The 1st Meade LX850's delivered .

[brian nordstrom]

Hi all just perusing CN's and I see the first LX850 and 14 inch AFC f8 , CAT's have been delivered to customers in the USA , looking like a great set up .
Have a look in forums ' Cats and Casses '
Already 4 pages long .:eyepop: .
Good on Meade , they are delivering for a change .
Brian.

[toc]

it looks amazing. I would be worried about plonking huge amounts of cash on Meade products at the moment though :shrug:

[fornax]

I also noticed that BinTel have the Meade ACF f/8 OTA's (http://www.bintel.com.au/Telescopes/Cassegrain/Meade-10--f/8-ACF-Optical-Tube-Assembly/1548/productview.aspx) available. Are these from the LX850? They're not the LX200 OTA's 'cos they were f/10.

scratch that. they are from the LX850. I can see the name on the tube. don't know if these are even available separately in the USA, are they?

Phil

[mozzie]

they are also going to be on the 600's as well....wonder if they will finish up there f10's..time will tell!!!!!!

[blink138]

i really like the idea of an f8 SCT
before i got my c11 i was tempted by a second hand 12" RCX meade from sirius optics (i think) which were if i am not mistaken, their first ACF
pat

[mozzie]

and no mirror flop..crayford style gotta be good

[AndrewJ]

Gday Mozzie



As far as i can tell, its not an "internal" crayford focusser.
Also, due to beta testing, Meade appear to have put back the mirror lock into the larger OTAs at least, so there is still some movement/flexure there.
The big innovation appears to be that the sled now rides on ball bearings vs grease, thus no sideplay and much less friction.
The primary focus mechanism still seems to be the same as the current SCTs, but with a 2 speed focusser vs the old one speed.

Andrew

[toc]

The worst thing about my Meade 12" ACF is the focuser - I wont say its unusable, but its borderline. Any design improvements would be welcome. :)

[Neutronstar]

Why is this? Is there some concern with them?

[toc]

Well - I dont want to get into too much speculation, but they have had some poor results in the last few years. To be honest Im really hoping they get picked up by someone like GSO - much like Synta did to Celestron a few years back.