>I have been trying to understand the nature of all of the GOTO accuracy
>problem discussed in this group, but one aspect does not seem to be
>discussed.
>
>Is the poor GOTO accuracy a gradual failure or a sudden failure?
>
>If it is gradual ( mechanical ear, circuit aging, etc. ) then monitoring a
>given movement on my telescope over time would show the development of the
>poor accuracy and, therefore, also anticipate problems.
>
>If the poor GOTO is a sudden failure ( circuit or sensor failure ), then
>not
>much warning can be obtained from a given telescope. But, if everyone
>contributed their failure rate then we could then begin to expect that
>after
>X hours of observing that action needs to be taken.
>
>So, is the poor GOTO accuracy a wear/aging problem or a failure induced
>problem?

First let me state that my post here will be mostly opinion, but I think
defendable for the most part.

As near as I can tell, most GOTO accuracy issues are right out of the box.
I can say for certainty that mine was that way. Out of the box my GOTO
accuracy was flat out rotten. I was faced with the option of sending the
unit back to Meade, returning it to my dealer, or finding the problem
myself. I chose the later. Turns out there were a couple of not quite
tight screws on my OTA, and during shipment the OTA had slipped out of
alignment with the mount. I corrected it and now the GOTO is awesome.

Most aging related complaints seem to be more of the nature of run away Dec
drives, failing electronics, stripped gears etc. I have not seen (in my
admittedly short time on this list) anyone complain that their scope used to
be accurate, but then, due to aging, it became inaccurate. Naturally, if it
is not completing a GOTO because of a failure that could be called a GOTO
inaccuracy, but I do not think that is what you meant with your question.

Anyway, although you hear a lot of people complaining about poor GOTO
accuracy, you also hear few people saying how good it is on other LX200
scopes. As I look at the accuracy that my scope displays since I corrected
the alignment I have to think that the vast majority of the scopes out there
are very accurate, but we are hearing from a very vocal minority about GOTO
accuracy. This minority included me until I found out what the issue was
with my 10" f10. If mine ever slips again, and I can't find the problem
pretty quickly, I can probably be counted as a returny to that group.. :)

Also, I suspect that the average user on this list is probably a bit more
discriminating then the average purchaser of the scope in general. I say
this based on the effort I see a lot of these people put into astrophoto
work, astro related web page work, and general information developed by the
group about this scope. I know several local LX200 users, not members of
this list. Of the five other local LX200's I have examined, all would put a
commanded object in the FOV after an accurate 2 star alignment. Four of
them were very good, one had a tendency to be off by a bit, but still in the
FOV. The owner of this scope thought his scope was just great, the small
errors that each GOTO showed just were not an issue for the owner.

Darrell
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