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Old 09-04-2008, 07:03 PM
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edwardsdj (Doug)
Doug Edwards

edwardsdj is offline
 
Join Date: Sep 2007
Location: Brisbane
Posts: 677
Hi spikeface,

I have the 12" Lightbridge and they do come with one of those red dot finders. Personally, I would have gone a solid tube if it would fit in my car (I drive a Celica coupe).

The Orion 12" Dob with computerised object locator looks considerably smaller to me than an assesmbled 12" Lightbridge and if I was spending the type of money you are talking about and drove a Falcon, I'd be tempted to get a quality product like this.

With the Lightbridge, you pay for the portability. Don't expect a really well engineered package. Some parts of the package are really good, others need work.

Some things I would point out about the 12" Lightbridge:

The shipped 26mm 2" QX eyepiece is next to useless;
The primary mirror springs are too soft and need to be replaced with stiffer springs to hold collimation;
The base is much larger than it needs to be and can't be dissassembled (without modifying it to make assembly and reassembly possible without destroying the base);
The finder is a red dot finder;
There is no cover for the secondary mirror; and
There are no caps for the tube sections.

Aside from all these limitations, the portability of the system has been a boon to me. I found purchasing a proper 8x50 finder and Bob's Knobs primary and secondary collimation knobs and stiffer primary springs to be essential to get the most out of the Lightbridge.

To sum up: if you need portability go the Lightbridge; if not, go a quality solid tube preferably with a computerised object locator.

Hope this helps.

Have fun,
Doug
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