Meade LX65 6″ Review: Faulty Mount
LX65 6” is a sad story.
6.5
- Perfect Optical Design
- Metal Motors
- Second Telescope Slot
- Auto-Tracking
- GoTo Capabilities
- Portable
- Unreliable Build
- Poor Customer Service
- Lacks Upgrade Options
- Expensive
Review
Meade has created the LX65 line up as a competitor for the NexStar Series of Celestron. It could have been a good spectacle if Meade didn’t screw up the production.
Although Meade LX65 6″ has firm basics, the build quality of the mount is unreliable. It occasionally breaks down, the aux ports are reversed in some models, and to make things even worse, the customer service is unresponsive.
As a result, Meade LX65 6″ is not recommended. It is not a “poor buy”, but you would be better off with a NexStar 6SE.
Optics
8
150mm(6″) Aperture
1800mm Focal Length
f/12
Planetary Performer
The optical quality is a complete different story than the mount. The optics are perfect.
The aperture is 150mm(6″), and the optical length is 1800mm, which provides an f/12 focal ratio.
As a result, the field view is exceptionally narrow.
Planetary performance is phenomenal, but deep space performance is lacking. You may think this is a downside, but there are two ways to improve the deep space performance. A focal reducer, or the second slot on the mount.
The field view is narrow.
Solutions for the Deep Space Performance
A focal reducer will solve the problem completely by widening the field view. Meade and Celestron sell these stuff for around 70$-80$.
You can also use the second slot on the mount for a deep space telescope, such as a short refractor. If you align these two scopes, you will get both a narrow and a wide view of the object. This a smart design choice by Meade and is the only reason that may convince someone to get the LX65 6″.
Planetary Performance
The 6″ aperture is enough for most of the Solar System. Jupiter’s cloud and its Galilean Moon’s, Ring’s of Saturn and its moons, Mars and Venus are the main targets to observe. Mars will show some amount of surface detail, and Venus’ phases are observable.
The Lunar surface looks mesmerizing, as you would expect from a Maksutov-Cassegrain.
With auto-tracking, the planetary observations are much better.
Mount
6
Metal Motors
Sturdy Build
Prone to Error
Second Slot
Meade’s customer service is slow and unresponsive.
The mount of Meade LX65 6″ is actually made up of high-quality parts. Although the outside is plastic, the motors are metal. The connections are sturdy, which is one reason why it can carry an extra lightweight telescope.
But, an automized telescope has to be reliable. If the telescope breaks down, you can’t solve the problem by yourself. You have to send the scope to customer service, and Meade’s customer service is notoriously bad.
For near a 1000$, no one wants to contact customer service all the time.
This is the main problem with Meade LX65 6″.
Reversed AUX Port Problem
Some of the LX65 Models have reversed AUX Port problems. Our LX65 6″ works fine, but if you get such a model and use the AUX Port, it will cook up the mount.
We’ve heard that Meade has solved the problem with the new models, but why should anyone take the risk
SkySafari
SkySafari is pretty much the only choice for controlling the telescope wirelessly, which is an industry-standard at the moment. Everyone seems to be using SkySafari since it is capable and reliable, so I haven’t got any complaints about the software.
Other than that, you are bound to the hand controller that comes with the telescope, which is 30-year-old tech.
Accessories
7
26mm Plössl Eyepiece
Red Dot Finder
1.25″ Metal Focuser
1.25″ Diagonal
The accessories that come with Meade LX65 6″ are not worth mentioning. There is a standard 26mm Plössl eyepiece and a red dot finder. These are mediocre accessories and are only included so that you can do some observing out of the box.
Unfortunately, you need to spend a lot on accessories to get the complete potential out of the optical tube.
LX65 6" Lacks Upgrade Choices
One of the main reasons why Celestron’s NexStar 6SE Series is a better choice is its StarSense,
WiFi and astrophotography upgrades.
Meade LX65 6″ doesn’t have a large user base; as a result, Meade doesn’t produce upgrades for this series.
Although these upgrades aren’t cheap, the improve the quality of observations by a lot.
Drawbacks
Poor Customer Service
Subpar Build Quality
Lacks Upgrades
The main problem is the unreliable build quality and Meade’s subpar customer service. If the mount didn’t have production problems and the customer service was a little better, it would make a huge difference.
The second problem is the lack of upgrade choices. Celestron has a large customer base; therefore, they have more upgrades available for their telescopes. It is as simple as that.
Conclusion
Meade LX65 6″ has a few problems, but they are major ones. The optics are perfect, and the SkySafari software works well. But I wouldn’t go for a risky telescope that cannot be upgraded with the latest tech.