Meade 2D Counterweight System

Meade 2D Counterweight System

I Purchased the Meade 2D Counterweight System for use in astrophotography and counterbalancing piggybacked cameras and equipment. I figured that the 6 pounds of weights that came with the system would be enough to balance out anything that I was going to mount on the scope. It worked reasonably well until I added a dewshield to the front of the scope. Then I realized that the lack of the ability to move the weight away from the OTA would be a handicap of this design. With the metal dew shield on the 8" Meade LX200 Classic, it took quite a bit of the weights to balance out just  the shield. Once a camera was placed on the Meade Piggyback adapter on the rear cell assembly of the scope, there was simply not enough weight to leverage out the added camera on top. However, if you are using the shield and add a camera or CCD system at prime focus of the LX200, the Meade 2D counterweights should do a good job for you.

The weights hold securely using the knurled knobs, and I never had a problem with movement.  However, I did have to replace one of the endcap screws due to the sticky fingers of someone at our local astronomy club picnic. I cannot say that there is anything wrong with this system as long as you do not need to balance out any medium to heavy load. If you plan on stacking any amount of add ons to the scope, I would seriously consider a 3D system.

Mike Overacker