Best mount for astrophotography - midrange

[Helo]

Hi all; Thinking of getting some new gear to mount on a pier in my dome mainly for astrophotography. I am thinking along the lines of the new Skywatcher EQ8 vs. Losmandy G11. What do you think and is there another contender? Anyone have an opinion on the mount of the CGE Pro 1100 Edge HD in comparison? Thx for any help or opinions.

[rmuhlack]

this might be helpful: http://www.iceinspace.com.au/forum/showthread.php?t=90263&highlight=astrophotography+mount+re view

[Helo]

Thx Richard, very helpful indeed. Now I have to decide how much I am willing to spend!

[strongmanmike]

Hi Peter

This might be worth considering..?

http://www.iceinspace.com.au/forum/showthread.php?t=105039

Good luck

Mike

[el_draco]

If you are looking for a good mount for a C11, then a G11 is an excellent choice....., provided you are prepared to learn it in detail. The mount has many excellent features but needs periodic adjustment and that includes the software. I had an eq 6 and upgraded to G11. The EQ 8 may be a different beast but there were serrious issues with EQ 6 that required considerable physical reworking to fix including the alignment setup. G11's are precision made on every level and beautiful to look at.

Gemini II is new and still has some issues but will pay back with time. Until recently, G11 was considered a superior mount and I still think it is. I recently sold mine but missed it so much... I just bought it back! Finish is exceptional and performance is legendary. They are also obscenely cheap at the moment and can be picked up for around 3k with GII

I just had a look at this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fd95pnNOMcQ
Looks tacky compared to a G11. IMO

[White Rabbit]

Here is the other side of the above post. I've just bought a brand new G11 with Gemini II. I'm less than impressed.

I agree that this could be an amazing mount and the GII still has a lot of bugs but will work it's self out in time. I never knew I was going to become a beta tester, but that seems to be the case at the moment when you buy a GII. Like I said though these will work themselves out and it will be a great system when it's completed. It's very functional at the moment, dont get me wrong.

The mount on the other hand....I've polar aligned to 2 arc mins in both axis and my alt scale is 3.5 degree off. How hard can it be to get that right. My periodic error on this mount is 35 peak to peak. I couldn't believe it when I saw it, with pec training I get the PE down to 11, I'm gutted.

If i were going to get a G11, I'd get one second hand and ask to have the PE measured pre and post training.

I'm burning at the moment, so take that into mind when you read my post. And the may well be issues at play here with my mount that are easily rectified, time will tell.

I'm a little pissed.

[toc]

On cloudy nights there was a long thread about the G11.

http://www.cloudynights.com/ubbthreads/showflat.php/Cat/0/Number/5628487/page/11/view/collapsed/sb/5/o/all/fpart/1/vc/1
If I had just paid $4500 I wouldn't be all that impressed with that...

[nobbygon]

Very happy with my NEQ6. I haven't had a single issue with it since I got it about 3 years ago. My PE is 16 peak to peak before PEC which I thought was amazing. I've been told that 16 is pretty good but not too far in front of the average PE for this mount.

I run it using EQMOD which in my opinion is the best way to go.

I am very interested to see how the EQ8 goes. Obviously there will be teething problems but how bad they are are yet to be seen. Looks great spec wise on paper for 4.5k. Definitely worth looking into.

[LightningNZ]

I'm surprised anyone cares about the looks of the EQ8 compared to the G11. The EQ8 is clearly utilitarian but damn, look at those 8" worm wheels! As long as they haven't skipped on the bearings then it should be an amazingly capable mounting - dual encoders on each axis too!

-Cam

[toc]

Where? Cheapest Ive seen is $4300 at Bintel.

[Helo]

Thanks Mike; As most seem to suggest that your gear should be only up to 50% of the max weight for a mount, this would seem to be too small. The Takahashi EM 200 carries up to 18kg and the C11 without any guidescopes, cameras or any other gear is already 12kg . I would therefore think I need something that can carry about 30kg or more, perhaps I need to be going up in models like the EM400, Titan, Paramount Mx, ??. Still analysing :question:

Thx, Peter

[Starblazer99]

IM more than happy with my CGE PRO with a EDGE HD 14, Moonlight focuser, edge HD focal reducer, sbig glider, sbig 850M ,alloy due shield, red dot finder, and the three counter weights can still balance it.

[Geoff45]

I've not had any experience with a G11, but I have a 6 year old G8. Based on my experience with this mount I would not recommend a Losmandy mount. Yes, you can fiddle and tinker and get the thing working fine, but then next time you go out, guiding is all over the place. The inconsistency was the big bug; I could never be sure when starting an imaging session whether I was going to be elated or frustrated.
Geoff

[strongmanmike]

Perhaps but those mounts are outside your brief..? Tak mounts are well known to be engineered somewhat beyond their claimed capacities, I know my NJP (http://www.pbase.com/strongmanmike2002/image/141334127/original) is :)... besides you have 6kg to play with there :shrug: that's quite a substantial guide scope and camera...?

Mike

[brian nordstrom]

My old club back in NZ has a C14 above a Titan , and after a few teething problems it has proven to be a good solid mount , so a G11 under a C11 sounds nice .
And as already said here the machining and worksman ship of the Losmandy's is top knotch gear .
I have an Ioptron IEQ45 and it carries my Tak M210 easily so have a look at one of these , as a C11 aint much heavier then my Tak M210 , same physical dimentions , almost .
Brian

[Alchemy]

My g11 performs flawlessly, however reports of them being a little hit and miss have been around for years, you used to be able to buy the high precision worm to improve the accuracy, but mine worked fine out of the box ( bought new)

[White Rabbit]

Thought I should chime back in as my position has possibly changed. After much tweaking in pempro and phd I have the mount guiding very well. If you look at the graph over 500 you can still see a harmonic in the Ra drive that doesn't seem to want guide out, but at my local seeing and focal length it doesn't seem to have a negative effect.

A bit happier now.

[alocky]

And another +1 for the G11.
I've mostly been using it a focal lengths of 530mm, but have just started with 1100mm and a fairly heavy old 10" Starfinder OTA. The G11 - although I have the simpler digital drive has worked without an issue since I bought it 2.5 years ago.
Images taken with G11 out of box and no tinkering.
www.astrobin.com/users/alocky
Cheers,
Andrew.

[Manav]

Hi Mate - I ended up ordering mine through Telescopes and Astronomy. Matthew indicated he is happy to install the high precision worm block and check the peak to peak PE and make sure it meets the Losmandy standards.

Whats the PEC for you post tweaking? Do you know what the issue was? Are you on the original worm block?

Good to see you are happy with it..

Regards

[Logieberra]

If you can stetch it the AP Mach1 is a superb performer. Will carry more than G11 as it uses oversided motors, same as 900GTO I think. Re PE woes on G11, with factory installed PEC at AP this will a sure performer and error in a different class all together.