Meade LX 90 problems (Long)

Hello folks,

I recently purchased a Meade LX 90. The scope arrived and was setup. This
was the start of the problems, Meade failed to include the lens for the
smart-finder. Contacted Meade and the received the lens.

On the first night out checked collimation which seemed to be good. Had some
problems with alignment but finally got it done and was able to enjoy a few
things. Problems on the first night mostly related to getting familiar with
the Autostar system.

Took the scope out for the second time tonight and that is when the real
problems began. Scope aligned first try and I proceeded to pick M36 for a
start. The scope went directly to M36, no problem. Next was M37, once again
no problem. M38 was next, scope found the cluster and while I was looking at
the cluster the scope began slewing on its own. Tried to get it to go to M38
again but no luck.

Repeated auto alignment, while trying to center the stars for alignment I
noticed that when I pushed the right arrow the scope went to the right but
when I pushed the left arrow it also went to the right. Finally got the star
centered but alignment failed.

Tried to do auto align again, the scope calculated tilt and then went to
detecting north but then just set there. This went on for several minutes
and I finally turned off the power and started over. The scope stall out
several times during the alignment process. I never was able to get a
successful alignment again.

And finally the backlight for the keypad went out. Needless to say I am less
than impressed with this scope. I tried new batteries and sure I was on the
right stars but nothing helped. I have been very active in astronomy for
about 7 years and own several scopes to include a ST80, and a Orion XT 10
plus a couple of others over the years. I have viewed several hundred
oblects with these scopes and am very familiar with the night sky.

I hate to be so long winded but I was just curious if others have had this
kind of experience with the LX90? Purchased the scope for visual use and
with hopes of doing some photography later. Will contact Meade customer
support in the morning.

Thanks for listening!
Brian


.

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