New Meade LX80 and LX800 scopes coming this year

[Osirisra]

These look very nice indeed :thumbsup:

http://www.cloudynights.com/ubbthreads/showflat.php/Number/4810050

[Osirisra]

Bintel already have a listing for a 6" LX80

http://www.bintel.com.au/Telescopes/Cassegrain/Meade-LX80-AZ/EQ-6--SCT/1271/productview.aspx

[mozzie]

niceeeeeeee!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[mozzie]

damn!!!! the new scope turns up next week...i'll have to trade it in :P:D:D:D

the wife would kill me if i got another!!!!!!

[Osirisra]

Same here, I got a ota, mount and bunch of other bits ariving next week which the missus is going ape over as it is:D.

I'm really liking the look of these new Meade Scopes tho...

[Omaroo]

They look quite smart, don't they!

[renormalised]

Very spiffy scopes:):)

Wonder what they'll price them at over here??

[renormalised]

Just reading the specs for the LX800....if it performs like the blurb says it will, it will be a must buy for a great many amateurs. I wouldn't mind one myself:)

[mozzie]

hi ken

no i can't wait to get mine it's a replacement from my original last october had some trouble with it and meade have replaced it....

[Osirisra]

And they didn't upgrade it to a LX800;)

[mozzie]

:lol::lol:no just happy to have it replaced!!!!!

[TrevorW]

LX800 mount $6000

[Troy]

Bintel also have the LX 800 mount (http://www.bintel.com.au/Mounts---Tripods/EQ-Mounts/Meade-LX800-with-StarLock/1269/productview.aspx)
It will be interesting to see the difference from the LX 800 and the EQ8 from Skywatcher.
The mount market is firing up

[Fox]

I've been holding off for ages to see if Meade could hang in there, and replace the LXD75 with a worthy successor. I sincerely hope the features and quality achieve a good standard; they certainly look promising - I'm excited!

[marki]

Depending on where you read these are some pretty serious claims being made here about the LX800 mount. 90 pounds carrying capacity, 1 arcsec pointing accuracy and 0.01 arcsec PE with all the bells and whistles turned on. Hmmm no hi res encoders needed........would love to read the * sub clause x * associated with these claims especially if your seeing is rubbish. How does one use the "starlock system" if using another scope? The guide scope supplied appears to be fixed to the SCT tube. Will wait to see some reports before I get excited about this mount. Like wise the new focus mechanism void of mirror lock would also be in question as would any mechanical device being used to hold a heavy mirror to accuracies below the wavelengths of light. Don't get me wrong, I would like nothing more then to see meade up and flying again as they are really innovative in their designs, just spent a lot of dollars with nowhere near the performance promised being delivered. Once bitten twice shy I guess.

Mark

[cmr]

kicking myself at the lower end - just bought a minitower (ioptron) and planning to buy a ADM wedge for it in a few minths - and here is the LX80 doing everything i want!... oh well

[AndrewJ]

Just a quick comment here.
The LX80 does look like a better engineered unit than the LXD75,
but it also only appears to use the Audiostar handbox.
I do hope they have taken the time to fix a lot of the firmware
bugs identified to date, as if not, it will still have limitations.
Some can be patched out, but some cant.
As to the LX800, again, firmware may be the controlling factor.
The LS scopes came out with new processors and new firmware
but its still full of unfixed bugs. ( We cant patch these processors )
I assume the LX800 will be using these new processors ( as they are what allows the video processing for guiding ), so time will tell.

Andrew

[mozzie]

hi andrew
are they using autostar 2 or a new controller ??????

sounds like your going to be de-bugging the new mounts........thanks goodness your there to do these patches :thumbsup::thumbsup:

[h0ughy]

they shouldnt bring out things like the lx800......2k cheaper than a titan, almost same specs and has an inbuilt autoguider

[toc]

Very interesting - the lx80 looks very Ioptron'eque...

[AndrewJ]

For the LX80, they are using the Audiostar, hence we will wait and see how much if anything has been fixed. We already have the code for them fully analysed, so checking shouldnt be a big deal.
I suspect the LX800 will be using similar processors to the LS series,
and this is on a massive PCB inside the scope, NOT the Hbx.
We have not and are not even looking at that firmware as it is too hard to disassemble/decompile ( unless someone knows where to get a generic Blackfin disassembler as a basis for writing a custom one )
As such, even tho we know the LS has lots of bugs,
and the LX800 will probably have a pile too,
they probably arent going to be fixed by us.

Andrew

[allan gould]

I bet almost anything that the lx800 will not actually live up to it's claims and go the same way as the rx400 scopes. Since I've been in this hobby Meade have consistently failed in their attention to programming. The lx50 Magellan 2 was a total disaster and wouldn't work properly in the southern hemisphere until I finally tracked down the programmer and after a series of emails got him to sent me a fix for it. Not generally made available as they didn't sell too many in this hemisphere. The autostar was generally good but how many times was this unofficially fixed with patches to bring it up to scratch? Reliability of the lx200 series was questionable as far as the electronics and motherboard was concerned.
I just hope they do a better job of it this time and don't klutz it up again and can actually program the thing for the southern hemisphere.
Rant off

[Telescopeman54]

I have designed a new wedge for use with the MT and PRO. It will work on the iOptron HD tripod only as well as the venerable Atlas/EQG tripod. It SHOULD start production around November. Price will be announced around then. It will included indexed fine control AZ adjustments which were not in the version that I sent to ADM. There will also be better knobs and bearings on the ALT adjustment. We have tested it on both mounts and it is far better than my last design. We have done some nice imaging with both mounts using the proto-type. In fact, it is steady enough and accurate enough that the only errors seen were the result of the iOptron firmware and motor control!

I agree with many that these products COULD be iOptron killers. However, Meade has a very tarnished reputation regarding first shipments as noted above. Also, their service department and policies are the worst on the planet, bar none! Therefore, until I actually get one of these in hand and can test it and then tear it apart, I will consider the LX-80 and LX-800 to be Dreamware. All show and no go at this point.

CS

Steve

[Saturn%5]

I hope they get this right, as i was reading this post i said out loud i want one the wife was walking past and said you all ways want somthing but your not getting it, I wonder what she meant :shrug:

[Osirisra]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eZMJ_jgbKSM
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=65EL_OMF4CI
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3EA8lfrYK_M
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m4s1dMXltWs

Here some footage from PATS

[gb_astro]

Bintel has prices and specs on the scopes:

http://www.bintel.com.au/Telescopes/Cassegrain/36/catmenu.aspx

I can not see Bintel's secondary % being correct.
The secondary in the first above video looks huge.

gb.

[Osirisra]

You got that right that is one massive secondary.

On Bintel's LX800 10" they got this sell sheet

http://www.bintel.com.au/ckfinder/userfiles/files/20-11036_LX800_SellSheet.pdf

[marki]

Well those vids and brochure answered a few of my questions. So the guide system fixed to the dec head via some serious bracketry. Dec balance would be fun unless there is a counter weight system to offset the guide scope. At these prices one could have the tried and proven AP Mach1 GTO for $350 more which would mean the LX800 mount would really have to perform, not just be loaded with electronic doodads. Interestingly the stated controller is the autostar II version which I love.

Mark

[Osirisra]

Yea I'm wondering about the DEC balance with the Starlock as well, If these scopes turn out to be all that they are saying they are which is unlikely they surely be some very nice bits of kit. All will be revealed when the first proper reviews come out suppose.

Bintel has the refactor's listed as well.

http://www.bintel.com.au/Telescopes/Refractor/Meade-LX800-130mm-APO-br-with-STARLOCK/1274/productview.aspx

Strange that Bintel has the new scopes listed so early when they rumored to not even be available till around November.

[jamiep]

Line the two mounts up - the LX800 and the AP Mach1 GTO bear more than a small resembelence ... looks like meade has done another re-badge -re work job ....

Looks like no more than an Mach1 GTO, with autostar II , and an autoguider built in - having said that - Autostar II is relatively well sorted, as is the GTO, so depending on the quality of the autoguider, should be a good package....

[Osirisra]

OPT and a few others have the Scopes and mounts listed too...

http://www.optcorp.com/category.aspx?uid=1-600-603

[Osirisra]

Wow, only 800USD for the LX80...

http://www.shopatron.com/products/category/LX80/1323.0.1.1.28926.1000945.0.0.0

[OICURMT]

A$1099 at Bintel (Equal to U$1061). Considering shipping and insurance costs, probably a reasonable price.

http://www.bintel.com.au/Mounts---Tripods/EQ-Mounts/Meade-LX80-AZ/EQ-Mount/1280/productview.aspx

[AndrewJ]

Just for info, the ASII still has a lot of bugs in it, and a lot probably wont affect users of this scope, however PEC will ;)
Also, looking at the piccies in the flyer and zooming then tweaking the images, it looks like the LX800 has a std LX200 control panel fitted
and the Starlock unit is plugged into what is currently the rs232port.

Secondly, the Starlock body would appear to show 2 cameras,
an rs232 port and an ST4 port.
If we assume the small camera operates like the LS scopes and the big scope has a camera, factory tuned for infinite focus, then all the guiding "smarts" are probably inside the Starlock unit, and it just sends std serial guide commands to the main control panel.
If it just uses std pulseguide commands, then the Starlock unit could theoretically be used as a standalone guider for ANY Meade scope.:D
Thats just a guess so far tho, but an enticing prospect,
Time will tell.

Andrew

[jamiep]

Andrew ... I agree about ASII not being perfect - but it's proabably a better starting point than a lot of previous Meade new release products...



I did spot both of those cameras and assumed the small cam was a LS type auto align feature ... and also spotted the 'lx200' control panel in place of the AP one ... at least it probably responds to standard meade command sets for the LX-200 series .. in the most part anyway..



Indeed - enticing enough to be an early adopter ... not quite sure!

[AndrewJ]

Gday Jamie

Sort of, maybe, but, yeah, nah:D
The old style 497 handboxes have been upgraded to new processors in the 497EP/Audiostars, but basically run the same underlying firmware.
As part of migrating the firmware from one processor type to the other,
lots of new bugs were introduced,
as the old firmware used 8bit big endian processing
and the new units use 16bit little endian.
This still causes problems in the newer 497s.
( I do like the newer processors and memory used,
as its easier to patch,
but the fact it does need patching is a problem )
If Meade have also gone to the new processors for the LX800
then i suspect that there will be a few iterations of new bugs to deal with.
This isnt a problem if Meade are receptive to fixing them,
but there isnt a good track record for that:shrug:

Andrew

[netwolf]

What i like best about Meade is there pricing in Australia is much closer to the US price. The LX80 looks like a nice mount and the alt/EQ hybrid is really a cool feature. No more wedge requried. One thing the capcity of 70lbs is given is two OTA's are used but can this work in EQ mode? Could you use a 2nd OTA instead of counter weights?

Its good to see Meade are still around and putting out new products. Would like to have seen some new OTA designs though. Something like the Edge HD.

[AndrewJ]

The new OTAs coming with the LX800 are supposed to have a few innovations in them, incl an internal motorised focusser that moves the primary mirror without any shift.
Dont have any details, but it sounds like the mirror also sits on 6 bearings, vs a greased sled, so that may be a good move.
Maybe the bigger CO they use allows bearings to be fitted to the sled
whilst staying out of the light path????
Again time will tell

Andrew

[TrevorW]

Expensive for "made in china"

I'd still go for the Mach1 or Losmandy at these prices

[toc]

Sounds like more stuff to go wrong :) Im very happy they are trying new things though.

[casstony]

I'll be pleasantly surprised if the LX80 mount is not cheap and nasty. Superficially I see rough castings, weak joints where the tripod legs meet the hub and ordinary nuts instead of nylock nuts. I hope they've paid more attention to detail for the guts and electronics.

[Osirisra]

Agreed, the LX80 has the potential to be a very versitile and popular mount.

Really hope Meade has stepped up their game with these mounts and put together some real substance instead of their usual hot air.

I'm icthing to see the first indepth reviews of both the LX80 and LX800 mounts.

[netwolf]

I was just thinking if these mounts are manufactured in USA then the price diffrence seems resonable. But if they are manufactured in Asia then the diffrence does not make as much sense. Indeed if you consider the Ioptron mounts the price from China (in US Dollars) is less than the USA price. But the price in Australia is more than the US price.

I recall there was some talk of Meade manufacturing in Mexico is that where the mounts are being made? or are they from China?

[TrevorW]

Interestingly the LX800 isn't even on the Meade US website (as of today) ????

http://www.meade.com/product_guide.php

[OICURMT]

Meade direct uses the shopatron site...

http://www.shopatron.com/home/index/1323.0

http://www.shopatron.com/products/category/LX80/1323.0.1.1.28926.1000945.0.0.0

[Waxing_Gibbous]

I know the feeling.....
Oh well. :(
Let the "want-it-nows' get the first rubbishy batches.
We'll get the better ones down the line. :D

[TrevorW]

An alternative and cheaper and possible better than the LX800

http://www.astronomy.hu/ENG/g53f_eng.html

[Osirisra]

Meade have finally put the new mounts and scopes up on their site.

http://www.meade.com/lx80/
http://www.meade.com/lx800/

[Harpspitfire]

im wondering if the EQ/alt-az is an advertising gimmick? i find both type mounts just as easy to set up go-to with, only thing is smaller alt/az mounts are nice portable observing mounts, but that isnt the case here- if your imaging, why would you even take it out of EQ mode and have to fine tune the polar axis every set-up then?- i really cant see a benefit here unless your mainly observe and like to use binoviewers

[Osirisra]

I see the hybrid being very useful and adaptable to many peoples different styles. For example, to use a dedicated EQ mount for observing can be very difficult to learn for some people not to mention the obscure angles to the eyepiece. Most people start and learn with a Alt-Az as they are easy and as you say smaller and compact but if you wish to experiment with imaging then you need a EQ mount or wedge which is expensive and involves getting another mount, scope etc.

Having both in one for a very reasonable price allows someone to dabble in both imaging and observing with one mount and scope. The person can learn how to use a scope in easy alt az config then as they learn they can delve into the eq side of things with their existing setup. Once they become more serious and experience then they get a proper setup to suit there needs. But one of these for the cost would be a great start (if they are any good) I seeing it being a win win.

Even for a more experienced user, having a hybrid, compact all in one that can easily be taken out to a site that can be used for both would be great. Pop out to a sight, do a bit of comfortable observing to test the seeing and or while you waited for a target to rise or be in the right spot, then slap it into eq for a bit of basic imaging, all in the one setup-brilliant.

If the LX80 turns out to be a good mount I see them being very popular.

[Osirisra]

...and you can have two scopes on the same rig so two people can be looking at the same object at once, great for star parties.

[renormalised]

Andrew, you might be able to pickup one on the net. I just googled for one and it appears you may get it...takes a little searching through the links, though:)

[AndrewJ]

Gday Carl


Ahh, but i need the source on "how" to disassemble,
vs do it all from scratch.
Meade have lots of data/text embedded in the code,
and this can throw a lot of disassy tools
Also, after disassy, i do a lot of automated post processing
to annotate vars and functions based on known byte patterns.
This means i really need the source to "roll my own" disassy.
Looking at the Blackfin docs on how the OpCodes go together
scared the bejeezus out of me :confused2:

However, as the LX800 appears to use a std ASII control panel
i may already have the tools to work with that.

Andrew

[renormalised]

Trust Meade to make life difficult. You'd probably have to go to the original Blackfin source code at somewhere like Source Forge or the forum dealing with Blackfin.

If you can work with what you have, that'll make life a lot easier. However, you'd think Meade would finally have figured out that fully supporting their product, or even making it as functional and robust as it should be, would be a priority. Sells more gear if it works better.

[Fox]

Dear local Meade users, can I ask some dumb questions about the varieties of Autostar...

1) The Autostar II and III hand controllers seem to have 'shortcut buttons' for common objects such as Caldwell, Messier, NCG etc. Do these shortcut buttons give direct access to objects like Nexstar ? (unlike Autostar 497 where you have to navigate a heap of menu's to do anything).

2) So my next question is: does the "Audiostar" on the LX80 have shortcut buttons, or is it dumb like Autostar 497?

(I can't fathom why the Meade website is so uninformative in giving basic details about this sort of stuff).

thanks
Fox

[marki]

Yes they do exactly that.

Mark

[AndrewJ]

Gday Fox

As noted, the Austostar II and III are basically identical ( other than the button lables ). The shortcut buttons essentially take you directly to the input screens for each object type.
The Audiostar is just a 497EP with a soundboard added.
Its not "dumb" per se,
but it has NO shortcut buttons for objects.
The 1..9 keys are normally mapped to slew speeds
Ie in ASII you press 1 to get the set speed menu, then press 1..9 to set the speed.
In the Audiostars, pressing 1..9 auto sets the speeds.

Andrew

[Fox]

Thanks Andrew, I meant 'dumb' as in the #497 lacks the short-cut buttons the Autostar II and III have. Someone on CloudyNights also explained to me that the #497 has the computer inside the HC, whilst the mounts that use ASII and III have the computer inside the mount. So I assume the LX80 cannot take ASII or III, which is a shame IMHO.

Having said that, I believe the #497EP controller has the feature of several Megabytes of memory for User uploadable Meade tours, whilst I know my bog standard #497 controller has only a pathetic 64K or so. Can someone verify that?

Fox

[FlashDrive]

I've been looking for some " larger " pics ... so as to try and get a " better " look at them.

Just want to share them. ... credit to the original posters.

Flash :hi:

[AndrewJ]

Gday Fox



You assume correctly.



The 497 has 1MB of total memory for code, data and "user stuff"
64k of this is allocated for "user stuff" and the rest is full to the brim.
The 497EP/Audiostars have 2Mb of total memory
128k of this is allocated for "user stuff"
There actually is a lot of free space left in the 497EP but its not made available for user data.

Andrew

[Fox]

Thanks Andrew, that very helpful info for me. At least 128k is better than 64k. I enjoy writing my own tours using Astroplanner. It's sad isn't, in this day and age of gigabytes and terabytes, that the #497 is so far behind on memory, but I guess that's a legacy that the board design must be so old and they don't want to invest in making a new one. Fox

[Osirisra]

Nice work Flash :)

There hasn't been any good shots of the LX80 mount...

[FlashDrive]

Found these to share also.

credit to the original posters.

Flash :thumbsup:

[AndrewJ]

Gday Fox



Actually, the 497EP and Audiostars ARE totally new boards, with later generation CPUs and memory, gold flashed contacts and all SMT chippies. However, they are still designed to a price
( as they get sold with the cheapest Meade Dept store scopes )
and have to be backwards compatible with all the prev Meade scope models. They could have done a better job for sure, but they did a low cost code migration to the new CPUs hence all the old code limits have simply flowed over to the new Hbxs.
It would be possible to patch them to allow for more user space,
but you would need to send me a case of Grange for that:D
Also, if you do get a 497EP or Audiostar to get that extra bit of memory,
you will have to use my PEC editor to load the data
as the Meade ASU doesnt work with these new Hbxs.

Andrew

[GrampianStars]

Nice mount Mmmmmm...YES :thumbsup:
about $ 10K Au delivered but.... :(
LX800 around $7K delivered

[Harpspitfire]

i was looking over the meade site, and was reading about the warranties and repair service, i didnt like what i was reading, so when i upgrade, this LX80 isnt one of them