Meade LXD75 SN-6AT Schmidt-Newtonian Telescope with AutoStar

Comments about Meade LXD75 SN-6AT Schmidt-Newtonian Telescope with AutoStar:

When properly collimated this scope offers superb visual performance even at high power on lunar/planetary targets. Equals or surpasses a 6 inch Schmidt Casseagrain and will give a 4 inch Apo a hard time. To attain high power a quality barlow is recommended. The F5 optics work best at high power with barlowed Plossls. This is the perfect portable scope for deep sky imaging and has 55 percent less coma than a regular F5 Newtonian. The focuser needs improvement, but can be used with an Orion 2 inch to 1-1/4" helical focus adapter installed in the existing focuser to achieve critical focus more easily.

Comments about Meade LXD75 SN-6AT Schmidt-Newtonian Telescope with AutoStar:

Once you get the goto stuff going it is a breeze and is so easy to see tons of cool objects. It's so easy that I feel kind of guilty because it takes years and years for people to learn how to find objects, with the goto you just push a button and it goes there automatically!!

Cons: focuser is too cheapo for such a quality scope.
Pros: everything else it top notch. Optics are very clear and crisp!!!

Comments about Meade LXD75 SN-6AT Schmidt-Newtonian Telescope with AutoStar:

I purchased the LDX 75 6 inch SN several weeks ago and am very pleased with it.

Let me start by saying that this scope is not for a beginner. If you buy this scope, you should have some experience and knowledge of the night sky (such as constellations).

The scope comes in 2 well padded boxes with a heavy duty manual on how to use it and set it up. It took about 2 hours to set-up and ensure that everything was balanced and tight.

Of course when you buy a scope you get several days of cloudy weather so I just spent time setting the alignment and reading about Astronomy (2 recommended books are Telescope Hacks and Backyard Astronomers Guide). On the first night out, I hard time getting the Alignment to work as I can’t see Polaris (because of a tall tree in my back yard). One helpful hint, if you can’t see Polaris, try to estimate where Polaris is and then pick something you know (for example the Pleiades, moon or Orion Nebula) select Go To and then pick up and move the scope, if you set up the alignment right for your longitude, the scope should be looking in the location of the object just left or right of where the object actually is. Once aligned with the object, you have a pretty good aligned scope and can now use the go to function which works pretty well and is easy to use ONCE YOU READ THE INSTRUCTIONS.

The eyepiece that comes with the scope is good, but you should purchase a set as different eyepieces are good for certain jobs (wide field for star clusters, moon and larger galaxies) and high power for planets and viewing details of nebulas, moon, etc.

So far I spent most of the time looking at the Pleiades and around Orion with a high power lens (12.5 mm and a Barlow) you can see the Trapezium with is an awesome sight. The optics of the scope are really good, but they must be collimated, the second piece of advice, buy a laser collimator, it is worth the money in the time you save aligning the mirrors of the scope. I did find one issue and that the laser collimator can be off and you should adjust it until the laser stays in the same place no matter in what position you use it (60, 120, 180, 240 and 0 degrees).

The negatives are 1) The mount will have a little play in it, it is easy to tighten but Meade doesn’t include this in the directions, call them they will help you. 2) The finder scope does not focus, it is fixed focus, so for us that use glasses you will need to purchase a new finder scope. 3) I am also considering changing the focuser as it isn’t great.

All in all, the Meade SN 6 is a very good scope with nice optics that is light enough to be portable. One final piece of advice a 6 inch scope is nice as it is portable (compared to an 8 or 10 inch scope) and can bring in faint objects, if you live in an urban/suburban area this scope or the 8 inch SN or Cassegrain is perfect as the seeing isn’t limited by light pollution. But once you look at objects in a 10 inch or larger you really want to go large, just remember a large scope weighs much more and costs more. Most amateurs get more out of a smaller easier to move scope than a large one that is too heavy to move.

Comments about Meade LXD75 SN-6AT Schmidt-Newtonian Telescope with AutoStar:

I HAVE OWNED THE (LXD75) FOR 2 YEARS AND NO PROBLEMS YET! I WOULD SUGGEST SOME EXP. BEFORE BYING,LIKE GETTING TO KNOW THE NIGHT SKY FIRST. THIS WILL HELP GREATLY ,BUT BUY IT!!!! YOU WILL NOT REGREAT IT! SEE FAR INTO DEEP SPACE 2/5/2008

Comments about Meade LXD75 SN-6AT Schmidt-Newtonian Telescope with AutoStar:

Very sturdy mount.

Wish it had fine adjustable manual controls.

The automatic controller is complicated for an old guy like me. Fist time I tried it the scope started swinging around on it's own obviously searching for something, and I couldn't get it to stop. It knocked over a flower pot and banged into the mount before could get the controller turned off.