Question for LXD-55 owners

[southerngazer]

I will be deciding shortly on a new scope soon. One of the contenders is the Meade AR-5.

Unfortunately this is only available from the local Meade outlet on the LXD-55 mount. (I wrote to Meade and they said it was most likely brand new but just old Stock). Fair enuff then.

So my question is this. Is this mount good enough for astrophotography? (It will be pier mounted.)

This model appears to have a rather bad rep, when it comes to A.P. work although it is apparently fine for visual work.

Please note that at this point the only feedback I need is from people who have or have had this mount at some point.

I have another contender in mind that will be on an HEq5-Pro mount, but is somewhat more expensive.

All thoughts and feedback welcome :P

[Exfso]

I used to have the LXD55 with a SN10 attached to it, and to be honest, it is only ok for visual. To do photography with it, I reckon you are wasting your time. Others may differ, but the mount I had was next to useless IMHO. I know some people have modified their mounts and they have worked quite well, but out of the box I reckon you are in the lap of the gods. Granted the SN10 was far too big for the mount, and it may well be a tad better with a much lighter scope. Reckon you would be better off saving your money and getting an EQ5 or EQ6. I currently have a Losmandy G11.

[xelasnave]

If you try to use it for fotos you will have your work ahead of you.
It will do for wide fields and really short exposures but the reason mounts are so expensive is because they have to be in effect "perfect" and the lxd is not close to perfect.
I worked on mine heaps and you could not manually track as the adjustment made it qiver so your "run" was always very short no matter how good the polar align was... get an eq6 maybe.
alex

[dugnsuz]

I started taking serious(!) images with a EQ5 GoTo mount - pretty much a clone/copy of the LXD head. Served me well for short focal length stuff - an ED80/Camera and guidescope were about as heavy a load as I would go with that mount.
I sold that mount on to another forum member who is taking very nice images with it still. My point is the LXD55 will do well as long as you don't overload it. I now have a HEQ5 which carries a large 300mm lens and a guidescope - and does it well. But, the implication is "OVERMOUNT" for astrophotography - you'll hear that a lot around here (as it's true!!)
Note though, the HEQ5 is a significant step up in terms of tracking accuracy over the LXD55.
All the best - good luck
Doug

[southerngazer]

Thanks for the feedback. Confirms my initial misgivings.

The contender that has won out over the others is this little beastie http://www.astronomics.com/main/product.asp/catalog_name/Astronomics/category_name/G1AS26AN4EF79MUCNL5JBH3HH1/product_id/SW8SC

As it will be housed in a observatory in the backyard I wanted a scope that would lend itself to being used visually as well as AP. My legs aint what they used to be so I want a scope and mount that would allow use from a seated position.

The above combination has everything I require at the budget level I have set.

The new generation HEQ5 mounts now being brought out by Skywather are ones I'm familiar with and will do what I want for the immediate future, however down the track of coarse there are always bigger scopes to buy. Just dont tell the wife :eyepop:

[Nightskystargaz]

Ralph,

I have a AR-6 on a LDX-55 mount, I have a steel pier, I use it for Visual only.

Thanks,

Tom