Meade LXD55 AR-6


 Info  Votes  Messages  More Stats  Up One Level
Switch to Subject View
Post Message



Page 1 of 1


Subject: Moved Message
By: Anonymous (xxx.xxx.47.7)
Date: 09/21/2001 07:50:37 pm PST
HELP..!! does anyone know ANYTHING about this scope? email me at: pisces_lxix@yahoo.com thank you..


Reply
Post Un-related Message


Subject: konus 150 vs meade lxd55 refractors
By: Anonymous (xxx.xxx.233.21)
Date: 03/10/2002 05:59:31 pm PST
can anyone tell me about the meade lxd55 refractor, and how it stacks up to the konus 150 refractor? which is better? who has the better optics? thanks, vic, gwhpnut@yahoo.com


Reply
Post Un-related Message


Subject: AR-6
By: astrobuff
Date: 06/21/2002 08:04:48 am PST
Just received notification that the scope is shipping. I should have it by July 1. I will post info as soon as possible.


Reply
Post Un-related Message


Subject: AR-6 Open Box
By: astrobuff
Date: 07/03/2002 01:16:43 pm PST
Just received it today. What a beautiful scope! Much larger mount and tube assembly than you would guess from looking at the ads. Fit and finish on my sample is first rate given the price range this scope occupies. Gleaming white OTA with battleship gray mounting. Smooth focuser. Crap diagonal. Tripod had very little if any wiggle at the leg/base joints as reported on the AR-5. Looks like Meade added shims to help with this problem. Weather here in the Northeast is mid 90's with oppressive humidity. Will not see first light for 4-5 days when conditions improve. Will write a detailed review then. As of right now though, it looks to be a hell of a bargain even if you discard the OTA.


Reply
Post Un-related Message


Subject: LXD55 - AR-6
By: VaRon
Date: 12/12/2002 04:21:59 am PST
Just received my AR-6 a few days ago via UPS. Having a Nexstar 11 SCT for almost a year, I decided to order the AR-6 for the following reasons: 1) Have a fairly substantial scope that would be a little more portable for field use, star parties, etc. (although, I can now readily handle field setups of the N11), 2) Have another scope for visual observing while my N11 would be in use for imaging, 3) Always wanted a nice size, quality Refractor, 4) Wanted to peronaly compare Meades Autostar to Celestrons GoTo system, 5) Read few reviews which pretty much all said that for the price of an LXD55-AR6, you get a lot of scope with decent optics.

Of course, since I received the AR6 last week, the weather hasn't co-operated for First Light yet ! So, these are my initial impressions of the AR6:
1) Arrived in (2) boxes which did not show any serious outside damage from shipment handling.
2) All components were packed very well in thick, pre-formed styrofoam.
3) None of the components unpacked showed any physical or cosmetic damage.
4) Nothing was missing.
5) Using the Meade manual as a guide, assembly of Tripod, Eq. Mount, OTA and Finder went fairly easy and smooth. No problems with mating component fit, bolt holes lining up, etc.
6) When making Latitude adjustment, a ball end on one of the T-Handle screws popped off. Had to apply somne Loc-Tite to keep it attached.
7) The assembled scope is VERY impressive in appearance. The tripod doesn't seem to be as flimsy as I was led to believe from some other reviews but then I only had the legs extended about 6" and there weren't any winds in my living room. If vibrations become a problem, will try using my N11 Vibration Suppresion pads. And, eventually hope to also have the capability of a permanent pier mount.
8) The Dew/Light shield furnished appears ridiculously short to be effective. Have already got a flexible, longer (about 12") dew shield.
9) Some have criticized the AR-6 for the use of too much plastic. Other than the plastic housing for the diagonal prism (which I'll probably replace or use my N11 diagonal) and the focus assembly (which seems to be adequately smooth operating) the Eq. mount, tripod, OTA cradle and OTA itself are all metal, quality in appearance and appear to be more than adequate and durable.
10) The motor drives (in faster slew speeds) are considerably nosier than the N11 drives. However, in the tracking slew speeds, are much quieter and practicly unaudible.
11) Can operate on furnished battery pack which uses 8 "D" size batteries that should last up to 40 hoursuse time.
12) Seems to be quite a few more steps in setting up for field observing than the N11 (with the std. Alt.-Az mount): Leveling Tripod, Polar aligning (with a neat polar alignment illuminated reticle), Initializing Autostar, Training the drive, checking Axis alignment, etc. (N11 now takes me no more than 5-10 minutes).
13) Autostar hand control operation seems to be a little more complex than the N11 however, it has considerably more capabilities such as: tracking asteroids, comets, satellites (all in hand control database), event listings such as Sunrise, Sun set, Moonrise, Moonset, moon phases, meteor showers and eclipses, builtin glossary, a number of alarm and timer settings, spiral slewing object search (good when your setup might not be as precise as it could be).

Without First Light yet, I am very satisfied with what I've got for $895 ! Of course the next big step is to egt some photons into the scope and see if I'll continue to be satisfied. Will report on results of First Light whenever that will be.

Regards,
VaRon


Reply
Post Un-related Message


Subject: Moved Message
By: Anonymous (xxx.xxx.208.3)
Date: 12/27/2002 04:25:28 am PST
This message is a follow up from the guy who's waiting for his
"series 4000 Plossls". The "OTA" is going back to Meade due to
some cosmetic problems I've encountered. The dew shield has a hairline crack in it & one of the foil spacers behind the objective lens is out towards the middle of the lens. Although this doesn't effect performance it still shows either a lack of quality control or
rough handling during shipment. I suspect the latter due to the fact this scope is built entirely in China. Meade is taking full responsibility & will repair or replace it at no charge. Meade's customer support is supposed to be top-notch. I'll let you know.


Reply
Post Un-related Message


Subject: Replacement AR6
By: Anonymous (xxx.xxx.208.3)
Date: 02/12/2003 08:54:32 am PST
This is the follow-up I promised about the AR6 with the hairline crack on the dew shield, the foil spacer out of position & foggy
film on the inside lens. It took only 3 weeks from the time I sent the scope to Meade until a "brand new" OTA was sitting on my front door step. I anxiously opened the box & after careful inspection found this one to have no apparent problems. In addition my "series 4000 Plossls" were also on my door step at the same time! What a wonderful surprise that was! I've made some dry runs(no calibration) & found everything to be working.
No hang-ups with the controller, no smoking drives, & images
seem clear & sharp although I haven't checked collimation, it seems just fine to me. The lens assembly is clean & free of any foggy film & there are no scratches that I can see. The one thing I noticed was the crappy diagonal supplied. I quickly ordered the "William Optics" 2" diagonal for $99. What a great piece of glass this is! Beautifully crafted out of a block of aluminum with a reflectivity of 97%! All for $99 bucks. Well worth it since the supplied diagonal is the weak link. Looks like the second go-around was a success & Meade came through with flying colors for me!


Reply
Post Un-related Message


Page 1 of 1

[Click Here to Login]
Don't have a login? Register!