How good is an Lx90?

Hi ,
I was just wondering how good an Lx90 really is with regards to value and
appeture for money, if I decided to buy a second hand LX90 would I be
getting the best value for my money. I realise there are larger appeture
scopes out there, however are the optics as good and do I really need the
goto. Any and all advice is always welcome
regards
chris

Chris,

I think that the LX90 is an ideal begineers scope. There is sufficient
apeture that you can see things and its stable and easy to carry around.
You can do photography with it, but I wouldn't recommend it for long
exposure CCD work. However, it will work good on the planets with a web cam.

As for the GOTO I see far too many people come through our astronomical
society and give up because they can't find anything. After 20 years I gave
up trying to find things and only have telescopes with some form of GOTO or
computer control. Consequently I manage to image all of the Messier objects
in about 18 months. Not everyone agrees with me as some thing that is part
of the fun, finding the objects. Well I am a looker, not a searcher and
therefore for me, GOTO is a must.

A good place to look or post a wanted ad is http://www.ukastroads.co.uk/

Lilian

Chris,

I think that the LX90 is an ideal begineers scope. There is sufficient
apeture that you can see things and its stable and easy to carry around.
You can do photography with it, but I wouldn't recommend it for long
exposure CCD work. However, it will work good on the planets with a web cam.

As for the GOTO I see far too many people come through our astronomical
society and give up because they can't find anything. After 20 years I gave
up trying to find things and only have telescopes with some form of GOTO or
computer control. Consequently I manage to image all of the Messier objects
in about 18 months. Not everyone agrees with me as some thing that is part
of the fun, finding the objects. Well I am a looker, not a searcher and
therefore for me, GOTO is a must.

A good place to look or post a wanted ad is http://www.ukastroads.co.uk/

Lilian

On Mon, 18 Aug 2003 22:06:24 +0100, "chris CLARK"
wrote:

Hi ,
I was just wondering how good an Lx90 really is

Well, I've had mine for nearly a year and can think of nothing but
praise for it, it's as good as I expected and more. I'd buy the same
today if I didn't have one, or this one got damaged or stolen. I've
used it far more than I thought I would, mainly because:

- It's easy to set up and break down.
- It's easy to find stuff quickly using the Autostar.

A mate of mine bought a more fiddly, non-Autostar reflector, and is in
the same situation as me (busy job, family responsibilities, etc.). He
rarely uses it, perhaps once every couple of months; my LX90 is out
nearly every clear night, if only for half an hour (if I've remembered
to put it out in the garage to cool down beforehand).

What can you see? Planets are pretty good:
- Jupiter, its cloudbelts and moons
- Saturn and its rings, on a good night you can see the Cassini
division
- Mars with its polar cap are good at the moment

But what impressed me the most has been deep-sky, in particular the
Ring and Dumbell nebulas are excellent at the moment, and Orion will
be back in a couple of months time.

I've used mine for some basic astrophotography, holding a camcorder up
to the lens, the results aren't brilliant but are he
http://www.fatcat.clara.co.uk/astro/

Only negative thing I can think of is storing it, both the scope and
tripod are pretty big for todays small houses but hey, that's the
price you pay.

Darrell

On Mon, 18 Aug 2003 22:06:24 +0100, "chris CLARK"
wrote:

Hi ,
I was just wondering how good an Lx90 really is

Well, I've had mine for nearly a year and can think of nothing but
praise for it, it's as good as I expected and more. I'd buy the same
today if I didn't have one, or this one got damaged or stolen. I've
used it far more than I thought I would, mainly because:

- It's easy to set up and break down.
- It's easy to find stuff quickly using the Autostar.

A mate of mine bought a more fiddly, non-Autostar reflector, and is in
the same situation as me (busy job, family responsibilities, etc.). He
rarely uses it, perhaps once every couple of months; my LX90 is out
nearly every clear night, if only for half an hour (if I've remembered
to put it out in the garage to cool down beforehand).

What can you see? Planets are pretty good:
- Jupiter, its cloudbelts and moons
- Saturn and its rings, on a good night you can see the Cassini
division
- Mars with its polar cap are good at the moment

But what impressed me the most has been deep-sky, in particular the
Ring and Dumbell nebulas are excellent at the moment, and Orion will
be back in a couple of months time.

I've used mine for some basic astrophotography, holding a camcorder up
to the lens, the results aren't brilliant but are he
http://www.fatcat.clara.co.uk/astro/

Only negative thing I can think of is storing it, both the scope and
tripod are pretty big for todays small houses but hey, that's the
price you pay.

Darrell