwards. Does it lock into the open position? I would be concerned with wind gusts catching it or having it wobbling around in the breeze. Thanks. - Jason

My nephew (age 16) wants a refractor, 4"+ to learn about setting circles, and can spend $500-800. Any advice?

Jason

I am intrigued by Meade's LXD55 AR5 and AR6 refractors. The reviews seem to focus on the inadequacy of the mount, especially for the AR6. If a permanent pier was set up, the scope should certainly be greatly improved. I was thinking of sinking a sono-tube into the ground, fill with cement, and mounting the pier to this.

I know I could simply upgrade the mount, but my viewing location will always be the same location, no need for transportation, and this idea seems to be a relatively inexpensive option.

However, my experience with equitorials (aside from my first dept. store scope 15-20 years ago) is zero. Is this idea feasible without too much of a hassle? Any recommendations for piers that I could simply bolt down and "slide" the scope onto AND keep the go-to capability? Has anyone else done this or know of a website that has some good instructions. ANY advice would be greatly appreciated.



Thanks,
Jason

I have only used dobsonians and an ETX scope in the past, how difficult would adjusting to an equatorial be? They seem to be a little overwhelming at first glance.

Also, from my observing location (my yard), Polaris is not visible because of trees, houses. If it were, it would be washed out by a power plant 2 miles away. Will equatorial drives or go-to (like that in the LXD55) be useless if Polaris is not visible? With the ETX, I align using magnetic north without a problem. Any advice or pointers to something like "a beginner's guide to equatorials" on the net would be appreciated.
Thank you,
Jason

I am ordering an LX90 and want to get the power cord that goes from the scope to a regular household 110V outlet. I called Meade cust. serv, and the rep. said "I think" you want the #541. However, the #541 on different dealer sites says its for the DS/ETX and sometimes the LXD series. There is also a #607 - some sites say it is for plugging into the cigarette lighter outlet only and one site says it includes both the household plug AND cigarette lighter plug. If you have an LX90 and the household outlet cord, which one is it? Thanks, Jason

I ordered an LX90 without UHTC from one of Meade's authorized dealers in early February. Initially the backorder was about 2 weeks. Then March 19 was the delivery date. A recent call confirmed that delivery is now April 19. What are your experiences with Meade and backorders? Should I expect to wait even longer than April 19? Anyone else waiting on a LX90 now? How long have you been waiting? Are all dealers experiencing the same delays?

Jason

I ordered an LX-90, but the wait time was moved again to "sometime in May. . .hopefully" so I cancelled the order. My interest is primarily planetary observation, but would like the opportunity for deep sky as well. I am thinking of the LXD55 AR5 refractor and ETX-125 because I do have experience using autostar and I really enjoy the "guided tour" feature. Also I have owned a couple Meade telescopes (dobsonian and etx) and I have been happy with the quality.

Aside from the obvious difference in weight between the two scopes, is there anything that really favors one over the other or am I comparing "apples with apples." Thanks for any advice. Everyone has been extremely helpful in the past. - Jason

My word to the wise. . .a 15% off coupon means you will spend 20%+ additional in aggrevation!

I ordered a Meade LX90 on 2/14/03 from Company X because they offered a 15% off coupon for online orders. Ship date was March 19. Called the store on 2/27 and the ship date was April 19. Called with a question 2/28 and ship date was moved to "about May 2."

After a very aggrevating telephone call, I decided to cancel the order and do business with a company that focusses on astronomy.

On 3/3, I call Company X because my credit card company needs them to cancel the authorization on my credit card, otherwise the available credit will be tied up for 21+ days. When I call, I am told that they never processed the cancellation in the first place. I figure that if it is still there, maybe I should stick with it and not "lose my place in line" for Meade shipping.

I decide to call Meade to get a better estimate of my ship date. The Meade rep says they never received any order for me on 2/14/03 or anytime since! He tells me to call Company X back, tell them the problem, have them resubmit the order and Meade would post-date the order to 2/14 so I wouldn't wait even longer for my scope to arrive.

I call Company X back, the customer service rep. says that Meade is incorrect and the order was received. I asked how she had confirmed that, and she responded that her computer said the order was sent. My response was, "Forgive me, but even though your computer shows the order from 3+ weeks ago, Meade has no record what-so-ever. Isn't that a problem?" The response (literally). . ."I don't know."

At this point, a customer service manager is "investigating" my missing order and is supposed to call me back.

Bottom line. . .I should have stuck with Anacortes or Astronomics. Saving 15% was not worth losing the professionalism and customer service these two companies (or others) provide.

Thanks for letting me vent a bit - Jason

I am thinking about trying the Sky software, version II. Since my skies are fairly light-polluted, I thought it would be useful to have the telescope control ability that would come from having the washed-out stars visible on a laptop chart.

Since a lot of people seem to be using The Sky software, I am hoping you can answer these (probably basic). . .

The Bisque website makes a distinction between "robotic" and "software guided" telescopes. That has me a little confused. Does autostar make a telesope "robotic?"

Also, regarding hardware requirements, it says that Sky will operate on any laptop using Windows 95, 98, ME, etc. However is there an optimum processor speed? I have a 200mhz laptop collecting dust, if I use that, will I be frustrated by the speed of operation or will there be a big difference if a faster processor is used?

Thanks,
Jason