TheSkySearchers

Dear TSS,

It's been awhile since I was on this board.

My Meade LX850 mount's main board failed on me and Meade wouldn't sell me a main board.
But, I could pay $500.00 plus shipping, both ways, to send my mount to them and they would
send to Mexico to be repaired. I struggled for a long time to make a decision on what to do
about my Meade mount the their offer to fix it. I've had it with Meade and I have
supported them for years, now it's time to move on to better pastures.

I bought a iOptron (Center-Balance Equatorial Mount) CEM 120 mount and it is super nice.
The mount weighs 57 lbs. and holds 115 lbs. The mount has an cable management system
incorporated into the OTA's base plate, with 3 2.0 USB and a 3.0 USB ports. one 12v 5
amps and three 1 amp outputs ports.

I install iPolar camera into the CEM120 mount to help with polar alignment.

Monday the Pier is going to be delivered, so I'm getting real close to first light.

I installed a dome rotation and shutter kits in the observatory and I need to install the
pier, mount and OTA and finish setting up the dome's shutter and rotation kits.

Well, I hope everyone is doing OK health wise? Wife and I are doing OK.

Take care,

:Pirate:

Hi turonrambar, and welcome back here to the Forum!

smp

It really sucks when manufacturers won't sell parts. What's even more frustrating is that the part on the board that went bad is probably something like a tiny capacitor that cost the manufacturer less than five cents. But you can't figure it out on your own.

Good luck on the new mount. Post a photo when you get it done.

Welcome back
It is unfortunate that Meade has always seemed to be very hit and miss with their customer service for years. Even Celestron has vastly improved theirs since the early 2000.

Welcome back,

It sucks that Meade has become so difficult to deal with. Glad to see you went with iOptron. They are my new favorite mount company. I own one also.

Cheers

Welcome back to the forums, and welcome to the CEM120 users "group".
Are you getting the Tri-pier360?

I de-forked my 12" LX200GPS a while back and have never looked back. The OTA works great on my CGX mount.

Hello Turonrambar good to see you again.

Hope you have better luck with the iOptron!

Regards

Graeme

Hi Kip. Congratulations on the new gear and welcome back to the TSS forum.
BACK

Cool. I know nothing about that gear, but welcome back!

Glad to hear back from you Turonrambar. Bummer about Meade, but sometimes it is better to cut the losses and move forward.

Hello and welcome back! Have you posted pics of your observatory anywhere?

Dave

Hi Turonrambar,

Welcome back.

Bad luck about the 850. The 120 seems to mostly have a good reputation although one member here has had some trouble.

Enjoy!

Joe

turonrambar wrote: ↑Fri Sep 24, 2021 11:18 pm Monday the Pier is going to be delivered, so I'm getting real close to first light.

Gee whiz, what an ordeal. Sorry about the board but it is a known situation. If you care to keep an eye out there are after-market retrofits every now and then. I looked for one for a Meade Classic LX 200 8-inch SCT but gave up. So, I get that, but it's an idea for down the road because after all the glass is still good, right?

Well... what's the haps? Do you have an update for us?