Review of the Meade 8' LX90 Schmidt-Cassegrain Telescope

Note/Update: Feb 2024. Since this video appeared in 2021, I've gotten a semi-steady stream of comments from LX90 owners telling me this review is too positive. Owners complain about pointing accuracy, reliability, and the steadiness of the fork mount, which is a lighter duty version of the LX200 fork mount. Everyone hates the audio feature. Whatever you do, do not buy a 12" LX90. Perhaps an updated review is in order.

Do you have one of these? Is your experience different than mine? If so, is it better, or worse?

According to Meade, the AudioStar Controller #07640 is compatable with the StarNavigator, ETX, LT, LX80, LX90, and LXD75 series telescopes

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Thanks for watching!

[robertaderholdt]

I own a 10 inch lx90 and you can fine tune the slew by just centering the object and pressing enter. The telescope becomes more accurate the more objects you do this with.

[tomdavis]

As a newbie to the hobby of astronomy, I always find you videos excellent. Whether you’re talking about an item that I am considering to purchase or not, I always gain some great knowledge to help me become more competent in my skills. You are an excellent teacher, friend!

[justinvernal]

One of the best produced content creator's out there ✌🇺🇸

[rishigaming]

I just got a 10 inch yesterday! It’s great, but pretty big!

[atjous]

Hi Ed,
Thanks for this excellent review. I own an 8” version of this telescope myself, and it has given me nothing but pleasure.
Excellent, just EXCELLENT views of the night skies, especially with 2” eyepieces (FL 28 and 35 mm).
About aligning: I take my time with that, using a bubble level. I use that for levelling the tripod very carefully (90º angles), next I use it after aligning the tube due North. First, I loosen the knob and the lever on the mount and make sure it is pointed exactly at Polaris. Then I fix the bottom lever; next, I place the tube exactly level and tie the right knob. Then I start up the whole thing. Working with that routine, I never had any aligning troubles. First alignment star is always (almost) dead center, and the second one always is.
[After the major GPS overhaul, I turned the GPS unit off; I simply set date, time and location manually, because I am too lazy to have my Autostar updated. That’s entirely me.]

[leewolfson]

I inherited a Meade 8" SCT many years ago missing a lot of parts and incredibly filthy. My local telescope store said it could easily be made usable, but they said they would take it as a trade in toward another used scope that had just come in. It was an old 10" LX50. It served me very well for 8 years. The optics were great and despite the abuse I subjected it to, not knowing the correct way to maintain such a scope, it provided great viewing and surprisingly, never required collimation in those 8 years. It was moved around to schools and on vacations and was a wonderful entry into the larger SCT's. I sold it for a nice price and bought a Celestron C-11 on a CGEM, which has been considerably more problematic, requiring frequent collimation, and needing upgrades to things like the focuser. My latest travail is now needing to get new encoders for the mount which gave up the ghost a few weeks ago. The ability to find faint objects and do AP is the big improvement in the hobby for me, but I miss the optics and ruggedness of my old LX50.
'

[yf]

I’m still using my old LX90 EMC from the 2005. :). Great review.

[alfindigo]

My first real telescope was an LX90 8” just after they were announced. I’ve had many scopes since then, Dobs, a 9.25 Celestron and 8” LX200 and a 10” LX200 as well as a few others, my main scope now is another 8” LX90, but a later ACF version from 2015. This is by far my favourite.

[FactsNotPropoganda]

Thank you for this review! I have been wanting to try one of these for some time. I’m pretty experienced with Dobsonians, but think I’d enjoy the “go to” function. This review really helped! Grateful for all your content!

[ronboe]

For my causal use, the SCT seems to get the most use. My "larger" refractors simply have too much weight on each end making for great tuning forks, and fun getting in and out of the patio door. The SCT's don't suffer from that. Even the dob gets ignored. Funny how that worked out.

[davidrichardson]

Great job Ed. Love the fact that you included your favorite EPs. I am so glad that you are doing these videos, while I have always enjoyed your written work, the videos bring a new dimension to your teachings. Thanks for sharing.

[myfishingadventures]

You have to do more of this style of videos I love them!!

[decibellone]

This guy gets me... ive always used in my life a nice f/4 reflector, however i just inhearted one of these... and jack of all trades works for me. thanks for the vid!

[MrBebopbob]

Hi Ed. Thanks for your many helpful videos. As a (thankful) former owner of an 8" LX90, I couldn't help but giving your viewers an "owners" viewpoint. After 11 months and 3 significant mount issues (including sending the unit back on day 2 for 7 weeks). First the good: The optics are fabulous. And the bad: The mount was a problem from day 2. Tracking for small ROI planetary imaging was like a very stressful video game, requiring constant adjustment to keep Jupiter in the field of view. After 11 months of problems, my vendor (Highpoint Sci) offered to replace this problem child with the scope/mount of my choosing. I chose a Feldstein SCT with an AVX GEM mount. This mount has been nothing but fun (especially considering it is under powered for my SCT). I will never buy another telescope/mount system which requires shipment of the delicate optics to fix deficiencies in the mount. Respectfully, Bob.

[briandenley]

Fairly new Evolution 8 owner just north of Boston. Glad I found your videos Ed. Thanks!

[GarnettLeary]

The SC is the only telescope that might sway me from my Maksutov. I love your reviews. Thanks for sharing your thoughts.

[ohwell]

Just found your channel 1/15/2021 and like the humor and straight forward way you present your information.

[tonyzazzaro]

These videos are so helpful. I purchased a L90GPS on Facebook. WOW what a scope

[martinlagrange]

That, and the LX90 solved the 'LX200 Tangle' and 'LX200 Dance' which affected that model of telescope - the first-hand experience I had of a series-1 12" LX200 many years ago...

[FM-usrd]

I have an LX90 I bought before the UHTC coatings were available. I believe this scope is approximately 15-17 years old, and its been fantastic. The only problem I had is recent were the autostar controller 497 failed. Unfortunately due to supply chain issues the controller is not available, but Meade believes they will be available by March of 2022. But this scope is incredible, period. Great review...