I'll second Don and Cliff's comments. My LX200 was also about 6 months past
warranty and John Piper supplied the fix it kit at no charge. I will note
that I had contacted them several months earlier about the same problem.
The turn around time was excellent. I would recommend that you contact
Meade as soon as you notice a problem. My experience has been good.

-----Original Message-----
Cliff PETERSON
Sent: Wednesday, February 03, 1999 9:01 AM
Subject: Re: [M]: Fix Kit


Don, let me go you one better. My scope was 18 month "out of" warranty
and developed problems. John Piper was equally responsive and supplied
the Fix Kit at no charge. There has, in the past, been some that
criticize Meade's service but I can only give thanks for service that
well beyond the call of duty. I can't say if this was typical of their
service because I just don't know but I personally would have a
difficult time faulting them.

Cliff Peterson

I wanted to pass along to the group my recent experience with Meade
Tech
Support. I had noticed a 'chatter' in the dec motor on my 10" LX200
and
decided to contact John Piper at Meade. I left a voice message for
John, he
promptly returned my call to discuss the problem. He offered to
send me
the Meade repair kit with both motors and the motherboard. As the
LX200 is
still in warranty all that was needed was a fax with my purchase
receipt and
the serial number of the telescope. (BTW Meade does ask for a credit
card
number to cover the cost of the parts if not returned.)

I received the parts replacement kit yesterday via UPS 2nd Day Air.
With
assistance from a co-worker with technical and electronic experience,
we
replaced all components. Meade supplied a detailed specification
sheet,
actually four (4) pages and very easy to follow step by step
instructions.
Installation took about two hours, the second set of hands and eyes
paid off
as we found a pair of resistors on the board that were touching
heavily and
would have caused severe damage had they gone unnoticed. We found
no
evidence of damage on either of the gears, I've not closely inspected
the
worm gears on the motors as of yet.

The LX now operates smoothly, I still have to re-input my coordinates
and
reset the time, but the big scope operates as it did when first
received 11
months ago.

The amazing thing is how small those motors are. How can something
that
small crank out that much noise?

I'll be sure to contact John Piper upon returning the parts and thank
him
for the excellent support. Thanks Meade for a great instrument and
personal
service.

Regards,
Don Holcombe
Katy, TX
LX200 Website
http://www.flash.net/~donholco/index.html

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