Piggyback capacity of 8" LX200 GPS

If one had a REALLY heavy lens (400mm f3.5 on Nikon F2) and wanted to piggyback on an LX200 GPS, I am advised by Losmandy that I have to put equal counterweights underneath the OTA meaning it would be carrying almost 20 pounds. Does anyone know what it can carry?

Thanks!
Stuart

Stuart,
No one “knows” how much weight the 8”LX200GPS will carry not even Meade. To test my statement, call Meade several different times and ask several different customer service persons your question. They will probably each give you a different weight or say they do not know. If two out of three give you the same weight which do you believe? The weight carrying capacity of the GPS series of scopes is not published anywhere that I know of.

Now having said the above do you know that the mechanicals of the 8”, 10” and 12” scopes are the same? Same motors, same drive train, same bearings. The frame/forks are smaller and lighter for each of the scopes smaller than the 12”. It could be argued that the 8” scope can carry more payload than the 12” since the weight of the 8” OTA is itself lighter than the 12” and so the total gross weight that the drive train and bearings must support is less stressed than on the 12”. It is possible that you may get more frame flexure in the smaller scopes than the 12” but I suspect not if the weights are kept within “reason.” What is reasonable? Beats me. But if I were to put 20# of payload on my 8”GPS then I would definitely reduce the slew speeds to a midrange or lower speed, and I would watch how things perform real closely the first few times I ran it with that much weight on board. Personally I would be most concerned about the load on the drive train ie. gears and bearings. The way the software handles the ramp up speed is currently not well done in my opinion. The whole thing boils down to how long do you want your scope’s mechanical systems to last? The more weight you add to the system the shorter the life of the various components. It is that simple.

Bob Lautner