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Meade LightBridge Telescopes DELUXE - 10", 12" Truss Tube Dobsonian Telescope w/ AutoStar Suite
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Ptkacik's Review of Meade LightBridge Telescopes DELUXE - 10", 12" Truss Tube Dobsonian Telescope w/ AutoStar Suite
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 views so when I compare it, it is against large scopes on clock drive equatorial mounts. At high power it is not as smooth in altitude as I'd like although azimuth is low friction.
I've never transported it by car but I bet it would be difficult to load into anything but a good sized SUV. Some day I'll take to a dark sky and look at Dim Fuzzies and then I'm sure it'll walk away from the rest.
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 views so when I compare it, it is against large scopes on clock drive equatorial mounts. At high power it is not as smooth in altitude as I'd like although azimuth is low friction.
I've never transported it by car but I bet it would be difficult to load into anything but a good sized SUV. Some day I'll take to a dark sky and look at Dim Fuzzies and then I'm sure it'll walk away from the rest.
Would Recommend:
Yes