Re: [APML] small AP mount (was: M42 at 300mm on new EQ6 mount)

[DBogan3220@aol.com]

What about the Meade LXD55 mount, anyone have any experience with it?

>Does Meade make that in the US, or is it an import?

     According to the Meade Propaganda machine  they say that the LXD-55 mount was designed by Meade engineers and is machined out of aluminum I did not see anything about bearings, gears other than it is a worm gear driven mount I assume on both axis and it has autostar and a polar finder scope. At the prices they are offering these scopes and mount combo's you can be certain they aint made here more than  likley China. I would be surprised if it was made in Mexico. Top wages in Mexico is something like $40.00 a week, China is way cheaper than that! If you want Cheaper goto to Cambodia. 

>I understand Meade only sells the mount with the scope, but the price on 
>the combo with the Schmidt Newt seems pretty cheap.

       Yep they do! To get the mount ya gotta buy the scope that comes with it. Hey at least they give you several different packages to choose from.  At $895 for the 10 inch Meade Schmidt newt and a mount even if it is smallish complete with a polar finder scope and Autostar to boot sounds like a great deal. I'll take ten  :-)
   

>Maybe if Meade sold it by itself it would fill that gap between a barn door 
>and a small Losmandy.

          Think of it this way the current flood of import mounts is going to put the barn door mount makers out of business. Except now you can mount scopes all the way to ten inches Schmidt Newts and 6 inch F8 refractors on something one step above a barn door mount, now the latest barn door mount has autostar. I tell ya, you can't beat that with a stick.

          What about Astro-Photography. Well tell ya what you go buy one and come back in a year or so and tell us all about it. I can just about bet ya that these mounts will be OK for piggyback Astro and not much else. why do I say this, been there. I started out with a Teleview systems mount in 87 before that it was Celestron Polaris mount smaller than the Superpolaris. and went from there. After owning a SuperPolaris GP and a DX went to an AP400 QMD and then a AP600 QMD owned two of those at seperate times. My current mount is an AP900 goto and is a dream machine compared to the early mount that I wasted my time with. Sorry to be blunt but you can only do so much with a small mount. Now we have available very excellent mounts that simply were not available in the 70's or 80's Most of my friends have succesfully used the Losmandy G11 "which is probably the best buy out there" and have taken many really nice pictures but even !
they have gone to bigger and better mounts too. One has done great work with a Mountain instruments MI-250 and the other gets his new mount a AP1200 goto in about another month.

     My personel suggestion is get yourself a Losmandy G11 to start with, then when you get yourself some experience you might want to get yourself something bigger. The G11 ought to be perfect with the Meade 10 inch Schmidt Newt. What to do with the LXD55 mount either keep it for smaller scopes or outright sell it. 

      Thats my take on the latest barn door mounts

      Clear Skies
      Dwight L Bogan