Awesome telescope!! I purchased the 16" lightbridge and am very pleased with what I got. Everything was great out of the box with one exception, the small plastic clip that the latteral resistance knob mounts to was broken. Meade is shipping me a new clip at this time, so problem should be solved. The assembly of the base and scope is very quick and easy. The only other negative issue is the scope bearing mount on the base is sloppy. They now apply felt in the bearing opening rather than teflon. This creates a loose fitting for the scope to set in and creates a rocking effect while using. A couple of small pieces of teflon on each side should fix this problem without much effort. So far I am totally impressed with the lightbridge and would recommend it to anyone who is looking for big apperture without having to spend big bucks. The quality of the scope as well as the awesome views outweighs the small imperfections that are easily fixed. Good job Meade! Thanks Opticsplanet.com for a great deal!!