Name: Used Meade LX85 GoTo German Equatorial Telescope Mount with Tripod and AudioStar Hand Controller, 33 Lbs Capacity undefined
Brand: Meade
SKU: US1736900
Price: 529.00 USD
Availability: Discontinued
Rating: 4.3 (6 reviews)

Meade LX85 GoTo German Equatorial Telescope Mount with Tripod and AudioStar Hand Controller, 33 Lbs Capacity

Meade LX85

Meade

Adorama

Used

Optics & Binoculars

Telescopes & Astronomy

Telescope Tripods & Mounts

Meade Telescope Tripods & Mounts

Meade LX85 

Open Box: Used Meade LX85 GoTo German Equatorial Telescope Mount with Tripod and AudioStar Hand Controller, 33 Lbs Capacity undefined

Meade's new LX85 Series features a high-quality, portable, GoTo, German equatorial mount with AudioStar Hand box. The LX85 Series is the perfect choice for the cultivated observer and astro-imager looking to chase deep sky objects! Use as a stand-alone mount or maximize your viewing potential with an array of different optical tubes to choose from. Meade's LX85 Series will keep you looking up for many years to come and sets a standard for mid-sized telescopes at a great price. The LX85 features a Vixen-style dovetail receiver for mounting observing equipment up to 33 lbs., coupled with a sturdy build and low-cog servo-motors that ensure smooth tracking performance. This stable mount can impressively handle slight load imbalances with ease. With its built-in integer gearing motor drive, you'll be able to track through long exposures using Meade's Smart Drive feature for recording permanent periodic error correction (PPEC). Seamlessly image the best parts of the night sky without having to worry about performing a meridian flip. The LX85 mount also includes an integrated autoguider port to readily connect to your autoguider camera, making your astro-imaging experience easy and straightforward. If these features weren't already enough, the LX85 is compatible with the Meade Zero-Image Shift Electronic Micro focuser and wired illuminated reticles. With the included AudioStar hand controller you have easy access to over 30,000-objects that you can view with a simple press of a button! AudioStars Astronomer Inside technology features a built-in speaker that plays over four hours of educational content about the celestial objects you view! Capable of handling a wide variety of optical tubes and equipment, expandable and upgradable, the Meade LX85 mount is designed for you to rediscover the night sky again and again. Whether you are at a beginner level or you're venturing into astrophotography, the LX85 Series is the portable and reliable mount to grow with your level of experience.

Used Meade LX85 GoTo German Equatorial Telescope Mount with Tripod and AudioStar Hand Controller, 33 Lbs Capacity undefined

Let's start with good: looks good, feels good, sturdy enough for 6" Meade telescope and Canon R camera (I could probably put much heavier telescope).
Now bad things: polar alignment-I watched several videos how to do this. I set up location, altitude, set tripod on flat surface-leveled, time zone, time... From my backyard I can see Polaris. After placing tripod and moving to right direction I'm almost spot on Polaris. OK, according to some people that's good enough for watching Moon. When I pick Moon from list of objects press GO TO it takes me far away from Moon (20-30 degree) Even after  I did different polar alignment (easy or 1 star) effect are always the same...far away from chosen object. After I move telescope to right location tracking works very good and I can take long exposure photos.
I don't know if I have problems because I don't know how to use it or there is something wrong with software on mine AudioStar unit. I don't know how to check this.

Confused

Adorama was a pleasure to deal with and processed the order quickly
. A well built ota with quality lenses and shipped  without the need to collimate. So far this scope has excellent resolution  providing a detail  view of the sky including the moon .clusters and nebulae.

A great buy

Great scope!

The mechanical parts of the scope are very good, i.e. well built, sturdy, and more than adequate for a casual observer like myself.  But I'm disappointed with the optics.  Smudgy & smeared images of the planets, the Galilean moons of Jupiter, and stars.

Review grade = "C."

I recently bought this telescope from a different website. But I'm sure this review is viable and the less, especially since I don't see any posted yet. 
This telescope is one big MF so make sure your not over doing the payload of your mount. However because of its 8 inch primary mirror(thats where most of the weight is located) you get a wide view of the sky. Stars are crisp and pinpoint but as with most reflectors it does suffer slight coma aberration near the edge of the field of view. I would take the tradeoff for the amount of light you get for an 8 inch. Any bigger of a primary would almost certainly require a dobsonian mount. 
Speaking of which, on a negative I found. Would I'd recommend using an Equatorial mount instead of an Altazimuth because of the size of this scope, the slightest vibrations can cause a seizure at the eyepiece and takes well over 3 seconds to settle down and by that time you may have to adjust it again. 
Another negative would be that the finder scope is practically useless, not that it's not good, but that it is so close to the frame of the telescope you have to be a contortionist to look through it. 
All and all this would be a great telescope to add to your collection if you already have the necessary tools and equipment to use such a telescope. If you're just starting out I would not recommend buying something of this scale because it would be too hard to set up and not worth the hassle of dealing with if you're a beginner. So that being said I stand by my rating of 5/5 on this telescope.

Great telescope if you have the equipment beforehand.

Looks like it will work well. The power switch beast broken so Im currently waiting for a replacement mount

Used Meade LX85 GoTo German Equatorial Telescope Mount with Tripod and AudioStar Hand Controller, 33 Lbs Capacity

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