Posts Made By: Jerel McDonald

I have a new 10" newtonian, approximately 4 ft. long (Yay) and an EQ mount with tripod. I'm trying to figure out ideas for storage - mainly to keep away from the prying fingers of young children who live in my house -- my son 3-1/2 and daughter 1-1/2.

I'm thinking a large wooden trunk with padding and a padlock to keep my eq mount and OTA safe.

I'd love to hear other clever solutions to this problem.

Fun. Last night I got M13 and M4 in binos. Tonight I'll shoot for the next brightest (i think) M3, M5.
Next week I'll get my new scope and hopefully learn to use it before the end of the month

The advice is appropriate and you should definitely weigh it. But if you're really set on those choices, here's my two cents.

If you're serious about doing photography and you're relatively competent, or willing to become so, on the technical aspects (i.e. can learn collimation, polar alignment, etc) and don't mind putting a bunch of work into it) you can do photography with the lxd75 and it's a fine visual scope as well; esp. for DSOs.
The others won't work so well for photography - you need Periodic error correction, an EQ mount (or a wedge) illuminated polar alignment scope, etc.
Among the ones you've listed, only the lxd75 has these. Plus it now comes with the little LPI and Autostar suite (essentially a webcam) for planetary imaging.

There are some decent pix coming from this type of scope. See http://www.neurohack.com/astrotourist/DSIIndex.html for some examples. It will never match some of the $4,000 rigs, but who has that kind of money?

PS, the lxd 75 mount has had lots of quality control issues so I'd buy thru a local shop. They can get it for the same price as the online dealers and will charge a setup/inspection/training fee that is well worth it.

1.25" 3x Barlow - Japan

Thanks for posting these! 8)

My LXD75 works fine. I have had to adjust the backlash once after a couple months of break-in but that's all. The LXD75 addresses a couple major problems with the LXD55. Set screws seem to be better (i.e., they don't come loose). The bearings are far better and the tripod is better.

But I've done only lunar photography and visual. Most folks agree it's a very serviceable entry-level astrophotography mount for equipment up to about 15-20 lbs. Or more depending on your patience.