AP1600GTO Initial Impression

[niharika]

I have the mount for a year now and wanted to share what I found so far. I have the mount with out the absolute encoder.

What I Like

The mount just works and the build quality is exceptional. Integrates seamlessly and has a easy to follow documentation. Professionally packed and once you open the box you will find every single item packed securely.
Manageable once broken down and I would say it’s portable.
Low smooth Peak to peak PE before correction. Mine is about 4 peak to peak and .5 after PEC.
Backlash can be adjusted very precisely. The process is as simple as loosening three bolt and re-tightening them
Optional absolute encoder option in RA, DEC or both and user can install them without the need of sending the mount back to the factory.
Optional mechanical homing switch option at the time of order (Absolute encoder on both axis makes it redundant in my opinion)
RA & DEC can be locked without fearing that you may ruin the clutch system (AP1200 users had to be careful)
Upcoming APCC will allow advanced things like building pointing model; RA& DEC drift compensation and many more.
Key pad is very user friendly.
Azimuth & Altitude adjustment is smoother compared to AP1200.
Altitude adjustment block to set up the initial range has been simplified compared to AP1200.

What I Don't Like
Through the mount cable opening mainly on the DEC end is tight. Any cable that has big head like serial cable will require you to dismantle the scope and run the cable. Normal cables are OKand if you left a flexi rope you can just pull a new cable through the mount without the need of taking off the scope.
Azimuth polar adjustment is not 360 degree. If you are setting up as portable you need to be careful.

WATCH OUT

DON’T forget to detach the internal cable before detaching RA & DEC axis. There are warning labels in the right places but you still need to be careful


RA & DEC does not have marking rings similar to AP1200

[stevous67]

Don't forget the faultless meridian flip capability.

Steve

[g__day]

What do you find its all sky pointing ability to be? Is it better than 10 arc seconds?

How accurate does say Tpoint tell you it can point and therefore track (presuming tracking is just real time pointing)?

Cheers,

Matt

[niharika]

Hi Matt, I don't use TPoint so I can't provide the details at this stage, but with my setup pointing accuracy is very very close after plate solving on the same side of pier.

I am currently doing the beta testing for the APCC & APPM from AP, which will very much serve the purpose of Tpoint & ProTrack plus some other features. Weather permitting I will have the figures available in few weeks time on all sky pointing accuracy & unguided tracking on different parts of the sky.

Meantime I am attaching few images of PE before correction & After correction and guiding performance on a stable night.

PE train & check was done at 1.6 arc/sec & guiding at 2.8arc/sec.

[Logieberra]

Niha, that uncorrected curve is very smooth. Is that what they refer to as a '1 x fundamental'? Looks smooth easy to guide out.

And is that your corrected log @ 0.21 arc sec per pixel? Crazy low. Are you sure you're not using encoders? ;)

[Peter Ward]

What? You expected a different result ??? ;)

[Logieberra]

Going by actual PemPro results here, 0.21 seems quite low: http://www.ccdware.com/products/pempro/examples.cfm

Mind you, the AP mounts listed by Ray are not the current generation. The 900 and 1200 have been phased out - replaced by the 1100 and 1600 respectively. But essentially the same main gear/worm/motor design I think? I'm no expert here... :)

***4. Count refers to the number of mounts in the sample.

[niharika]

Hi Logan,
My focal length is not long and seeing is not great. So I don't think the corrected remaining PE of .21 is 100% accurate. But i am sure that its close because whenever I checked it was in the .2 - .35 range.

Yes that is the 1x fundamental. I have seen reports of people getting <2 uncorrected PE where mine is on the higher end but as long as its smooth and PEC can take care of it I am happy.

Regards
Raki

[Peter Ward]

AP make simply excellent mounts. (and 'scopes :D )

Web "test" data is often less that authoritative...regardless of the source.

I'm sure it will serve you well

Just use it and enjoy :thumbsup:

[niharika]

My previous AP1200 before correction was about 3 and after correction about .7 by the time I sold it. In my opinion PE smooths out over time and you probably get the biggest drop in first year or two.

[gregbradley]

Nice review. Thanks for posting. AP have the best reputation in the business and I would personally trust Roland Christen above anyone else in this industry.

Greg.

[Logieberra]

Here here. I'm very excited. I opted for 1600 too.

Thanks for your review Raki. Got any pretty pics of your nice setup to share? ;)

[niharika]

I can feel the excitement! Something I should mention here assuming you are permanently setup... you should enjoy the feel of the mount while unpacking and initial setup process because once that's done the mount will disappear in the background and you will miss it.

As Greg mentioned, support from AP is great. You can only measure that once something goes wrong to be honest. With my AP1200 which I bought second hand, I was getting a small amount of error from the worm gear. AP was contactable through email & over phone and sent me a replacement Worm gear after inspecting the PE log with in a week.

I believe their gear box design is one of the simplest to maintain over time by the end user.

Anyway here are some pictures including a selfie!

[PRejto]

Ha ha, I put up a picture of my scope at Cloudy Nights, so this quip is not original. I too had the dew shield of my TEC140 rotated so the writing was upside down.

"What is that, the Southern Hemisphere" version?"

Peter

PS I'll gladly trade scopes with you! The writing on mine is now correctly oriented.

[niharika]

:lol:

[Logieberra]

Great pics. Thanks Raki.

I looked into the homing/limit switch option. Advice from AP is that they are producing kits for a very simple, straightforward home user install. After very repeatable homing on the MX, I'd hate to lose that feature!

P.S. I hope our little guy takes an interest in the hobby as well :)