G11 vs EQ8

[Stefan12]

Hi,

I'm looking at purchasing a new equatorial mount. I've narrowed down my choices to the Losmandy G11 and EQ8 mounts. I was wondering if anyone could give me some feedback on either one of these mounts.
I'm currently using a Skywatcher HEQ5, but I want a mount with a bigger payload. I was going to purchase a G11, but then I read some horror stories from people having issues with this mount, which puts me off buying it.

Any feedback would be much appreciated.

Stefan

[alocky]

My G11 has performed flawlessly, as have the vast majority of those sold, I bought it with the plain digital drives and now have put a gemini 2 on it. I've been on Losmandy forum for a few years and can't say I've heard any real horror stories? Anyway, I like mine, and it will guide well at 1100mm focal length. I've seen plenty of great images with these at up to 2m focal length, but i suspect that's about the limit.
As for the gemini 2 system, it took me about 30 minutes to fit, and within two nights I had the whole setup doing plate solves and meridian flips with SGPro.
Have a look on the astrobin (http://www.astrobin.com) site, you can search on types of equipment and see what others are producing with the eq8 or G11.
cheer,
Andrew

[mithrandir]

As was said in the ASCOM group, the people you hear complaints from are the minority who have a problem. From following many groups quite a few of the issues turn out to be user errors.

The vast majority don't send "it worked" emails every time it does, but only when they've sorted out some problem so others can learn from them.

[scagman]

+1 for G11. I bought this as my first mount and haven't had any issues with it. Any querries were soon sorted by refering to http://www.gemini-2.com/ or the yahoo-gemini2 forum.

Cheers

[multiweb]

+1 for g11. Mine performed flawlessly for 14yrs. Keeps getting better with time.

[Stefan12]

Thanks for the replies :) I must add ever since I started astrophotography I've wanted a G11 mount. if I went ahead and purchased one, should I get an Ovision worm for it? Does the mount work straight out of the box, or is there some tweaking involved to get it working smoothly?

[Logieberra]

Just to mix up the advice. Had an EQ6. Sold it. Got a G11. In many ways, I considered it a downgrade. I didn't like G2. The G11 gearboxes and motors jut out to the side asking to be damaged. You pretty much have to fork out for the Ovision b/c of a well known 76 second PE error...

I suggest you hear from more EQ8 people before deciding... it represents tremendous value.

Otherwise, can you stretch into a AP Mach 1 GTO? That would be money well spent :)

[multiweb]

The gearboxes are the weakest link in the chain at the moment but this is going to change. As far as the ovision worm goes, the one block arrangement along with the losmandy high precision worms are more than adequate. Why pay for an expensive worm when the gearbox is the problem? Mechanically, the build of a g11 is far better than any eq 6 or 8. If you've owned one you'll know what I'm talking about.

[Amaranthus]

Anyone know how the belt drive of the AZ-EQ6 trades off against the gears of the G11?

[DaveNZ]

I went with the larger Losmandy Titan. The reason I went losmandy is you can purchase the individual parts, right down to the washers. This was very important to me based here in NZ. Same with the Gemini 2. No problem with parts.

[Logieberra]

Nice. The G11 is well overdue for an update. I suspect the EQ8 will kill it, in time, if nothing is done to compete.

[Terry B]

This isn't really a fair comparison. The titan takes a more similar payload to the EQ8.

[el_draco]

I went from EQ 6 to G11. Laughable to compare the two. G11 is precision machined and aesthetically beautiful. EQ 6 could not compare. EQ8, I have heard, has build problems. The EQ 6 had dastardly polar alignment set up. Dont know if this was improved in the EQ 8. I have not used one myself.

G11 is not a toy. It requires learning and patience BUT with effort, its an excellent mount and its history in astrophotography is well documented. One of the beauties of this mount is the fact that it can, and is regularly, upgradeable. You can do the worms, or not, motors, or not, gearboxes, or not. The D plate system is excellent value and impeccably manufactured. The mount comes with online support, which you WILL need, and the G2 system is updatable online.

As others have said, you should check out the forums for other advice but I bought, sold and then re-bought my G11. Gotta be a reason for that. ;)

Rom

[Logieberra]

Best bet, go to a star party if you can, see the gear in use, talk to the owners, meet some lovely people along the way and reach a really balanced decision. What I'm saying is - if you're about to drop hard earned coin, do more than visit this site!

[raymo]

Hi Rom, I suspect that the G11 is somewhat more expensive than the
EQ6; if that is the case, aren't you comparing apples and oranges.
raymo

[MrB]

I think you missed the point of his post.

[raymo]

I disagree Simon; Rom said it was laughable to compare the two. Why would you compare them when one is probably three or four times the price of the other. I realise that the G11 is an excellent mount, but so it should be, considering it's price.
raymo

[MrB]

Exactly, in reply to the person that originally drew the comparison.

[Logieberra]

Easy does it guys, we're all entitled to our opinion. I had a bad G11 experience. Gemini 2, in the first year of operation, was rubbish. That burnt me for life. I'll never buy another Losmandy mount again. But to be balanced, I understand that G2 is now sorted. My point was that, for the money, it was no upgrade from a solid, reliable NEQ6 that just worked! Perhaps I had one of the better Synta samples? Anyway, so long as you enjoy your gear - happy days :)

[Peter Ward]

The G-11 has actually been subject to continuous improvement & development for over 20 years.

Many of the changes have been evolutionary rather than revolutionary....so while they may look the same on the outside, I can assure you there have been many changes under the hood...

Gemini is very mature now, to the point it has been deployed to control metre class scopes in Europe (obviously using much larger servos)

Users who have gone for the one piece worm block are reporting peak to peak PE as low as 3 arc seconds. The new High torque servo-motors allow very fast slewing, and have excellent thermal dissipation and hence longevity.

I can't comment on the EQ8 from a users perspective, just looking at the level of finish and precision...G-11's look jewel like in comparison.

[astronobob]

Just in addition, that G11's have been out for a much much longer Yet eq8 only, what, wouldnt be 12 months or there abouts, so, how these mounts perform over the longer period, no one really knows, yet ?
Im giving them a few more yrs before considering an upgrade to EQ8, that said, doubt Ill ever be able to afford Losmandy gear anyway :shrug:

[Octane]

I get round stars on my 2006 vintage G-11. Love it.

H

[LewisM]

If you are considering this sort of price range, I know where to get a Takahashi NJP mount at around the $4K mark (used of course). Legendary mount, with PE less than the Losmandy, GOTO via the PC, hold a LOT of weight and exquisitely manufactured.

Mike Sidonio uses one. VERY hard to upgrade from one.

Regret not being able to get it myself.

[White Rabbit]

Mmm, I have mixed feelings about the G11, but must admit most of the bad feelings I have are from past not present experience.

I came from a a HEQPRO5, and there is no comparison.

When I first got my G11 my PE was terrible, but I was upgraded to the one piece worm block and that sorted the problem out. Before that, I couldn't guide the errors out, after the one piece worm install there was no problem. My PE is still pretty high but at my focal length of 714 it's not an issue and I can do 20 min subs no problem.

The Gemini 2 on the other hand, I'm not impressed. Fortunately I control the mount via the sky x through the Gemini 2. I've given up on PEC because it never sticks and I need to load my PEC file every session.

One thing you should know is that the G11 is made by a special effects company in Hollywood, and the Gemini II is made by a university professor is Germany. Neither of of the two have astronomy equipment making as their primary profession. Issues are very slow to be addressed, but the issues now are few. Whilst the G11 is a pretty good design it has it's flaws, but is very user friendly and you don't need an engineering degree to tweak it to iron the kinks out. The worm meshing on the G11 is a breeze compared to my old Eq5.

All though it probably doesn't sound like it, I'm actually quite happy with the mount now. It's slews are consistently accurate and it tracks well and at the end of the day, that's all that matters.

Cheers
Sandy

[Logieberra]

Looking purely at the numbers:

From the Bintel website:
G11 G2 $4,899
EQ8 $4,559

Pay an extra $300 or so and lose around 23kg in carrying capacity?

[toc]

The new ioptron cem60 is worth a look as we'll...

[White Rabbit]

I think the true comparison of the Eq8 should be against the Titan as someone mentioned above. The G11 and the EQ8 are in different classes, the only similarity between the two is price and thats probably whats being compared here, price.

Yeah, I think Losmandy need to rethink their pricing. The G11 seems to have lost a lot of the resale value as well, probably due the the EQ8. I think $3.5K is probably about right for the G11 not $4.9, thank god I bought mine when the dollar was high, I only paid $4K flat.

There was a time when the G11 sold like hot cakes in the ice trades, now they sit there and gain very little interest. That may or may not change and depends largely on how well the EQ8 performs over time.

I'm not fussed as I'll not be upgrading anytime soon and if I do it'll be to one of the Bisque mounts. I'm sucker for anything red...

[Stefan12]

I agree the that the EQ8 is a similar weight class to the Losmandy Titan. I never really considered the Titan due to the price. What I found attractive with the EQ8 was the payload it can carry. Having that extra weight carrying capability may come in handy in the future. All in all I'm looking for a mount that's going to last me a me a long time. For now I will stay with my HEQ5 and do a bit more investigating.

Cheers,

Stefan :)

[el_draco]

Entirely true. However, I have not heard much to suggest that the EQ 8 is much different in terms of build quality and I did make it very clear that I have not actually used one. G11 machining is a work of art though... You can also get a G11 second had for substantially less than the layout for an EQ 8 and thats a big incentive IMHO :)

[Logieberra]

Just to balance things out, this poor bugger had a hell of a time with his new EQ8 binding: http://www.iceinspace.com.au/forum/showthread.php?t=115699 Like all new mounts, it has its teething problems...

[Alchemy]

Another for the G11, I just have the bog standard non Gemini version, bought new quite some years back, does everything I need, I shoot at about 924 mm 20 min exposures no problem.
As for the eq8 it might be good, it might not, payload would appear to be larger, so just what scopes you want to use are a factor, it's nice to use a monster scope, but I found I just didn't get enough nights where the atmosphere was still enough to justify it.

[ReaPerMan]

Gee not many EQ8 owners posting answers here?? Where are you guys? I have had mine for the last 6 months and I love it. Upgraded from my EQ6 and don't regret it for a minute. I'll post a pic of my guiding tonight (fresh off the cam) and if you want to know all the goofy stats and arc secs etc, I bought it from Tandem and he posted all that stuff in the EQ8 thread. It flings my 12" GSO Newt around like a charm. The targets fall in the middle of my field of view every time and It does more than I can and I'm trying to catch up. I can't ask for more. (Yet..... :) )

[AstroJunk]

14 elapsed months and hundreds of hours sky time of faultless performance with a non-trivial payload. The EQ8 dwarfs the G11 in size, features and performance.

Don't buy one if you can't lift 30kg without breaking your back! Seriously, it's big mount - with weights and case you are looking at 100Kg all up to move about.

[PeterM]

I have a good friend who replaced both his G11s with EQ8s and he is very, very impressed.
I have had my EQ8 for 3 months and so far I am eq8illy impressed. It looks great, works great. I have never owned a G11 but I have known several who once did and they no longer have them.
I now know of 6 people with EQ8s and all are very happy. So Skywatcher seems to have captured the lions share of the market they obviously aimed the EQ8 at.