Ptkacik from United States, NC Public Profile

16" Lightbridge

I've been using my Lightbridge for a month or two and can comment on a few things. But first let me say that my plan was to just use the optics build a big equatorial Newtonian so some views may be non-standard.

It seems like Meade has been listening to customers and slowly making changes for a long time. For what it is, (the cheapest 16" scope on the market), there are not many complaints. I was surprised at how smoothly it goes together but a little plastic tensioner knob was broken. I was told that extremely fast dobsonian telescopes (f4.5) are extremely sensitive to collimation so I collimate with a Glatter TuBlug on each object.

Is it heavy? Oh heck yes. It is a monster. I've only used it in my yard and take it out in big heavy pieces. My plan was to use the optics in a big lightweight carbon fiber tube but the mirror mount is a giant rigid pair of heavy steel castings. Collimation benefits from them and no counterweights are needed even with the steel upper tube assembly. It may not be that great for my big plan (lightweight tube on a big equatorial mount).

It has a dimmable and highly adjustable red dot finder. It has a (no cost extra) cooling fan that I run continuously.

And the optics?? Pretty good and bright. Even collimating on each object and running the fan for an hour ahead of time, it does not focus as well as I'd like. I like high power and planets from my light polluted yard. These big light buckets are for "Dim Fuzzies" not high powered

This is one big Dob. Don't underestimate the size and weight.

Mine didn't perform well out of the box but a friend helped me collimate it this evening and I've never seen that much detail on the Great Red Spot of Jupiter. Not great seeing but there were moments that made it worth it.

Azimuth motion is smooth but the altitude is pretty sticky. A 9mm eye piece may be as high powered as you'll want to go.

Good luck,
Peter

Don't be fooled. The CGEM DX mount is monstrous. At the lowest leg extension, the Losmandy saddle is over five feet up when mounting and the finderscope is 68". And to achieve this monstrous size, the tripod is over fifty pounds, (my 10" Meade LX-200 tripod is 13 pounds). I think this mount must have been designed for a long refractor as the size just seems silly. Otherwise the C-11 works well on this mount.

I have goto mounts by Orion and Meade and the software seems odd but similar at the same time. It goes right to targets; however, it doesn't track well. Maybe a three star alignment would help, but...

During alignment, it asks you to pick some stars; however, the list is horrible. The manual has monthly charts but the alignment list includes only stars not on the list. Arcturus is right there in the sky but not a choice. Twenty stars starting with EL... Are on the list but none are on the Celestron Sky charts. To align, I think you must carry a smartphone to locate the alignment stars.

Optically, mine is not perfectly collimated but still stayed even with my 10" Meade. And although broken down into five 40 pound things, none are as heavy as that 10" LX-200 fork mount 75 lbs. That's a back breaker.