Advice/opinions on mounts please.

[roughy]

Hi

I am considering upgrading from my NEQ6 at some stage over the next 12 months. The following factors need to be considered:

1. Mount and OTA's need to fit in a backyard observatory 2x2m square on a pier.

2. The cost of reasonably high end mounts such as a Titan or PMX is possible but difficult, and may be overkill as I could not afford these plus a suitable high end OTA such as Planewave, Officina Stellare etc.

3. I cannot envisage ever owning an OTA that exceeds 20kg in weight. Even a few high end OTA's are under 20kg but their cost is prohibitive.

4. Setup will be mostly aimed towards CCD imaging and will not be moved from the observatory to the field.

5. I am viewing this from the perspective that this might be the last mount I ever purchase (please don't hold me to this though).

The mount that most seems to fit this bill is the G11. If anyone can give advice as to the suitability of the G11 or other similarly accurate and robust mounts in this price range, it would be greatly appreciated.

Cheers

Mark

[Poita]

Forget the G11, it isn't much better than the EQ6. I know it is held in high regard, and the finish on it is lovely, but it doesn't offer much that a well tuned EQ6 doesn't.
If I had the money I'd get a used MACH1 or AP900.

[bert]

Im with Poita. Im not a g11 fan, IMHO overrated.

http://oc-aisig.org/gallery/main.php?g2_itemId=2711

I tuned my eq6 and it was great, twas a shame to see it go.

I have in the last couple of weeks upgraded to an AP mach 1 and could not be happier.

Brett

[CDKPhil]

Hi Mark
If you are planning to do astrophotography, I would invest as much as I could into the mount. Even if you are not planning to have an OTA of more than 20kg, something like a PMX is not over kill. They are very good, I have not had any trouble with mine, It is very easy to use and the engineering is suburb, also a pleasure to look at.:D
The support from Software Bisque is excellent. Yes it is quite an expensive mount, but you do not need to modify it. It works great straight out of the box.

I was looking at the Titan but the unfinished Gemini 2 software put me off.

I don't know much about AP mounts but from what others have said they are extremely good.

Like with any equipment its the $$$ that make any decision hard. But there is nothing worse than spending a whole bunch and then being disappointed.

Do your research, ask as many questions as possible and try to see some of these mounts working in the flesh.

Cheers
Phil

[pmrid]

Mark, consider, for a minute, what would be the point of putting a high-end OTA on a mediocre mount. Seems to me that you'd be wasting your money on both - the OTA because you would not be able to use it to its true potential and the mount because sooner or later you'd have to replace it with something that would do the job. You'd very quickly be dissapointed by both.

Break the bank - better to have a good mount and a mediocre OTA if you have to make a compromise somewhere. Buy a Titan or PMX or, if you see one, a MI250 or the like.


Peter

[Barrykgerdes]

I had a look at a PMX in operation last trip to Wiruna. What a lovely piece of gear.

If I had not decided to give "She Who Must Be Obeyed" a trip to the Chelsea flower show this year I would be seriously looking into getting one. But it will be at least 12 months before I recover enough.

Barry

PS I hope Trevor doesn't get any fancy ideas

[gregbradley]

I don't think Larry Myers is making MI250's anymore or so I read somewhere. Correct me if I am wrong.

Definitely standard advice on mounts is to get the best mount you can afford. It is more important than the scope or camera.

First target in imaging is round stars everytime in a 10 minute image.
Its not as easy as you would think.

Tak, AP, PMX seem to dominate that band of high quality mounts.

I had Tak - I loved its user friendliness. I haven't used AP but I doubt you could go wrong there. PME and PMX are my current mounts and I like both of them, and I prefer my PME as being more robust and fuss free. But PMX is very sophisticated and may need a bit of work (not sure if PEC works out of the box, I suspect not, you may need to adjust a few things on your mount, maybe not).

Despite a few minor teething problems with the PMX I would rate it as best bang for your imaging buck in that you get a lot of software that means you can adjust and adjust with software so you are achieving super high accuracy every night. So it really suits the permanent observatory.

For portable field use setting up everytime AP may be better or Tak.

PMX will take up to a 14 inch Cassegrain which is pretty big.

Greg.

[Marke]

An AP Mach1 or if the budget stretches a AP900 as it is still relatively portable .

[Paul Haese]

I'm with Greg and I will echo the words of one Peter Ward. The mount is everything. There are cheaper OTA's that work just as well with some tweaks but bottom line is that if the mount is average then having a great scope will mean nothing.

Buy a really good mount. I have had Tak mounts (software integration is a problem with them and having no homing ability) and these were lovely but my recommendation is either a Software Bisque mount or an AP mount. Both are rock solid performers and will be the last mount you buy.