Paramount MX - biting the bullet

[pmrid]

Well, it's done. I finally cracked under the recent pressure of negative sentiment about the long-term direction of the A$ and sent OPT the full cost plus freight for a sexy new Paramount MX. Delivery said to be 2nd quarter - whatever that means. A bit of GST etc and that'll be that. I was able to get a 3% discount using the Southern Galactic connection as well so that covered a large part of the freight bill.

My present plan is to whack my EdgeHD 1400 on it - assuming I can get the issues with the Optec Corp Lepus reducer sorted out (it's all a question of back-distances it seems). And on my Losmandy Titan will go either the old C14 with the HyperStar to work at F1.9 or my F4.8 10" astrograph. Either way I'll have some good imaging options.

And that, I feel reasonably confident in saying, will be the final 'big' purchase I have to make. Touch wood.

Peter



Peter.

[strongmanmike]

Oh yeeeeahh, suuuure ;)

Excellent purchase, now you have something nice to think about while you doze off to sleep each night...imagine her in all sorts of positions...:whistle::)


Hmmm?...actually, should the NJP prove a little overwhelmed by the new scope and camera loaded on her...I would consider one of these as worth putting divorce back on the agenda for :question:

Mike

[renormalised]

Nice buy....I wouldn't listen to those naysayers about the $AUS.

[icytailmark]

wow peter your very lucky!!!!! that mount is very nice. If i had an observatory id buy that mount for sure.

[h0ughy]

well done - but wasnt the titan performing?

[RickS]

Congrats, Peter!

In the computer industry Q2 usually means July/August :D

[pmrid]

Hi David. The Titan's great but I have this embarrassing "over-supply" of scopes including a F4.8 10" astrograph and that old C14 that nobody wanted to buy. I've got an Obs with 2 piers in it so the capacity was already there for a second quality mount to match up with one or more of those surplus scopes.

Peter

[pmrid]

It's that 2 hours-past-meridian position that really lights my headlamp.
P

[renormalised]

Peter, you can never have an embarrassing "over supply" of scopes!!!. Think of the possibilities of having several large scope ready at hand:)

[OzRob]

I was drooling over the details of this mount just yesterday. I wish I had somewhere to put one.

[adman]

Nice one peter! One of these days we'll have some clear skies and I'll come and check her out...

[strongmanmike]

I can do that with the NJP too in many sky positions, it is a very useful capability especially without fast automated meridian flip and plate solving :rolleyes:. After having shot Eta Carina for 70min of Ha at the start of the night, my recent M83 shot of nearly 6 hours total exposure was really only possible because of this ability :thumbsup:

Mike

[Octane]

Peter,

Congratulations!

As for your last purchase, pshaw! What about a 16803-based chip? : P

H

[marc4darkskies]

Congrats Peter - a good buy for sure!

Cheers, Marcus

[Doomsayer]

You won't regret it for sure - based on my experience with the PME (worth every penny), I am considering a PMX for a second mount in the near fiuture.
guy

[adman]

by the way pete - I'm not sure that buying a paramount should be called biting the bullet....more like gnawing on a mortar shell :lol:

[gregbradley]

Excellent choice. I am considering one in the future as well.

I predict they will be take over their sector of that market.

An AP900, Tak EM400, ASA, MI250 probably won't be able to match all the features. Bisque seem to understand electronics and software better than the other manufacturers and that is definitely one of the long term trends in mounts - more advanced electronics and superior software to improve the mechanical side of the mount.

Greg.

[g__day]

Eveyone hopes this mount will really be the next big thing at its targeted carrying capacity / price range. Must say fingers crossed and I look forward to you getting it and loving it. Of course a full review is expected once your new baby arrives!

[adman]

I have just been looking at this mount on the ATS website - man! that thing is like a piece of sculpture. Amazing. Can't wait to see it in the flesh.

Adam

[OzRob]

There are more details and a better photo on Bisque's site (http://www.bisque.com/sc/pages/ParamountMX.aspx).

[DavidTrap]

The AP mounts have Meridian delay too - it's noice!

DT

[gregbradley]

Yes the NJP does go about 15 -20 degrees past horizontal (1 hour -15 degrees) but its a physical stop if it goes too far and it can crush the little cable for one of the encoders or bang your camera against the pier if the orientation is that way.

The PME and I assume the MX has software limits so it stops at the assigned angle. I am sure with some study it can be made to do a meridian flip and plate solve.

By the way the Chuck Faranda Temma driver now also has an experimental meridian flip option. Not sure how well it works. My NJP polar alignment would most likely get the object in the image but not exactly as it was with a flip. It would need to be reframed (same with PME the way I am using it at present).

Greg.

[[1ponders]]

Excellent Peter, excellent.

Maybe we should get the AP900 and the PMX together one night. Imagine the offspring from that. ;) What a dream machine :love:

Can't wait to see first light and hear your praises. Nearly went that road myself but the AP was ready to go. Delayed gratification has never been a strong point :lol:

[Bassnut]

Thats a good point. As long as the mechanical movings are repeatable and the non-PE is low, software is more important than the drive method (harmonic, direct drive etc). Modeling and clever software generally is cheaper to produce in volume than fancy mechanicals if the end result is the same.

Im sure you will be very happy with it Pete, in my experience Bisque software (and Sky etc) is solid, albiet complicated at times.

[renormalised]

Hope your genetic engineering tools are upto scratch:):P

[[1ponders]]

:lol: I reacon a few of the subtle curves of the 900 would help soften some of the boxy rigidity of the PMX (not that it doesn't have a certain sexiness of its own :P )

[frolinmod]

Oh, it's the PME that is boxy, not the PMX. The PMX is curvy by comparison. And if you really want to see boxy, look up a GT-1100S. That was so boxy the edges actually drew blood.

[pmrid]

Thanks everyone for the encouraging comments. I've been down in Tassie all last week with my long-suffering wife. I imposed a no-internet rule on myself, hence the silence.
Seems the A$ has indeed slipped a bit already but crikey, who could have imagined the reason (in Japan)? It's interesting to note that even doing an international wire transfer still involved an exchange rate hit of about 3% by my bank (ANZ) apart from the $24 fee involved so even though I managed to get it at the time of $1.02 rates, the effective rate was not much more than 98c. The banks don't miss out do they?

Peter

[GrampianStars]

Mmmm..........:rolleyes:
$8.5K not to shabby....
Now that the MI250 is no more.....
:question:

[acropolite]

The rest of us will lay awake running "what can I sell" scenarios to afford the same. I'll be very interested to hear what the final damage is, the price is affordable (at least if I sell HRH for medical experiments).

[RickS]

It's a great business model (for them). I've been on the painful end of it several times, Peter. About to do it again courtesy of some incoming USD funds...