Sky and Telescope - December 2016 - 58

S & T Test Report

Tony Flanders

Meade's
LightBridge Mini Series
Small, light, and easy to use,
these scopes provide great value
for their very low cost.

ALL PHOTOS BY S&T: SEAN WALKER

Tabletop telescopes have become very

The author ﬁnds Papa Scope very comfortable to use when it's placed on
a chair. Solid chairs are much easier to ﬁnd than sturdy, portable tables.

Meade LightBridge Mini Speciﬁcations
Mini 82

Mini 114

Mini 130

Aperture

82 mm

114 mm

130 mm

Focal length

300 mm

450 mm

650 mm

f/3.7

f/4.0

f/5.0

3.8 lb (1.7 kg)

10.8 lb (4.9 kg)

13.6 lb (6.2 kg)

Low mag.

12×

17×

25×

Medium mag.

33×

50×

72×

High mag.

67×

-

-

Focal ratio
Weight

58

December 2016 sky & telescope

popular in recent years, and it's easy to see why. Lightweight, compact, inexpensive, and easy to use - what's
not to like? The most recent entry in this ﬁeld is the
LightBridge Mini series, a family of three Newtonian
reﬂectors from Meade Instruments with apertures of 82,
114, and 130 mm.
The word "family" is particularly appropriate in this
case, because when you see all three lined up on a table,
it's hard not to think of them as Papa Scope, Mama
Scope, and Baby Scope. I will refer to them by those
names, which seem more distinctive than Mini 130,
Mini 114, and Mini 82.
At ﬁrst glance, they seem identical except for size,
but diﬀerences emerge on closer inspection. Papa and
Mama have identical mounts, which attach to the optical
tubes using dovetail joints. That allows you to rebalance
the scopes if you use heavy eyepieces. Baby's mount is
much smaller, more lightly built, and attaches to the
tube directly. That also is appropriate. Baby's moment
arm is so short that even a heavy eyepiece exerts little
torque, and few people will want to use heavy, costly
eyepieces with a $59 telescope.
All the scopes use identical red-dot ﬁnders, and they
all have very similar rack-and-pinion focusers. The ﬁnders and focusers are simple and eﬀective, though far
from the highest quality available.
The telescopes arrive fully assembled in their boxes,
except that the red-dot ﬁnders need to be attached. This
is a very welcome feature to beginners, who can use the
scopes within minutes after unpacking them. The only
potential stumbling block is the need to align the ﬁnders
with the main optics.
Mama Scope arrived in perfect collimation, but Papa's
collimation needed to be corrected before it could deliver
good high-power images. Both Mama and Papa have

Sky and Telescope - December 2016

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Sky and Telescope - December 2016

Contents
Sky and Telescope - December 2016 - Cover1
Sky and Telescope - December 2016 - Cover2
Sky and Telescope - December 2016 - 1
Sky and Telescope - December 2016 - Contents
Sky and Telescope - December 2016 - 3
Sky and Telescope - December 2016 - 4
Sky and Telescope - December 2016 - 5
Sky and Telescope - December 2016 - 6
Sky and Telescope - December 2016 - 7
Sky and Telescope - December 2016 - 8
Sky and Telescope - December 2016 - 9
Sky and Telescope - December 2016 - 10
Sky and Telescope - December 2016 - 11
Sky and Telescope - December 2016 - 12
Sky and Telescope - December 2016 - 13
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Sky and Telescope - December 2016 - 16
Sky and Telescope - December 2016 - 17
Sky and Telescope - December 2016 - 18
Sky and Telescope - December 2016 - 19
Sky and Telescope - December 2016 - 20
Sky and Telescope - December 2016 - 21
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Sky and Telescope - December 2016 - 25
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Sky and Telescope - December 2016 - 28
Sky and Telescope - December 2016 - 29
Sky and Telescope - December 2016 - 30
Sky and Telescope - December 2016 - 31
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Sky and Telescope - December 2016 - 33
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Sky and Telescope - December 2016 - 36
Sky and Telescope - December 2016 - 37
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Sky and Telescope - December 2016 - 40
Sky and Telescope - December 2016 - 41
Sky and Telescope - December 2016 - 42
Sky and Telescope - December 2016 - 43
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Sky and Telescope - December 2016 - 45
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Sky and Telescope - December 2016 - 47
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Sky and Telescope - December 2016 - 49
Sky and Telescope - December 2016 - 50
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Sky and Telescope - December 2016 - 53
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Sky and Telescope - December 2016 - 55
Sky and Telescope - December 2016 - 56
Sky and Telescope - December 2016 - 57
Sky and Telescope - December 2016 - 58
Sky and Telescope - December 2016 - 59
Sky and Telescope - December 2016 - 60
Sky and Telescope - December 2016 - 61
Sky and Telescope - December 2016 - 62
Sky and Telescope - December 2016 - 63
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Sky and Telescope - December 2016 - 84
Sky and Telescope - December 2016 - Cover3
Sky and Telescope - December 2016 - Cover4
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