My main scope is a Meade 8"LX200R, of the catadioptric family and has a focal ratio of f/10. It also incorporates the mount which is motor driven via the onboard computer that gives the scope GOTO. The scope sits between two fork arms on an altazimuth mount. This setup is perfectly fine for visual use but not so good for imaging (I have tried to describe why in the Telescope mounts navigational link on the left). If all you're interested in doing is visual work then this is a great setup.



Once the scope is on top of the tripod, just switch it on and the scope does the rest. The scope mount has an inbuilt GPS sensor on one of the fork arms. The scope works out the time, date and where it is. It then auto levels before you're asked to align the scope on a couple of stars. The telescope will aim somewhere close to a star that it will name on the handset. If you're not too familiar with the night sky then there's a great free piece of software you can download called Stellarium (on my free software links). Type the name of the required star in Stellarium and then you know what you're meant to be looking at. Using the handset you centre the star in the eyepiece, repeat this for the second star and then you should be good to go.

I have the LX200R permanently mounted on a pier and wedge. The wedge allows you to polar align the scope to counteract the rotation of the Earth.

Focusing is easy with the LX, there's a coarse manual focus knob on the back plate of the telescope tube assembly. Just turn it clockwise or anti-clockwise until you achieve a good focus, but make sure the primary mirror lock (the other similar looking knob on the telescope's back plate) is undone. If you want to image with the LX then once you've achieved a good focus you can tighten the primary mirror lock which locks the focus and helps prevent mirror flop (mirror flop can lose your focus). Once you've got a reasonable focus use the microfocuser (accessed on the LX's computer handset) which has a far finer adjustment, to achieve a better focus. The microfocuser sits between the telescope tube assembly and the eyepiece holder, so the telescope's primary mirror will not be moved and can remain locked.

If you wish you can manually move the telescope without applying power to it. There's a declination (dec) lock and right ascension (R.A.) lock. The telescope is quick and easy to move within the mount if these are undone but be sure to steady the tube assembly with your hands and lock it back into place when you've found what you want to look at. However, objects in the night sky move far faster when viewed through an eyepiece than they appear to do with the naked eye and you'll soon have to move the scope again.

Both the dec and R.A. locks have to be tightened in order for the LX's computer to take control and move the scope around. One of the great things about a motor driven mount is that once you've located an item you wish to look at the mount keeps the telescope looking at it so you can just enjoy the view.

The GOTO facility of the LX works well in my experience although I've had the odd problem which is only down to user error each time. I think the Meade LX manual leaves a bit to be desired and could be improved but if you come unstuck I've put a link to the Meade 4M Community forum in my link section. If you have any Meade product related problem then ask the question on the forum and in my experience I've had answers back often within a hour or two.

Visually the LX is good however I'd love to live in a truly dark site. Having said that I don't really have any experience of scopes other than my ZS66 to judge it by and they're very different scopes.

The LX has been great viewing the moon, Saturn, Venus, Mars and Jupiter. The first time I saw Jupiter and its moons with my own eyes was mind-blowing, the same with Saturn. I first saw Saturn through a 26mm eyepiece giving a magnification of 77 times. Bearing in mind Saturn's roughly 770 million miles away it's obviously still pretty small in the eyepiece at that magnification, however it was instantly recognisable and an amazing sight. Upping the magnification reveals a lot more and I never tire from looking at it.

As for galaxies, take the scope to a dark site for it to show one in all its glory. I can often see a galaxy's central core but not always the arms spiralling out. I think an LX with a larger aperture would help here but then they're more expensive and heavier to cart about. This is where imaging helps as it allows you to view what's out there that your eyes just can't see.





I use an ADM ring system (pictured above) to piggyback the ZS66 on the LX200R. It's a really well made piece of equipment that also allows the LX200R's finderscope to remain in position. Before I bought this I first got a ScopeTeknix ring and rail system but I had to send it back as when fitted there was no room for the finderscope on the 8"LX. Apparently it's ok with the 10"LX and above.

My second scope is a William Optics Zenith Star 66 apochromatic refractor that I bought from Ian King Imaging (in my Links section). This is a stand-alone scope that I have piggybacked via a ring mount system on the LX200R. The ZS66 has a focal ratio of f/5.9 that gives it generally lower magnifications and a wider field of view than the LX. I rarely use this scope for visual use although I should as it gives really crisp views. This scope produces fantastic images.



The scope has a dual speed focuser which really helps getting a good focus. This comprises of one large and one small knurled focusing ring. Turning these knurled rings clockwise or anti-clockwise moves the black focusing tube (pictured above at the rear of the scope) and therefore the eyepiece or camera, in or out of the telescope tube assembly, altering focus. All you have to do is turn the larger knurled ring until the scope's nearly focused and then make a fine adjustment with the smaller ring. The larger focusing ring gives a relatively coarse fast focus whereas the smaller ring is ten times as sensitive giving a slower movement but a far finer adjustment. You can see the two knurled rings on the left had side of the telescope tube assembly on the image below.



The scope comes with a William Optics quality soft carry case, and Ian King Imaging also threw in a Rigel 1.25" diagonal for free. The diagonal is of good quality and I've used it with every image I've taken with the ZS66.



The ZS66 only has a 66mm aperture front objective lens (pictured above) so the scope is relatively small in comparison to most refracting telescopes. The build quality is fantastic although as the scope is quite small I wouldn't want to use one of the heavier camera with it. I use an Atik 314L camera (also bought from Ian King Imaging)which the scope handles perfectly although I've yet to try it in conjunction with a Barlow type lens (magnifies the image) that would extend the camera further away from the telescope tube assembly and therefore increase the stress between focuser tube and the telescope body.