Meade LDX55 Mount Wanted

I am looking to purchase a Meade LDX55 (or very similar equivalent)
mount for a Lurie-Houghton telescope recently purchased for me by my
wife (bless her heart!) Calling Meade and various distributors, it
seems they won't sell them separately, to my great disappointment. The
OD on the tube is 8" so if it has 8" ring clamps so much the better.

I know very little about astronomy but it was my dad (now deceased) who
designed this scope and my sweetie thought we ought to have one. If
anyone can help me out, my email address can be found below. If you
write, please include a phone number and good time to call and you'll
hear from me soon!

Thanks!

---
Michael W. Lurie
mlurie at stny dot rr dot com

Try monitoring astromart for a while, one is sure to turn up. If you want
quicker results, post a "wanted" ad on astromart.

Al


"Michael W. Lurie" wrote in message
. ..
I am looking to purchase a Meade LDX55 (or very similar equivalent)
mount for a Lurie-Houghton telescope recently purchased for me by my
wife (bless her heart!) Calling Meade and various distributors, it
seems they won't sell them separately, to my great disappointment. The
OD on the tube is 8" so if it has 8" ring clamps so much the better.

I know very little about astronomy but it was my dad (now deceased) who
designed this scope and my sweetie thought we ought to have one. If
anyone can help me out, my email address can be found below. If you
write, please include a phone number and good time to call and you'll
hear from me soon!

Thanks!

---
Michael W. Lurie
mlurie at stny dot rr dot com

Why would you want to purchase an LDX55 mount? Why not a Vixen GP or
GP/DX? I've heard that quality control on the LDX55 leaves much to be
desired?

"Michael W. Lurie" wrote in message
. ..
I am looking to purchase a Meade LDX55 (or very similar equivalent)
mount for a Lurie-Houghton telescope recently purchased for me by my
wife (bless her heart!) Calling Meade and various distributors, it
seems they won't sell them separately, to my great disappointment. The
OD on the tube is 8" so if it has 8" ring clamps so much the better.

I know very little about astronomy but it was my dad (now deceased) who
designed this scope and my sweetie thought we ought to have one. If
anyone can help me out, my email address can be found below. If you
write, please include a phone number and good time to call and you'll
hear from me soon!

Thanks!

---
Michael W. Lurie
mlurie at stny dot rr dot com

Why would you want to purchase an LDX55 mount? Why not a Vixen GP or
GP/DX? I've heard that quality control on the LDX55 leaves much to be
desired?


Hi Chuck:

Well, if you're on a budget, the GP with Skysensor will set you back a couple
of grand. Nice setup, though, for a small/medium OTA.

I do understand that Celestron _may_ be selling their "CG6" mount, that is
their LXD55 class goto mount, an EQ4 GEM with a Nexstar computer, without an
OTA. I'm hearing that this may be at least slightly better than the much
maligned 55.

Peace,
Rod Mollise
Author of _Choosing and Using a Schmidt Cassegrain Telescope_
Like SCTs and MCTs?
Check-out sct-user, the mailing list for CAT fanciers!
Goto http://members.aol.com/RMOLLISE/index.html

Dear Michael:

I am wondering why you have chosen the LDX-55 mount. I would recommend looking
over some of the reviews that are available on the net. I would also recommend
choosing another mount for this scope.

I do not own an LDX-55, at one point I considered it and have been following
the progress of this mount.

It seems that they suffer from quality control issues and many of them have
significant problems. If you buy a used one, it is unlikely that Meade will
provide warranty support, an important issue.

One fellow convinced me of the troublesome nature of this mount. He said he
believed there were three groups of LDX-55s, group one has only minor problems,
group two has significant problems and group three has major problems.

He rated his mount as a group 1 mount, minor problems. The fact that it had
been back to the factory twice convinced me that these mounts are to be avoided
if possible.

Since this scope is obviously important to the family (and congratulations to
your dad) I suggest purchasing a mount worthy of this scope. A good mount can
cost a significant amount of money, but certainly a good mount is worth buying.

If you could provide a bit more information about the size and weight of the
scope, what sort of money you would be comfortable with, you could get some
good suggestions as to what mount would do honor to this fine scope.

Jon Isaacs

"Rod Mollise" wrote in message
...
Why would you want to purchase an LDX55 mount? Why not a Vixen GP or
GP/DX? I've heard that quality control on the LDX55 leaves much to be
desired?


Hi Chuck:

Well, if you're on a budget, the GP with Skysensor will set you back a
couple
of grand. Nice setup, though, for a small/medium OTA.

I do understand that Celestron _may_ be selling their "CG6" mount, that is
their LXD55 class goto mount, an EQ4 GEM with a Nexstar computer, without
an
OTA. I'm hearing that this may be at least slightly better than the much
maligned 55.
After so much mucking around with my EQ5, Ive come to the conclusion that
you are better off just spending the extra
money on something decent. Personally I like the Vixen GP/DX with a GOTO4ALL
autostar retrofit.

On 11/26/03 07:43 +0900, Rod Mollise wrote:

I do understand that Celestron _may_ be selling their "CG6" mount, that is
their LXD55 class goto mount, an EQ4 GEM with a Nexstar computer, without an
OTA. I'm hearing that this may be at least slightly better than the much
maligned 55.

Gary Hand lists it on his site.

trane
--
//------------------------------------------------------------
// Trane Francks Tokyo, Japan
// Practice random kindness and senseless acts of beauty.
// http://mp3.com/trane_francks/

Michael

Im a Meade fan however I have not heard anything good about the LDX55.
Id go with the Vixen if I could find it.

Rich

On 25 Nov 2003 19:50:19 GMT, "Michael W. Lurie" wrote:

I am looking to purchase a Meade LDX55 (or very similar equivalent)
mount for a Lurie-Houghton telescope recently purchased for me by my
wife (bless her heart!) Calling Meade and various distributors, it
seems they won't sell them separately, to my great disappointment. The
OD on the tube is 8" so if it has 8" ring clamps so much the better.

I know very little about astronomy but it was my dad (now deceased) who
designed this scope and my sweetie thought we ought to have one. If
anyone can help me out, my email address can be found below. If you
write, please include a phone number and good time to call and you'll
hear from me soon!

Thanks!

---
Michael W. Lurie
mlurie at stny dot rr dot com

Hi Michael,

I am looking to purchase a Meade LDX55 (or very similar equivalent)
mount for a Lurie-Houghton telescope recently purchased for me by my
wife (bless her heart!)

How urgent is it? If you can wait for a month or so, maybe I can help
you (but this is really only a maybe, so if you get another chance,
don`t hesitate :-).
Another question: Where and from which manufacturer did your wife get a
Lurie-Houghton scope? I have been trying for quite some time to get one,
but the only thing I was able to find was a description by somebody who
built one by himself.
Greetings & Thanks,

Jan

Jan Harnisch wrote:

Hi Michael,

I am looking to purchase a Meade LDX55 (or very similar equivalent)
mount for a Lurie-Houghton telescope recently purchased for me by my
wife (bless her heart!)

Another question: Where and from which manufacturer did your wife get a
Lurie-Houghton scope? I have been trying for quite some time to get one,
but the only thing I was able to find was a description by somebody who
built one by himself.

My sincere thanks to all (Al, Chuck, Rod, Timothy, Trane, Jon, Rich, Jan)
who wrote regarding my request for a Meade Equatorial mount for my new
scope. One dealer even wrote offering me directly a whole setup for about
$500, but after researching this more and listening to the comments from
you knowledgeable folks, I have opted to purchase an ever-so-slightly used
Vixen GP Standard mount with tripod instead from a fellow who had one for
sale in Washington state. Please know that I appreciate all of your help!

Jan, this scope was made by an amateur astronomer who also happened to be
specialized in precision optics manufacture, and for his own use. As far
as I can tell, there isn't anyone who makes a scope of this design for sale
to the public...though one could probably get one made for a price. During
the crash course I have had this past week in telescope mounts and design,
one of the most impressive things I have run across is the site by Rick
Scott in which he detailed the making of his Lurie-Houghton scope. See it
at http://members.cox.net/rmscott/lh_scope/index.html and look for his
photography pages as well; his is some incredibly impressive work. Thanks
again to all.

--
Michael W. Lurie
mlurie at stny dot rr dot com