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Hi Grant.. Just wanted to add my advice in the hope it is helpfull to you. I own an LX200 10" and have both a Wedge and a Meade 1200 Field De-Rotator. The Meade De-Rotator only works on the LX series telescopes. I lift my 10 scope around without any problems as I don't have a perm setup.
somtime when I am going to a dark site I rather use the De-Rotator as it is simple. You will get many comments about a wedge being better and not to use a De-rotator. However nearly all the comments I have had about this subject are from people that have never used one, and in most cases never even seen one. I have never seen anyone else in my group with one for that matter... I find they work very very well and you can get great results with them... they do have limitations however.. As they are bit they dont allow you to get photo directly above your head as it will hit the base of the mount. This does not really happen with a wedge. You can guide using PHD with a de-Rotator if setup correctly but you will get longer exposures with a wedge. So I pick my targets and the time of year to decide which is the best to use.. If you are wanting a simple setup that is fast and will allow you to photograph fast from your back yard, ad De-Rotator can give rewarding results. Astrophotogrphy has no bounds so you will always be given advice about what is better because their always is. Spend more money on better options and you WILL get better results. It is a dependent on you own expectations. The LX200 will allow you to do more in the long term in my opinion...
Hope this helps
Mardy
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