I used to own a TAL 2 telescope, i used for a few years and wished i bought something a little bigger.

Well now im now thinking of buying a LX 90 does anyone here own one ?
Is it all it is supposed to be ?
Has anyone regreted owning one ?.

I hope you can shed some light on this for me please.

__________________
ŠTRÒÑÓMY~ÑÕW

I bought an LX90 in March and am happy with it so far. I'm mainly interested in observing and videoing the Moon and wanted a reasonably compact tripod mounted scope with tracking to keep in my loft with my video gear and point out the window. I've only really looked at the Moon with it so far so can't comment on anything else. I have some photos of it / through it on this site:

http://forum.whichbrowser.co.uk/forumdisplay.php?f=23

I also have an LX90, it is a step above the ETX models and I think it is a great scope, I am still learning the ways of using it to the best and there is so much you can see with it and if you are into photography of stars and galaxies then this is the scope that will do the job.
I just got mine a few weeks back. Here are some images of the moon taken with the scope
The Moon is always great to watch.
http://www.universetoday.com/forum/uploads...-1089381629.jpg
http://www.thespacesite.com/community/uplo.../images/115.jpg
My advice is to try to get as much extras as possible get the most of the free accessories and ask for as much free equipment as possible. This will all be good for taking images and so whenever it's cloudy and you can also use accessories to improve your images taken on previous nights. There are some great sights possible with the LX90 telescope, you should try the planets with this scope
planets are wonderful
for example here are some shots from an ETX scope
http://www.weasner.com/etx/guests/images/d...in-saturn01.jpg
( an ETX90 telescope picture taken outside Rouen )
http://www.weasner.com/etx/guests/images/s...2_30_9_2001.jpg
Jupiter taken by Chan Sing in Hong Kong with an etx
http://www.astrosurf.com/astrolines/Marsss.jpg

When Mars is close to the Earth it can be a wonderful sight
From France the view of Mars with LX90
http://www.astrosurf.com/astrolines/Marsss.jpg

Aussie using an lx 90 on the 19th of Aug
http://sean.wenzel.net/lists/QCUIAG/att-56...F20-QC3KPRO.jpg



deep sky objects like the cluster of stars will also be very good to watch
http://www.petevasey.btinternet.co.uk/Vestims/M13.jpg


my advice is to get as much extra equipment as possible with the scope because it will help you a lot more

Hello, i'm a LX-90 user for three years now and I just love this big, for me it is, 8 inch SCT. I've added over the years a Williams Optic diagonal and bought a Denkmeier binoviewer. I've all the Televue plossl's but the 40mm and almost all works with this great scope.
I'm not into photography so that was no problem, but I wanted a big enough scope to view much and with the go-to provision I can find anything above the horizen.
If you want a scope that photography works with id recommend the LX-200 in 8 inch or larger as the LX-90 just wasn't made for photography. Its big enough to take the extra weight of the binoviewer and the two eyepieces you need with it and so far there has been no problems. I did get the extra coating and the extra eyepieces with the deal three years ago, and traded away all the ep's for better ones. I can recommend this scope very highly and tell any user you can do much with her. The go-to is usually right on and with 8inches you see much, even on a less then perfect night.
Hope this helps ya out and email me with any questions, be glad to help......
bob

__________________
ViperBob

Hi Kneenocker,
You got a couple of good reviews on the LX90, so I'm going to play devils advocate here I guess.

While I've never owned an LX 90, I did own a Meade DS 2114 (basic GOTO reflector). Now first I must say the scope itself was simply crap...poorly built (even one of the tripod legs bent under it's own pressure), wouldn't stay collimated, the Autostar wouldn't point or track, broken battery clip, never could get the view finder to stay put, yadda, yadda, yadda....and the sad thing was it was all pretty much nickle and dime stuff. The optics (when I could keep them aligned) were decent but everything else was very cheaply and poorly made. With that said, what bothered me the most was the people at Meade. -When- I could get ahold of them they were rather rude and most unhelpful and with all the problems I had with the scope, the -only- thing they offered to repair/replace was the aforementioned bent tripod leg...-after- I told them I had already replaced it myself and at my own cost. This was after I emailed their VP of N. American sales about all the problems I had with the scope and with their service department. Different attempts to call them were usually met with either -very- long hold times or leaving messages (6 total) that were never returned. Now in all fairness after I contacted the vendor and threw a major fit, they contacted Meade and finally did give me a full refund on the scope, but it took -6- months to get this problem resolved (I have since bought an Orion scope which I simply love!).

Now obviously, there are many folks...including folks here at UT that do like Meade, but from my own experience, at least do a few web searches and ask some questions on a few more forums before you buy...there's -a lot- of folks that have had similar problems as I have with Meade...basically if you get a good scope from them, everything is fine and dandy, but if you have problems you could be in for some serious headaches or your simply on your own. Just to add an extra penny to my $.02, you might even want to check Celestron for a similar product....at least they were willing to take my calls and answer my questions. I don't think they have anything that compairs, but again I'm also a very big fan of Orion...their sales and service people were simply top notch...very friendly and helpful and thus far their products have been simply superb for the price. Might be worth a look for ya

If you go with it and have good luck with it, then I sincerely wish you well, but I just wanted to give you the other side of the coin with Meade...I got burned and I don't want to see it happen to anyone else. Seriously, check around on the web for reviews before you buy.

Bright Blessings & Gentle Breezes,
Jim

Thanks for all the replys and the photo links as well. As Lomitus 1 said " do a web search" well i did and i was meet with rave reviews all around. I also found a stockist that was selling it for £70 less the asking price. Im still looking at other scopes, but im 70% sure i will go for the LX90 "though i may change my mind lol ".

Thanks again....

Matthew

__________________
ŠTRÒÑÓMY~ÑÕW

I went to a local shop and bought mine, so I could take it back in the event of problems. I was heartened to see 5 sets of initials on the quality control label, so maybe they've been taking notice.

Dan Luna, can you when your done with your first set of viewing the night sky, report back to this forum on how it went. As a three year owner of the LX-90 I like to hear what went wrong, if anything, and what went right? For a person who likes aptature and don't realily like photography the LX-90 can give you some great views.
Now with the Denkeimer binoviewer and 8 inch of apature I have some aussume views of the night sky. Love going on the "tonights best tour".

thanks,
bob

__________________
ViperBob

Ah, I didn't actually buy it to view the night sky, rather to photograph the Moon which it does very well. With my new 5x Powermate and Mintron video camera I've just started to zoom in enough to see some interesting detail ( 10,000 mm focal length and 10 mm equivalent camera ). I've only processed one photo so far with this setup, of Eratosthenes, and have added it to the end of this thread:

My current gear for Moon photos

The night sky in general was a disappointment, the light pollution was too much even for my 10" Dob. The Moon has really made up for it though, it's amazing to be able to look at another world so close by and see so much, so I've been buying books and finding out as much as I can about it.

Just s quick note to let you know i got the LX90 a few days ago and am just starting to get used to it. Thanks for the advice

__________________
ŠTRÒÑÓMY~ÑÕW

Dan Luna, where do you live. I live right across the water from New York City in New JErsey. Now that's light pollution at its finest. I belong to a site in New Jersey that has star parties often and have been to all of them. We meet up in north NJ at a nice dark site, so the 8 inch LX-90 goes with me. There is one 14 inch LX-200 and two 10 inch LX-200's at most parties so the viewing in my poor 8 incher is not the same as some of the others. But with mine and the binoviewer I steal the night.

Kneeknocker: Please get back to this forum with your first viewing the plus and minus of your first night out. Also where do you live will help us to know the night sky where you live. The very best of luck to you with your new scope. Did you get the UHTC coating? The only thing i've added to my scope is a Williams Optic diagonal and took off the std diagonal that meade put on.

Best of luck.

viperbob

__________________
ViperBob