The "advanced" in Advanced Coma Free.
A traditional Ritchey-Chrétien (RC) is a type of reflector that delivers a coma-free, flat field of view via hyperbolic primary and secondary mirrors. RC telescopes (from a variety of manufacturers) are found in most of the world's top observatories and NASA's Hubble Space Telescope. Because the mirrors in these telescopes have always been very expensive to make, few amateur astronomers could enjoy them. Fortunately, Meade engineers developed a radical new Advanced Coma Free design by combining a hyperbolic secondary mirror with a corrector-lens-and-spherical-primary-mirror combination that performs as one hyperbolic element. This ACF design produces a coma-free, flat field of view that rivals traditional RC telescopes at a fraction of the cost. The design even eliminates diffraction spikes and improves astigmatism, both of which are inherent in the traditional RC design. When reviewing Meade's LX400-ACF Advanced Coma Free, Sky and Telescope magazine said, " [It] does indeed perform like a [Ritchey-Chrétien]. The difference between the off-axis images (compared to a Schmidt-Cassegrain) was dramatic to say the least."
CAPACITY
Total Mount Capacity is 250 lbs (excluding counterweights). This type of carrying capacity exceeds anything else on the market. To get this type of capacity in a production mount means you do not have to contract for a one-off design for large aperture instruments. Furthermore, it means that you will be able to add guide scopes, wide field instruments, spectrographs, heavy cameras and coolers to this mount with confidence.
INTERCHANGEABLE QUICK RELEASE DOVETAIL PLATES
The quick release dovetail plate on the MAX MountT allows you to change optical instruments in about two minutes. Slew the scope down for access, loosen two handles without any tools required and swap on a new instrument ensemble. This is the kind of flexibility that makes German mounts so popular in theory, but only MAX delivers in practice. With the MAX quick release system, swapping scopes takes only minutes. You will not lose alignment. Additionally, the computer assisted balancing and quick release counter weights assure you are tuned up and ready to go back to work quickly.
With competing mounts, you are looking at a milled and drilled plate, Allen wrenches and a lot of time and care to swap OTA assemblies. Then you must support the OTA while you release the worm gears to rebalance, losing your alignment in process.
INTERNAL CABLING
The MAX has all the controls you need for your OTA and modern cameras up on the saddle plate. This makes a cable free installation of most instrument packages.
In contrast, competing mounts require that you get out your fish tape and pull the cable you want through the RA and DEC axis yourself. Or you might want to call an electrician!
APERTURE
Meade has offered the 16" for years as an SCT on a fork mount. It has been the scope of choice for serious amateurs, colleges and teaching universities. Now you can have an Advanced Coma-Free optical system not only at 16" but at a full half-meter of aperture. This brings the MAX into the domain of serious research. There has been an outcry that observatories are moth-balling scopes in the 1/2 to 1 meter category to save funds to operate a few gargantuan telescopes at their facilities. This is sad because a search of the literature shows that the vast majority of good science is performed with telescopes in the 1/2 meter to 1 meter class.
