I thought I'd do this for folk considering their next telescope and pondering how much to spend and how to check their gear assumptions all makes sense when combined.
So attached is a table of data I've found that may be used to check your assumptions, and corrected by folk with more practical knowledge.
The summary insights given to me here by many helpful folk should be listed before we begin:
1. Spend as much on your mount as on your scope if you're considering astrophotography at some point
2. German Equatorial mounts offer far better astro imaging platforms than fork mounts dollar for dollar
3. Piers are far more stable than tripods if mobility isn't a concern (e.g. portable piers!
http://www.cloudynights.com/item.php?item_id=1365 )
4. Long exposure means rock solid stability + astro-guiding to keep your scope pointing with enough accuracy
5. Lower (potentially halve) your mounts maximum rated carring capacity to know what it can handle with a full load of CCDs, guiders, de-rotators, and/or other imaging gear
So with that said, lets just check the typical weight (and cost) of common SCTs to give you a feel.
Celestron http://www.celestron.com/advanced_series/index.htm
Aperature (inches) ----- OTA Weight (Kg) ----- Cost ($ RRP)
Code:
8 6 $ 2,118
9.25 9 $ 2,841
11 13 $ 4,504
14 20 $ 9,979
Meade
Aperature (inches) ----- OTA Weight (Kg) ----- Cost ($ RRP)
Code:
7 $ 2,300
8 9 $ 1,579
10 14 $ 2,085
12 18 $ 3,740
14 $ 4,865
So onto the meat - various mounts and their costs for common models, else a import shipping USD/AUD conversions (without adding $150 Fedex + warranties + duties) guestimate for foreign exotics
Brand ----- Model ----- RRP $ ----- Max Load (Kg) ----- Periodic error (arc sec)
Code:
Synta EQ 2 $ 199
EQ 3 $ 299 +/- 10
EQ 5 $ 500 7 +/- 12
HEQ 5 GoTo $ 1,799 10 +/- 15
EQ 6 GoTo $ 2,199 25 +/- 20
EQ 6 Pro $ 2,499 25
Meade LX75 $ 1,500 10
Vixen Skypod 110 $ 2,100 5 http://www.orionoptics.co.uk/acatalog/skypod.html
SP +/- 30
SP/DX +/- 8
GP 7 +/- 17
GPD2 10
GP/DX $ 3,090 10 +/- 14
Spinx $ 2,695 11 +/- 8
Atlux $ 7,549 22 +/- 8
Takahashi http://www.telescopes.com/specialty_...s--Mounts.html
EM-1s 9 +/- 7
EM-10 $ 2,900 9 +/- 7
EM-11 $ 6,500 10
EM-200 $ 6,700+ 18 +/- 5
NJP $ 9,170 30 +/- 3.5
EM-400 $ 11,286 39
EM-500 $ 17,627 45 +/- 3.5
EM-3500 $118,000 160 +/- ? awesome I suppose!
Losmandy (With Gemini GoTo) http://www.atscope.com.au/losmandy.html
GM 8 $ 4,000 13 +/- 8
GM 11 $ 5,650 27 +/- 7
Titan $ 11,000 45 +/- 4
Valmecha
VMA150 35 +/- 5
VMA200 70 +/- 5
VMA300 +/- 2
Trassud ZX4 45 +/- 3
ZX7 75 +/- 5
Arcane A40 +/- 6
Celestron CG-5 $ 1,399 13
CGE $ 5,750 +/- 11
Astrophysics (Plus Digital SkyVoice) http://www.astro-physics.com/
400 GTO $ 5,130 8.2 Superceded by Mach1
600E GTO $ 6,430 11.4 Superceded by Mach 1
Mach1 GTO $ 8,500 20 +/- 7 (in 1 worm rotation per 6.4 minutes)
900 GTO $ 11,357 35 +/- 3
1200 GTO $ 13,429 +/- 2
Mountain Instruments (+ Losmandy Gemini Go To) http://www.mathis-instruments.com/
MI 250 $ 10,000 30 - 36 +/- ? assume pretty good!
MI 500 $ 16,700 82
MI 750 $ 25,500 127
MI 1000 $ 52,000 205
Paramount ME Robotic Telescope Mount http://www.bisque.com/Products/Paramount/
ME $ 18,000 68 +/- 1
http://www.bisque.com/help/paramount...ifications.htm
So lets say I want a decent size scope and mount, say a 9.25" or 11" Celestron which has a bit of weight too it, placing it just beyond what a Vixen Sphinx should be loaded with (sigh). Well I could start with an LD-75 or CG-5 mount or do better by getting a EQ6-Pro mount + skyscan for Go To (Andrews do these) about $2,100. The Pro EQ6 is really just the EQ 6 painted white (to look Japanese) and costing $300 more. Better still would be a Losmandy G-11 plus Gemini $5,000 and maybe up from this is an Celestron CGE (or is that the other way round)? Reviews make it abit hard to tell at the moment!
If I step up to the CGE mounts I fork out another $2,000 for an unknown gain (help out guys!).
PS
High end Vixen tripods cost $900 - $1,200 above those dollars. Mount Instruments don't include tripods (or more realistically piers) either.
PPS
Piers start around $550 (astro online), check compatability with your mount.
Work in progress!