Meade 14' LX200R vs Celestron 14' CGE

Hi all, just a question i though i ask. between the 2 scopes mentioned which would first on your most wanted list??

Jonathan,

I can only speak as someone who owns the mount the C14 comes on (CGE). I have not had the opportunity to use Meade's offering.

To answer that question you need to ask yourself what you want to do with it. Why I say that is that forgetting about the telescope for a moment, the two mounts are very different. If you plan on doing any long exposure photography, the equatorial mount on the C14 would be preferable as fork mounts need a wedge and that can cause stability issues. If not then its no odds really. I know the accuracy of the CGE mount is A1, I would be very surprised if the Meade mount is not comparable. I can vouch for the CGE mount, I'm sure someone who has the Meade mount will chip in with a similar opinion?

Now to the tube assemblies. The Meade is a modified Richie Chretien and the C14 is a classic SCT. I know the quality of the celestron optics are very good. Again I'd be very surprised if Meade's are not also top notch.

The focal ratios are very similar f/10 (meade) f/11 (celestron) so no really issue there. Otherwise they would both offer similar functionality.

All else being equal, I'd have to say the decision would come down to price. I really have no idea of how much they differ. Have you checked this?

Whatever you decide, you have one hell of a scope. Good luck with the decision.

I pondered and pondered and pondered the exact same question at the start of 07. etc etc

Came down to the fact that the RCX is electric this and electric that - too much for me if it shut down - coupled with the fact that Meade are a long ways away. Cloudy nights have great debates on this.

Anyway I did a deal with AI for the CGE 14 - 3 months ago - waited the period I was told and arrived when they said it would. Have to say Carl and he team were great and I appreciated continuing the Celestron route (been there before though). I know AI get knocked on this forum but I spend quite a lot of money and I can only say -- well spent

Great scope, great aperture, solid mount ---- ok I have to add the dew heater and collimate the dam thing but there ya be..................

Jonathan --

I'm not a fan of mass-market fork mounts with big aperture. They work fairly well at 8" and 10", and (in my experience) fairly poorly at 14" and 16". With that much weight they really need either thrust bearings or taper bearings on the RA axis (particularly when mounted on a wedge), which niether Celestron nor Meade use.

So, I'd go with a GEM underneath whatever you get. I understand the CGE is a pretty good mount for the money, and would perform well visually with either a 14" LX200R OTA or C14 on it. If you plan on imaging, then I think you'd find it under-mounted (the Meade more-so than the Celestron as it weighs more).

Personally, I'm an over-mounting advocate, even for visual. I'd plunk for an NJP, AP900 or 1200, and then mount whatever I could afford on it (probably a C8 to get near the CGE14 price). But this would stretch the finances a bit more as just the mount is going to run slightly more (to significantly more) than an entire CGE14 or LX200R setup.

-- Jeff.