telescopes

[hugme]

ok, going to be getting a new telescope soon... Meade has come out with a new line, the RCX400 series to be released in the next few months. To read up on them go to http://www.meade.com

it looks like the optics on it are the same quality as the LX200 only smaller. It says that the clarity is better than the average Schmidt-Cassegrain scope but says nothing in comparing it to their specific scope. the focal length is around 30% less on the new ones but it seems to have more computerized features including an autofocus... which isn't all that great unless you can specificly set it to be unfocused for your eyes if you have bad eyesight.

so it seems the scope is not as good as the LX200 series but the computer systems are better. I wonder how this will effect the price of the LX200's.... we will see, there is not date I can find on when the new scopes will be released, it just says 'soon'. The prices are going to be almost 2X the prices of the LX200 series.

Does anyone (melonaise) have any comments? Has anyone (melonaise) looked into these at all?

Comments

[melonaise.livejournal.com]

One of the main reasons I chose the LX200 over the cheaper LX50s or such was the difference in the drive. The LX200 has a stronger, better-built drive, making it better for taking pictures. The LX50s and such have a repetitive "hiccup" every few minutes, meaning long-exposure pictures will drift. There are other ways around the drift, such as add-ons that help you keep on-target, but I wanted to minimize the number of accessories I'd have to buy.

It was a long time ago that I researched for buying my scope; I haven't looked into anything new.