Bill,

> This is a general rant certainly not directed at you.

Not taken personally at all. :-)

IMO, the Meade ads *are* deceptive in their claims for the accuracy of the
LX200's. One only needs to read the lengthy dissertations and "fixes" here
on MAPUG to learn that all LX's are not created equal when it comes to
pointing accuracy, and some are downright bad out of the box. But most are,
for visual work, "good enough" to get the objects in the FOV _somewhere_
using a "casual" (two star known site) alignment. My pointing accuracy
improved dramatically after switching to a reticle eyepiece and altering the
way I chose my alignment stars - things I learned here on MAPUG that are
mentioned nowhere or only briefly in the Meade literature.

> So IMHO I feel the advertised 2 min accuracy is very important and I am most
> disappointed that it was not provided right out of the box. In addition I
> am shocked that there is no shop manual available with instructions showing
> how to make the adjustments necessary to achieve the advertised accuracy.

You can certainly try voicing your complaint about the pointing accuracy to
Meade - I'm not sure how far you'll get with it, but better to voice it now
whilst under warranty rather than having to deal with it when it might not
be covered. From all I have seen posted here lately, the general consensus
is that QA at Meade is in the toilet, though it may be on the upswing. I
don't have the number, but I'd suggest calling Meade and get the contact
info for the head of QA or manufacturing and send a letter to them voicing
your concerns with your scope.

And despite cries for one, I would doubt that we'll ever see a genuine shop
manual for the LX200's - most parts in them fall outside what manufacturers
consider "user-serviceable".

Best,
-Doug

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