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The 12" Lx200 is too heave and bulky for the average user to transport regularly.
First, it is nothing like moving a 50 lb. bag of dog food. It's 70+ lbs and a lot bulkier and harder to carry.
Second, it was designed for two people to mount and dismount. That's why it has four handles, not two. It's designed to be lifted by one person on each fork.
Third, if women cannot handle it, neither can older people, smaller people, etc.
Fourth, it does not fit properly in the trunk or backseat of any but a few cars. To be properly stored, the scope should be inside the foam it shipped with. The scope should not be transported in the bed of a truck or the trunk of a car, where vibrations are pronounced. I have to remove my 10" scope from its foam and set it on the backseat of my Chevy Impala -- a full size, four door car. That's not ideal, either. It would be better if it rode inside the foam, but that won't fit.
Transporting the scope of a handcart is a VERY bad idea. Even if the cart has pneumatic tires, when you roll the scope over door thresholds, sidewalks, driveways, and/or broken ground, you are subjecting the scope to a lot of vibration, and that vibration is centered right where the scope is vulnerable -- at the base, where you have the motors and gears that control pointing and tracking. Packing blankets do virtually nothing to protect the scope from that vibration.
If you need to move the scope, you should carry it. The fact that you need a handcart to move it is prima facie evidence that even you find the scope too heavy and bulky to comfortably carry alone.
Please, don;t mislead people into believing the 12" LX200 GPS is properly manageable by the average person alone. It isn't.
If anyone needs more convicing, just call Astronomics or OPT and ask if they ever get 12" scopes back because the buyer finds they're too much to handle alone. You'll get a quick, "Yes!"
Mitch
Glenn E. Mitchell II, Ph.D. (aka Mitch)
10" f/10 Meade LX-200 GPS (Big Blue) s/n 01088
Supercharged at ASO by Dr. Clay Sherrod, # 2314-2010
N 30° 30' 49.2" / W 084° 20' 13.8"
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