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Old 06-04-2005, 05:06 PM
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trufflehunter (Wayne Robinson)
Purveyor of fine truffles

trufflehunter is offline
 
Join Date: Feb 2005
Location: New Lambton, Newcastle
Posts: 212
Sorry to hear that, Rohan. You and I received our LX90's at about the same time and my experience has been exactly the opposite. Every Go-To has not only been successful, but the object is dead centre in the middle of the field. The tracking is also spot on. I always use a Meade 12mm illuminated reticle ep (167X) to set the alignment stars, and the last time I left the second alignment star, Denebola, on the cross hair while I fiddled around for about 15 minutes. When I came back, Denebola was still right on the cross hair.

No, for me, the tracking and go-to capabilities of the LX90 have far exceeded my expectations to the point of being scarey!

Are you using Automatic Align? I can't use that because, usually, at least one of the alignment stars that Autostar chooses is behind a tree or a building. Therefore I have to use the 'old fashioned' Two Star Alignment. That way I get to choose my own alignment stars and I've been using Alpha Crucis and Regulus (or Denebola) because they're currently about as far apart as I can get. And 'as far apart as you can get' is what you should aim for.

The only disadvantage of Two Star Align is that you must place the scope in it's "Alt-Azimuth Home Position, meaning level the scope (I use a little 'bulls eye' bubble level) and point it due north (yes NORTH, not SOUTH! it doesn't have to be exact, but the closer you get it due north, the closer the scope will slew to the alignment stars). This was the only method available with the Autostar on my previous LX55-AR6, so I'm quite comfortable with it. Except in the older scope you had to enter the date and time every session. At least with the newer ones, the LNT module holds that info, making it easier. And it's ability to hold the date and time is the only advantage offered by the LNT module, in my view!

I actually prefer the Two Star Alignment, not only because I get to choose the alignment stars, but also it's QUICKER! The scope doesn't have to go through it's 'find north' and 'level' routines. I can manually level it, roughly point it north, tell it to do a Two Star Align and have it up and running in less time (and with more surety) than letting it do its own automatic thing!

Just a thought... speaking of date and time... is yours correct? Is your location correctly entered into Autostar?

I hope this helps in some way. I really feel for you. There's nothing worse than having your hopes dashed. But don't give up hope! The LX90 is a magnificent instrument, and 8" of aperture (in reference to the other fear you mentioned) will show you just about everything in the Autostar database, often in breath-taking detail. Try the ideas I mentioned above and see if that works. If not, then there's just something else that needs 'tweaking'.

By the way... if there IS something I don't like about the LX90, then it's the Red Dot Finder. It's a joke. I just pretend it's not there!
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