Why are people selling their Meade LXD 55 mounts?

I've been thinking about getting a goto system for my C102 refracter.
I've looked on Astromart and see an LXD55 listed every few days.
Are these mounts inferior as a goto for non-astrophoto viewing? Do they
find their coordinates OK? Why are people buying the scope and selling
the mount?

Bruce

One of the main reasons they are being unloaded on astromart is they are
lousy! This does not mean that they are all lousy, as many of them work
fairly well and many others require some kind of tweeking. Nevertheless, if
you must buy one of these mounts, DO NOT buy it from an individual. If you
do, and the mount you have purchased is not working properly, you can not
return it to Meade. You can only return it to the individual who sold it to
you...do you think he will take it back? I would strongly urge you to buy
it from Meade, then sell the OTA. Another benefit of doing this is that you
can buy a case filled with eyepieces ($650 value) for only $99. Hope you
get one that works!

By the way, this is how I bought my Meade LXD55. I bought through a dealer
(2 dealers) and returned the first one, the second one and the third one
because none of them worked. After the third one, I gave up on the LXD55.

Al


"B" wrote in message
...
I've been thinking about getting a goto system for my C102 refracter.
I've looked on Astromart and see an LXD55 listed every few days.
Are these mounts inferior as a goto for non-astrophoto viewing? Do they
find their coordinates OK? Why are people buying the scope and selling
the mount?

Bruce

Easy. The tripod, for example, for the lxd-55 6" refractor, is too small for the OTA. I
use my old lx-200 tripod on it, and it's a lot better. Actually, I don't think you mean
they are selling the mount. The mount (GEM) consists of the equatorial axes and tripod. If
you do mean that, then I have no idea. The GEM is actually pretty good, and the
electronics for pointing are quite good too.

B wrote:
I've been thinking about getting a goto system for my C102 refracter.
I've looked on Astromart and see an LXD55 listed every few days.
Are these mounts inferior as a goto for non-astrophoto viewing? Do they
find their coordinates OK? Why are people buying the scope and selling
the mount?

Bruce



--
Wayne T. Watson (121.015 Deg. W, 39.262 Deg. N, 2,701 feet, Nevada City, CA)
-- GMT-8 hr std. time, RJ Rcvr 39° 8' 0" N, 121° 1' 0" W

"Why do you do it? ... You can't win. Why do you persist?", Mr. Smith (The virus)
"Because I choose to.", Neo (Mr. Anderson. The anomaly)
-- The Matrix (movie) Revolution

Web Page: home.earthlink.net/~mtnviews
sierra_mtnview -at- earthlink -dot- net
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The GEM is actually pretty good, and the
electronics for pointing are quite good too.

Hi:

Well, people have had both good and bad luck with the mount. One reason you see
so many mounts--tripod _and_ EQ head--for sale is that many people just want
the SN OTAs...Meade does not sell them seperately at this time.

Peace,
Rod Mollise
Author of _Choosing and Using a Schmidt Cassegrain Telescope_
Like SCTs and MCTs?
Check-out sct-user, the mailing list for CAT fanciers!
Goto http://members.aol.com/RMOLLISE/index.html

My experience with the LXD55 was uniformly good but many others (like Al)
have encountered more or less significant problems. I've sold mine now to
help finance my new observatory project but I'll probably be in the market
for another (or an Advanced Series CG5) around this time next year (after
the observatory is built).

Ray Porter

"Rod Mollise" wrote in message
...
The GEM is actually pretty good, and the
electronics for pointing are quite good too.

Hi:

Well, people have had both good and bad luck with the mount. One reason
you see
so many mounts--tripod _and_ EQ head--for sale is that many people just
want
the SN OTAs...Meade does not sell them seperately at this time.

Peace,
Rod Mollise
Author of _Choosing and Using a Schmidt Cassegrain Telescope_
Like SCTs and MCTs?
Check-out sct-user, the mailing list for CAT fanciers!
Goto http://members.aol.com/RMOLLISE/index.html

My friend has had nothing
but trouble with his...new hand controller and also later a new motor.
His has the 6" refractor. That is OK except when he first got his the
retaining ring had come completely loose and the doublet was loose.
Luckily I was able to put it back together and no damage. I think they
had a problem with a too small retaining ring as another one I knew of
had the same problem...but on that one the doublet was chipped so had
to be replaced on warrantee. The major problem is the WAY undersized
tripod that is ultra flexible. The new Celestron mounts use a heavier
round leg tripod that is a lot better...and the Nexstar controller is
a lot more developed and user friendly than the Meade version.

B wrote in message n ...
I've been thinking about getting a goto system for my C102 refracter.
I've looked on Astromart and see an LXD55 listed every few days.
Are these mounts inferior as a goto for non-astrophoto viewing? Do they
find their coordinates OK? Why are people buying the scope and selling
the mount?

Bruce

Bob

I also have a friend that has had nothing but trouble with this mount.
He also has the 6" refractor on this mount. When he first got the
scope the mount broke physically. Then at the Okie-Tex star party the
mount failed again. I have not heard anything good about this mount
so far. Maybe it works ok for light loads. www.excelsis.com reviews
also have not been favorable. Looks like this is the case of trying
to cut the quality to save money or make money depends on your point
of view which has gone to far. Ive read that the snt 10" is also too
much scope for this mount.

Rich




On 11 Nov 2003 10:45:11 -0800, (Robert Berta)
wrote:

My friend has had nothing
but trouble with his...new hand controller and also later a new motor.
His has the 6" refractor. That is OK except when he first got his the
retaining ring had come completely loose and the doublet was loose.
Luckily I was able to put it back together and no damage. I think they
had a problem with a too small retaining ring as another one I knew of
had the same problem...but on that one the doublet was chipped so had
to be replaced on warrantee. The major problem is the WAY undersized
tripod that is ultra flexible. The new Celestron mounts use a heavier
round leg tripod that is a lot better...and the Nexstar controller is
a lot more developed and user friendly than the Meade version.

B wrote in message n ...
I've been thinking about getting a goto system for my C102 refracter.
I've looked on Astromart and see an LXD55 listed every few days.
Are these mounts inferior as a goto for non-astrophoto viewing? Do they
find their coordinates OK? Why are people buying the scope and selling
the mount?

Bruce