Here is my largest-aperture (my 12" LX200GPS is bigger in size and weight) and probably most used telescope. A talented local ATMer (who, I believe, does not desire fame) made this 16" out of his Meade Lightbridge to transport in a car that is even smaller than mine. He later moved up in aperture and passed it down to me for an agreeable sum. The upper cage is traditional, the mirror box and the rocker box are extremely low-profile but by no means lightweight. The 8 trusses are 1.25" Moonlite. Everything else is original Meade. The f/4.5 optics are fine (sub-arcsec when the conditions allow).
The motions are predictable, no balancing is ever needed, and it withstands fairly stiff winds. I can remain perched on my adjustable chair with one foot on the ground even when observing near zenith, and there is no appreciable dead zone around zenith. On the flip side I should mention that when set up on a level surface I cannot go lower than M83 at culmination (15 degrees?), and the motions are not what Dob aficionados call "buttery smooth".
It may have been to our remote dark site 50 times already in my hands alone and I had to replace more than one Moonlite truss block, but the main structure seems to be doing fine even though it may live in the trunk for months on end. The picture was made by the original owner. I don't do deep sky from home and hardly ever see the scope assembled in daylight.
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