Ok, I did it... LX10

At some point you may want to get a F6.3 focal reducer which will increase
your
FOV by about 50%.

Amen! The reducer/corrector, maybe a good 10 - 12mm eyepiece and a shorty
barlow (the Orion is fine), and you'll be set for a while.

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

Thanks Jon for the link, now I have more choices to ponder, don't know if
that is a good or bad thing.(c;
The Meade eyepiece deal for $99. apparently is not available with this scope
unfortunately.

Thanks Jon for the link, now I have more choices to ponder, don't know if
that is a good or bad thing.(c;
The Meade eyepiece deal for $99. apparently is not available with this scope
unfortunately.

I started out viewing with the supplied Meade 25mm eye piece. Viewing
Saturn with just the 25mm Eyepiece was nice, but when I coupled it with
my Orion "Shorty-Plus 2x 3-Element Barlow", the Cassini division stood
right out. This would have made it 160x. My wife, who doesn't have all
that much interest in Astronomy, could see it right away. I then got
greedy and tried my 10mm(supplied with my XT10) + 2x Barlow for 400x on
Saturn, but despite being larger it was much more blurry.

I don't know enough about Eyepieces to comment on the Epic, but I think
I will pick up a 17mm Highlight Plossel from Orion. I have the 32mm
Highlight that I enjoy in the XT10.

Having never used a wedge, I really liked it. Compared to a normal
equatorial mount, I found the wedge on this scope very easy to
lock/unlock and maneuver.

If you have the same trouble with the finder mount, don't attempt to
bend it. It doesn't bend, in hindsight I should have redrilled it.

Clear Skies,
Mark


John Damico wrote:
Very cool Mark. I'm hoping mine arrives Mon or Tues, was shipped by Woodland
Hills last Monday. Today I am ordering a few eyepieces for ir from Orion,
nothing extravagant, but will increase my magnification choices beyond just
the one eyepiece. Tell me what you think, I am considering the Orion Epic
ED-2 series in 12.3 and 5.1 mm, and a shorty 2X Barlow. Anyone have an
opinion, is there another eyepiece moderately priced from Orion that they
feeel would be a better choice?

I started out viewing with the supplied Meade 25mm eye piece. Viewing
Saturn with just the 25mm Eyepiece was nice, but when I coupled it with
my Orion "Shorty-Plus 2x 3-Element Barlow", the Cassini division stood
right out. This would have made it 160x. My wife, who doesn't have all
that much interest in Astronomy, could see it right away. I then got
greedy and tried my 10mm(supplied with my XT10) + 2x Barlow for 400x on
Saturn, but despite being larger it was much more blurry.

I don't know enough about Eyepieces to comment on the Epic, but I think
I will pick up a 17mm Highlight Plossel from Orion. I have the 32mm
Highlight that I enjoy in the XT10.

Having never used a wedge, I really liked it. Compared to a normal
equatorial mount, I found the wedge on this scope very easy to
lock/unlock and maneuver.

If you have the same trouble with the finder mount, don't attempt to
bend it. It doesn't bend, in hindsight I should have redrilled it.

Clear Skies,
Mark


John Damico wrote:
Very cool Mark. I'm hoping mine arrives Mon or Tues, was shipped by Woodland
Hills last Monday. Today I am ordering a few eyepieces for ir from Orion,
nothing extravagant, but will increase my magnification choices beyond just
the one eyepiece. Tell me what you think, I am considering the Orion Epic
ED-2 series in 12.3 and 5.1 mm, and a shorty 2X Barlow. Anyone have an
opinion, is there another eyepiece moderately priced from Orion that they
feeel would be a better choice?

Strange thing is we did end up with an extra box from UPS, but it didn't
have your name on it. I don't think it has any Astronomy parts in it

BTW - The "thumb screws" too mount the scope to the wedge, didn't go in
with my thumbs. I ended up having to get a wrench. I was a bit worried
I had cross threaded them, but I'm certain they didn't. In any case,
the scope is secure.

-Mark

david wrote:

"Mark R." wrote in message ...

I just had to comment here and say that I received my lx10(with UHTC)
via UPS on Friday (thanks Astronomics).

snip..

I am jealous! 3 of 4 LX10 boxes arrived Friday...the OTA/fork did
not...thanks UPS!! Oh well, maybe Monday!!!! Are you sure my name
wasn't on one of your boxes : )

David

Strange thing is we did end up with an extra box from UPS, but it didn't
have your name on it. I don't think it has any Astronomy parts in it

BTW - The "thumb screws" too mount the scope to the wedge, didn't go in
with my thumbs. I ended up having to get a wrench. I was a bit worried
I had cross threaded them, but I'm certain they didn't. In any case,
the scope is secure.

-Mark

david wrote:

"Mark R." wrote in message ...

I just had to comment here and say that I received my lx10(with UHTC)
via UPS on Friday (thanks Astronomics).

snip..

I am jealous! 3 of 4 LX10 boxes arrived Friday...the OTA/fork did
not...thanks UPS!! Oh well, maybe Monday!!!! Are you sure my name
wasn't on one of your boxes : )

David

Having never used a wedge, I really liked it. Compared to a normal
equatorial mount, I found the wedge on this scope very easy to
lock/unlock and maneuver.

The problem with the wedge mounted fork is that things can get pretty awkward
trying find and view targets in the northern sky, the eyepiece gets pretty
close to the base..

Jon

Having never used a wedge, I really liked it. Compared to a normal
equatorial mount, I found the wedge on this scope very easy to
lock/unlock and maneuver.

The problem with the wedge mounted fork is that things can get pretty awkward
trying find and view targets in the northern sky, the eyepiece gets pretty
close to the base..

Jon

The problem with the wedge mounted fork is that things can get pretty awkward
trying find and view targets in the northern sky, the eyepiece gets pretty
close to the base..

Hi Jon:

GEMS aren't much better in this regard. Sure, the eyepiece is in a more
convenient positon, but it's just as awkward--or moreso--to manuever the scope
close to the pole. Luckily, there isn't an abundance of interesting objects too
close to the NCP.

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