Meade 7" LX200GPS... is it a good scope?

Liam,
It apparently has better contrast then most SCT scopes because it has a smaller secondary obstruction.
This is also why it is considered optically good.
One point to note is that the relatively thick meniscus lens makes cooling times stretch somewhat, to the point that meade supply a fan to help it cool down.
As Michael said, its an F/15, so fields of view wont be as wide since you'd be getting relatively high magnification compared to an SCT of equivilant size.

Since the secondary mirror is an aluminized disk on the meniscus lens (equivilant to the corrector plate in a SCT), there is no collimation required, although you can if you want but it is very hard and dangerous in that you can completely loose it and only alot of skill or a factory re-allignment can bring it back.

I had a look into this a while back, here are a number of interesting articles, some of which ran comparisons.

Look at rhe 8" SCT versus the 7" MAK
www.mapug.com/AstroDesigns/MAPUG/TipsNewX.htm#makvs8
BTW, mapug.com is a goldmine for all meade scopes, its my bible.

Questar Mak vs Meade Mak
www.cloudynights.com/reviews/questar7s.htm

Nextstar11 versus the 7" Mak
www.cloudynights.com/lab/telescopes/shootout.pdf

and the 9.25" versus the 7" mak with some very interesting details regarding the 9.25 SCT !!
www.cloudynights.com/lab/telescopes/planetary.pdf

www.cloudynights.com/reviews/meademak.htm
www.scopereviews.com/page1e.html

Have fun.!

Thanks Dave,


Great sources of information there.

Liam