Quote:
Originally Posted by prova
I have basically ruled 16in out due to the large leap in cost, that said have you noticed a HUGE difference between the two?
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Haven't had a chance to give it first light yet!!
Got it just before Christmas and its been clear when I couldn't go out and cloudy when I could. The usual story. The dark(er) site trip I made with a few other lads where I found out it took up less space in my car was clouded out.
That said, I am not expecting to be blown away by the move from 12-16in. Got my first look through a 20in a few weeks ago and while initially I thought WOW when I went back to my heavily modded albeit standard Orion Mirrored Orion XT12i and looked at the same objects through the same eyepiece, what I thought were new details revealed by the 20in were in fact there in my 12inch scope. I just hadn't noticed them before.
I bought the 16in because I knew the truss would make things easier to transport and because I might get into binoviewing. A BV'd 12in with the light split would become an effective 8.5". So by getting a 16in BV'd will become an effective 13-14in. So I will not be taking a step backwards from the brightness I am used to when I get my Denk binoviewer.
Decision was made very easy with the collapse of sterling before Christmas though. Meade were running a massive discount in the UK and US only at the time too so a Meade LB16 that would have cost me 2400 euros ordered from Europe I was able to get in the UK before Christmas for about 1100 euros!!
Just got in there at the right time. The Meade discount ended with Januarys new stock back to an unsubsidised price and the UK dealers getting less dollars for their pound also had to put up the price another few hundred so the new UK price is up to GBP1800!! The Pound strengthened a bit in the last two weeks too so at the current exchange rate, the same scope from the same shop I got it a week before christmas would now cost me about 2100 euros!!
Basically my point is go for it if there are other reasons you might need a 16in/truss but all things being equal don't get a 16in for an apeture upgrade from 12in alone.
Below is a pic of the LB16 and XT12i together.