Re: Pining for the LX10

Chris L Peterson wrote:
I suspect it is because there isn't any significant cost savings in
producing a non-goto mount that is still motorized on both axes. The
components involved are almost identical to those in a goto mount. The
LX10 and LX90 probably cost Meade about the same to make, but they
needed to sell the LX10 for quite a bit less because of its lack of
goto. They probably can't justify offering a non-goto scope that can't
be sold for much less, in a market that isn't all that interested in
non-goto scopes in the first place.

Usually, the difference in price between two articles sold is always
greater than the difference in manufacturing cost, simply because the
same markup percentage is applied to both.

What could well be happening, though, is that advances in computer
technology are allowing the GO TO feature to be added at a lower and
lower cost... while inflation is driving up the cost of motors and
optics. So Meade would have had to raise the price on the LX10 while
being able to keep the prices on the GO TO models the same... and that
was felt to be untenable.

What actually irritates me, more than one manufacturer choosing to
discontinue one model - that happens all the time - is that there
*are* plenty of non-GO TO scopes out there. But they're *all* German
Equatorials. (Well, there's _one_ exception, but that one's out of my
price range. Especially the 7-inch. So I'll have to go questing for
the stars without it.)

I can think of a number of *possible* reasons for this.

1) I prefer a fork mount to a German Equatorial, where practical,
because there is no counterweight, and no conflict with the post in
moving the telescope. But the weight advantages of no counterweight
may be illusory - since fork mounts must be quite rugged - and perhaps
most people who want a "simpler" mount want GO TO. Those who are
content with a "plain" mount will take German Equatorial too.

2) My 4-inch SCT sits very nicely on a wedge and tripod intended for
an 8-inch SCT. An 8-inch SCT on a wedge, however, seems like it is
always in imminent danger of tipping over. Perhaps it is. Thus, for
the same reason as Celestron discontinued the Fastar lens assembly,
Meade wanted to avoid complaints from increasingly less bright
consumers.

3) Given the increasing popularity of GO TO scopes for the entry-level
market, although GPS recievers still do cost an absolute minimum of
$150 even these days, non-GO TO scopes are stuck in an *intensely*
price-competitive section of the market. As a German Equatorial mount
is slightly cheaper than a fork mount (and, in fact, the difference
may now be *less* than the cost of a few microchips - which would make
a GO TO German Equatorial, at least non-GPS, cheaper than a non-GO TO
fork) the fork mount has been driven out.

John Savard

.

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