New offerings from AP

[Tom Davis]

A new mount and a new scope from Astro-Physics all in the same month! Anybody getting one?

AP 175 EDF:
http://www.astro-physics.com/products/telescopes/175edf/175%20StarFire%20EDF%20flyer.pdf

AP 1600GTO:
http://www.astro-physics.com/products/mounts/1600gto/1600gto.pdf

I'd love to but I'm too happy with the AP sstuff I already have to sell them!

-Tom

[Marke]

I have to say $10k for the mount is a bargain considering its size and capacity with the option of adding the absolute encoders later .

[Peter Ward]

The savings account would look quite sad, but very tempting....

[gregbradley]

I only interested really in RHA.

A 175 EDF may be good as the older 180 is bit lacklustre or at least the images I have seen from them. Not like the AP155 which is super sharp, the older 180 is bit not right on the money for whatever reason.

Perhaps the 175 takes that scope to the level of the AP155 in which case it would be awesome. Really need to see images from one.

F8 is a bit old hat too. Perhaps easier on the designer.

Hypothetical anyway as they aren't even taking notification list orders. They are working off those on the original 180 list.

Greg.

[AG Hybrid]

WOW that stuff is nice. So if one was to put their name down for it now. Would they be able to get theirs hands on one this decade?

[HCR32]

Forget it ppl its only a thought for most of us unless your name was down for a 180 back in the 90s you might be in with a chance. I seriously can't understand why ap even has a refractor price listing on there site. Anyway they don't get any points from me on refractors but they do pretty good with supplying mounts.

[brian nordstrom]

:) Woaw ! Beautiful , and Tom if you go to the general chat section you will see that about 12 of us have just recieved word that some rich relative's died and left us up to 15 million,, ( me I only got 1 million :sadeyes: )
But seriously what a beautiful set up :thumbsup: .and it would take the death of said rich relative to pass , for me to get this set up like this ... ever ..:hi: . Thanks for the dream material.
Brian.

[Marke]

Yeah its a lot of money but people pay a lot more for an average car that wont hold its value any where near as long .

[RickS]

At least you can drive when it's cloudy :lol:

[Marke]

I suppose Rick :lol:

[brian nordstrom]

:) I know what I would rather have , and my car would be a runner , just :rofl: .
Brian.

[Rigel003]

I've been on the 160 notification list for 11 years and come to accept that it won't ever happen. I believe they haven't made any since 2007 and have no further plans. My heart did leap into my mouth for a moment when I read the announcement of this new scope. Certainly not what anyone was expecting.

[gregbradley]

I just read the specs. Its an air spaced triplet with the u-beaut multi coatings.

That certainly will be in a class of its own in that category.

Greg.

[MrB]

I've just never understood AP, never will. Crazy.

[Tom Davis]

I have been very happy with the RHA, AP155 and 1200GTO that I have. As far as the scopes go, they are hard to get because Roland is the only one making them. He designs and personally figures each one. There is no assembly line, per se. That is, in my opinion, both AP's greatest strength and its greatest weakness. Roland has always said that AP's goal is not to flood the market with thier scopes, but to make the best scopes that they can make, one at a time. I believe that they have achieved that goal, but it is dissappointing to have to wait a lifetime to get one. I bought my AP155 used and I have never been dissappointed by its performance.

As far as thier mounts go, they do have a team. Howard and the team have been able to increase production quite a bit. One does not have to wait, or wait very long, for a Mach1 or AP900. Hopefully the 1600GTO will have a very short wait as well. I love my 1200GTO and will not, for now, trade up to the 1600GTO. I sort of wonder if this is the future of AP, that is, mounts. After Roland retires, or passes, they may not make any more scopes. They will have the ability to continue to produce top of the line mounts.

-Tom

[dvj]

I seem to recall that Roland made Tony Hallas a 200mm refractor a few years ago. Tony sold the scope a few years later to someone who must have paid a fortune for it. I don't know what Tony uses today. Proably a big RC.

I've been extremely pleased with the performance of my 180 f/7, but I don't use it due to other commitments. Roland's RHA is stunning in mechanical design, but I cant' wait around 5+ years or more for it while some beginner with deep pockets gets one early and produces crap images. At least Tom and Peter know how to use it.

AP some years ago produced a few 10-inch Mak/Cass telescopes. I've looked through one of these and was very impressed with the optical performance. Better than any of their refractors IMO. Alas, production on those stopped as soon as they started.

Fortunately, there are many alternative imaging systems.

Tom may be right. When Roland goes, what will happen to the telescopes? Will they become a mount company? Nice, but not very interesting.

[gregbradley]

I think its because the AP1200 wasn't able to match the PME for payload.
So if you had a large RC or CDK you had to get a PME or some other large and expensive mount like the Planewave 200 Ascension.

AP1200 was designed I presume for the heaviest AP load which is far less than a large RC.

Having an AP1600 with absolute precision encoders now seems on paper to be a step ahead of Software Bisque and their PME.

PME will need to be updated as AP just made AP1600 the logical choice over PME for now.

PMX though seems the logical choice over an AP900 though. So some of these improvements will need to flow down to that model to make it more competitive as well.

AP has been a mount company for a long time and its quite a clear business model they operate on.

Roland likes to keep that knowhow on making the lenses to himself. I understand that as well. I know lots of experienced tradesman who think exactly the same way. You teach someone else and you create your own competitors.

I personally believe the best solution to that is to always be at the top of the game and let yesterday's expert become a dated if they don't operate the same way.

Greg.

[Kal]

Not really rediculous. What ever he makes there will be people complaining.

My gut feeling is that the glass that he needs for the 175 became available. Often in the past his production has been dictated by glass availability (look at strongmanmikes apo for example, only two were produced because of glass availability).

[frolinmod]

I wonder if last year's sale price on Paramount ME mounts will now return?

[gregbradley]

He bought the glass for this project a while ago apparently.

I don't think he can get the glass for more at present. Hence it is a limited run and only those on the earlier AP180 list get one.

Fortunately Officina Stellare make an RHA but the 12 inch one is a lot more expensive than the AP one which is strange.

TEC don't look like they are making 180's for the moment. Future production would be dependent on glass availability.

I predicted this would occur and is one reason I went for the TEC180Fl whilst it was available. Yuri used to make a TEC200ED, a TEC200FL, a TEC160 and various Maks and no longer does them. Hopefully he will make the 180FL again but no guarantees.

He is talking about a 300mm F5.6 astrograph. He is taking something to NEAF - perhaps it is that? He did a survey about this about 6 months ago. He'd have no trouble selling them. He'd get past this problem of poor exotic glass supply that plagues high quality APO makers. I guess that is the strength LZOS has. They make their own glass.

Greg.

[Marke]

Some more news RE 900GT current run will be the last and a new beefed up version will be available with same features as 1600. I am seriously looking forward to seeing this :)

[frolinmod]

That's the astrograph, yes, but that's not a refractor. It has some lens elements though.

[DavidTrap]

Sounds like the 1600 is a competitor for the PME and the new 900 will be aimed squarely at the PMX

DT

[gregbradley]

Yes I think that is exactly right.

PME and PMX are probably the 2 dominant mounts in those categories right now.

Greg.

[Logieberra]

Old news... http://www.iceinspace.com.au/forum/showthread.php?t=89782

[Poita]

I'd just me happy if some MACH1 or AP900 mounts became available second hand at reasonable prices :)
If I want zero PE I'd add a sitech system later.

[Logieberra]

SiTech? I googled that. All I know is that they come with plenty of 'poop'! Haha, see under Servo Motors! http://www.siderealtechnology.com/page2.html

[Poita]

They sure do!

But read here for what it really can do.

[Visionoz]

Hey Logan

I'm a new user of SiTech, as well as surprisingly I've discovered several other members here in IIS use SiTech too - the system is used with my G11 as I did not want a Gemini and had to fit the parts/motors etc myself and had a helping hand with the bits & bobs from "our" Newt king, Brendo - and the system is working fine indeed

I later found out that you could fit the Sitech controller to use with the Losmandy servo motors/Maxons by just wiring up the correct cable pin-outs

The plus with this controller is that the ASCOM SiTech driver has lots of built-in features including a PXP-pointing mount modelling and a very useful plate-solving adjunct that simplifies the modelling process

All-in-all it has been a good investment for me - like everything else technical one has to get around one's head about the nigglies and once that's sorted out it's all goodness!

BTW FYI CDK Ascension 200HR mounts - see here (http://www.planewave.com/index.php?page=1&id0=1&id=2) - now come fitted with the SiTech controller and that says something good going for it!

I've attached images to indicate how I did mine up - I used a cheapy 12VDC motor with 19:1 ratio gearhead (Pololu - cost aro $60) for the DEC with USDigital encoder and a TWR planetary gearhead 24VDC motor with USDigital encoder for the RA which is belt-driven as well to provide "smoothness" in PE - all motor revs etc are easily configurable from the SiTech software and you can set up the parameters for PID values for the motors

Hope that helps to clarify the "poopiness" of the SiTech! I enjoyed retrofitting it to my G11 and the bonus is that I can also use the same controller on my Dob when I convert it to a GoTo by just installing the servo motors et al to drive the AZ + ALT

Definitely the SiTech is not a plug-and-play system; more akin to a DIY/ATM type system

HTH
Cheers
Bill

PS: Apologies to the OP for being OT! Sorry!

[Logieberra]

Bill, a significant project, sheesh! Ok, its not 'poop' :) Now, back to the AP discussion :)

[Marke]

PE is already < 1 with pec how much do you need your seeing will be higher
than that :D