LX90 or LX85, Which Telescope is Right for Me?
If you're wondering which type of telescope to get — an LX85 with its dedicated equatorial GoTo mount or a telescope supported by an Alt/Az fork mount such as one of the Meade LX90 GoTo models, the answer comes down to how you plan to use it. If your main interest is deep-sky astrophotography, the equatorially mounted LX85 is the way to go. Tracking and guiding the long exposures needed to capture faint objects requires an equatorial mount that is precisely polar aligned. But if your primary interest lies mostly in visual pursuits — observing objects rather than photographing them — then the fork mounted LX90 is a better choice: it is simpler, doesn't involve counterweights, and doesn't require critical polar alignment.

Mind you, either type of mount can be used for both astrophotography and observing. It's just that each mount type is better suited to one or the other. For instance, you can do deep-sky astrophotography with an Alt/Az fork mount if you add an "equatorial wedge" to essentially convert it to an equatorial mount. Without the wedge, images will exhibit "field rotation," in which stars toward the periphery appear as arcs rather than pinpoints. But polar alignment will be more precise with the LX85 because it accommodates an optional polar scope, which the LX90 does not. The polar scope is extremely helpful for dialing in the pinpoint alignment needed for deep-sky astrophotography.

Meade LX85 Telescopes