New mount thoughts and landed prices?

[garymck]

Hi,

apologies for a rather long post. Having a real think about a new mount, a very tired of fiddling with low end stuff rather than taking pics. If the latest fix on one of my scopes doesn't work I'm going to take an axe to it and have a bit of a think about a new mount. It will be a struggle for me to buy as I'm retired and have very limited resources.

I have 3 mounts on my radar that I might be able to stretch to... The requirements are to be able to image with a C11/Starizona reducer for ANY exposure length I choose (guided of course). The mount will be fixed in an Obs.
The candidates:
EQ8 - - best price, but wondering if the early issues have been dealt with. Have a friend using one with a 14" truss RC. His is an early one, has a slight issue with a bit of dec backlash, but not enough to worry him.

The next 2 have much lower carrying capacities and if anyone knows, could they advise the landed price ie, GST, Customs clearance charges freight etc.
AP Mach1GTO
Avalon M Uno - appeals as I love fork mounts and not having to do meridian flips - haven't seen much posted about them here...

I really want something that works out of the box, hence a little worried about the EQ8.

For a portable mount I have an AZEQ6 - the one I have is the proverbial ripper - only 9 arc secs of smooth pe, and fully capable of imaging at 2.1m focal length. I would however like to keep this as a portable. To buy the AP or Avalon, I would have to sell this, hence the EQ8's place in my tiny list.

comments would be helpful, especially details of landed prices.

cheers
Gary

[glend]

Have a look at the new Celestron CGX. It has 25kg (55lbs) of imaging capacity and there are people on Cloudy Nights forum imaging with C11s with no issues. The original advertising showed C14s on the mount. It is bargain introduction priced, or was when i bought mine just after Christmas from Bintel. The price was $3299 AUD and that is outstanding value: belt drive, spring loaded worms, usb and aux rj ports on the mount, comes with Planewave developed control software as well as Nexstar hc, and is wifi compatible. It tracks 20 degrees past the meridian, has home and limit sensors with hard stops as well for safe remote operation. All star PA, internal cabling, etc. Mine guides silky smooth. Worth consideration. There is also a higher capacity model, the CGX-L (75lbs capacity) coming soon. These are new generation mounts.
Mine sits on a pier in my observatory, but i have imaged off the tripod during testing and it was rock solid. It is portable enough for dark site trips, the head unit has two handles and is pretty easy to lift onto the tripod (weights 20kg), and i am 67yo and had no issues with managing it.

[garymck]

Thanks Glen,
adn't seen that as it is not on Bintel's website at the moment...
Might have to call them
cheers
gary

[glend]

Just search the Celestron website for all the CGX data and photos and the Mount forum on CNs for user experiences. I do not know how many Bintel got in for the launch, but i know they sold at least five to prople here on IIS. There is a CGX thread here as well.

[LewisM]

Gary, do you still have the GPD2? If you want to sell...:)

[garymck]

Lewis,

God how I wish I still had that GPD2 finest mount I've ever had....stupidly sold it for something that doesn't work (bought new)....

Gary

[LewisM]

I acquired a green GPD a while ago - it's a keeper!

[Wavytone]

Nice surprise. Ok my scopes are smaller than yours and I'm a strictly visual observer. Ordered a Losmandy AZ8 from Losmandy on Wednesday night. Losmandy quoted shipping via FedEx which was half the shipping quoted by a major reseller.

FedEx called tonight to advise it arrives here in Sydney tomorrow (Saturday) and will be at my door Monday am, and to arrange GST payment. Saved $500 :eyepop: on the list price from an Australian reseller and 3-day delivery is hard to beat.

And yes it's going to have encoders and a Nexus II fitted to function as a push-to setup.

Huge contrast to my 130mm refractor which took 6 weeks to get here, then I had to go through the rigmarole of filling out the customs paperwork, paying GST and drive halfway across Sydney to collect it from a depot.

To anyone buying something large/heavy from the US I'd have to recommend FedEx.

As you're looking at an EQ8, you considered an iEQ45 or CEM60 ? Importing one is pretty straightforward assuming you're prepared accept there's no local support.

[Shiraz]

eq8 requires a fair bit of backlash to work properly and there is no way to fully adjust it out. However, if you use reasonably straightforward balance offset, it can guide very smoothly and carry a huge load - there is no substitute for fine pitch 8 inch wheels.

But if you want something completely fiddle-free, go elsewhere.

[AndrewJ]

10inch wheels with finer pitch :-)
Or Direct drive with a sub arcsecond absolute encoder and very well designed ( and fully integrated ) motor control feedback loops.
Might blow Garys budget tho :-)

Andrew

[Slawomir]

Hi Gary,

Mach1 with 2 counterweights, saddle plate, USB cable and control box but without hand controller and no pier/tripod costs just under 6400 USD including shipping and insurance as of the end of last year. Then you need to add 10% customs tax when it lands in Australia. Works brilliantly out of the box.

[garymck]

Suavi,
that sounds great just need to determine which of my kidneys to sell :-). Will have to do some really hard thinking about getting rid of some stuff.
cheers
Gary

[Logieberra]

Gary, the Mach1 is a wonderful mount. Not much can, or does, go wrong with AP mounts.