Telescope Decisions

[troppo]

Hi All. Just a simple question. Which telescope would be the better of the two and why. A 12" Meade LX200R GPS or 12" Celestron.

Thankyou

Troppo

[wavelandscott (Scott)]

I don't really know...and while some will have very strong opinions, I do not.

I suspect that there are things about both that are very good and that both can deliver good performance and lots of enjoyment.

As near as I can tell, this is sort of like asking which is better Ford or Holden?

Good Luck in getting some helpful feedback.

[Zuts]

Originally Posted by troppo

Hi All. Just a simple question. Which telescope would be the better of the two and why. A 12" Meade LX200R GPS or 12" Celestron.

Thankyou

Troppo

Celestron dont make a 12 inch SCT, they make an 11 inch. Also the 11 inch is around $2500 cheaper. Both scopes are very good and probably the equivalent of each other IMHO.

Paul

[iceman (Mike)]

The Celestron SCT's have a pretty good reputation. They come in the 9.25", 11" and 14".

Meade make the 10, 12 and 14.

[OneOfOne (Trevor)]

Meade have their SCTs mounted on forks, whilst Celestron (around this size) can be had on double fork (CPC) or eq mount (CG5/EQ6 or CGE). Fork mounts tend to be lighter overall as they don't have the counterweight, but break into a smaller number of heavier parts.

Optically and mechanically they are both quality scopes.

[Ric]

Hi Troppo and welcome to IIS.

I'll vote for the LX200R but I'm biased as well . I love mine.

Seriously though when I bought mine I researched both scopes and found them both excellent buys for what I was looking for. In the end I went with the Meade as I was offered a better deal.

Either way I think you will be very happy with the choice, but do your research and talk with the scope shops to see what they are offering.

Cheers

[coldspace]

Hi Troppo,

I'll vote for the Lx200R as well but I own one as well. So my vote might not count. But when I looked into both I decided on the Meade because of the flatter field optics that the new 'R' model has over the last LX200 series. Also I thought that the giant field tripod that came with the 12 inch was also a bonus. The meade system got my vote then again it is alot dearer than the celestron. Showing some friends the other night the moon and Mars everyone was gob smacked at 500X but the seeing was near perfect the 'R' optics are very sharp but I don't have much experience with optics so I am sure a well collimated 11 inch celestron would have performed equally well for visual use. Tuff decision why don't you buy both. Good luck you will be happy with either.

Regards Matt.

[troppo]

Thanks for all your replies. Which equatorial mount would go well with either a 14" celestron or meade?

Thanks