Is it really over two years since I bought my LX90? I guess so - it's now May 2003, and I bought it in February 2001. I should have put this page up ages ago! One of the first in the UK, pre tested by Sinden Optics who supplied it, and never a problem. Well that's not strictly true - the DEC axis motor was loose and I had to puzzle out for myself how to remove the side cheek to get at it. I was probably the first to do this, but many people have since found it necessary.

I previously was really quite happy with my Celestron C8. It had a wedge, programmable Periodic Error Correction (but had to be reprogrammed every session, so I never bothered to try it out, not being into long exposure imaging at that time) and good optics. I was considering fitting digital setting circles to help my minimal star hopping skills, very limited by my badly polluted skies. But when my friend Paul bought his LX90 and I saw the way it found and locked on to objects, I was sold! As was my C8.

Although lacking Periodic Error Correction, the telescope works well for shortish (up to a minute or so) CCD astrophotography exposures at prime (Cassegrain) focus, and longer for focally reduced or piggyback imaging as can be seen from my images pages. It also can be automatically guided when fitted with an APM (Accessory Port Module) from Meade , but this is not always successful due to sudden jumps in the periodic error. The Autostar GOTO system is a pleasure to use, and with the High Precision pointing option almost always places the target on a CCD chip. NOTE: Periodic Error Correction is now available in the latest versions of the Autostar firmware. (Summer 2004)

Unlike my C8, the LX90 is supplied as an Alt-Az instrument - i.e. without an equatorial wedge. Rather than buy the Meade unit which at that time was not readily available I made a fixed angle one from 18 mm (3/4") plywood with steel stiffeners. It actually works very well, being at least as stable as the C8 unit, and better damped due to the plywood construction. Construction details are available on this web site - download the zip file here. As for my C8, I also made dew heaters which have performed flawlessly since they were fitted.

 A talented lady engineer 'Jan' produced a web site with many details on servicing and repairing the LX90. Eventually it ended up in an archive, but is still available here for anyone who needs to work on their telescope.