What's the best 'value' Go TO mount one can buy?

[g__day]

Two questions:

For say a 5" - 9" or even slightly larger scope (using a 5" MAK at the moment but want to upgrade to a 9" - 11".

So I'm tossing up doing a two step (to spread the cost for my financial controller :). That is get the mount then get the scope later.

So for an equatorial Go To would anyone comment?

e.g. Andrews has

<TABLE class=content cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=2 border=1><TBODY><TR class=tbl_text><TD class=desc>CG5 Computerised Go-To Mount with stainless steel tripod legs</TD><TD class=price>$1399.00</TD></TR><TR class=tbl_text><TD class=desc>Skywatcher EQ6 Mount with Skyscan Go-To Upgrade</TD><TD class=price>call</TD></TR><TR class=tbl_text><TD class=desc>Skywatcher HEQ5 PRO Series SkyScan Go-To Mount</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>

BinTel sells the LXD75 GoTo mount for around $1,600 etc.

What advice can folk give me please?

* * * * *

Question 2. When you get a Go To equatorial mount, how does it get properly aligned to celestial south? Is it a two / three star set up - or is that only for fork mount go to scopes? I place my scope on a balcony facing North East (no Southerly view) so get it precisely aligned (after weeks of trying) seems very challenging. Will I still have this challenge even with any/every equatorial go to mount?

[rumples riot]

Yeah I got the EQ6 and this is a nice mount. With skyscan it is competent. Also it is strong enough to support most payloads. Very stable and quiet accurate.

[rumples riot]

Sorry, there is a two star alignment and Pec training on the EQ6. All seem to work fine.

[matt]

Rumples

What setting to do have for your backlash on the SynScan?

[mick pinner]

personally l would suggest the Losmandy G11 a fair bit dearer than the others but it will take very large payloads, perfect for astrophotography. if you buy one of these in the beginning l doubt you would ever have to upgrade and lose money along the way.

[rumples riot]

I have not adjusted Backlash yet. Might have to have a look at it. I know that I do have a bit of backlash in the RA axis. However it is not too bad at the moment.

Mick your right a G11 is a nice mount, but the cost can be quite prohibitive.

[mick pinner]

they are dear Paul or is that Puppet something or other (never mind), if g_day knows what he will eventually want (telescope size) it may save money in the long run, we all know how much money can be lost dealing in second hand equipment.

[matt]

Rumples

I've recently noticed that my scope slews very closely to the object i select and right at the end, when it's slowed down and almost come to a stop, looking thru the EP, I can see it move off target in its final movement?

It's really quite annoying coz the object's so close to being in the EP and then there's this sudden final movement/ adjustment that takes it away from the FOV.

That'd be backlash, right?

[rumples riot]

Yeah sounds like Backlash Matt. It will over shoot a little on the slew or take sometime to get started.

Your absolutely right Mick, if you know what you want to begin with it can be easier. Wish I had known this 6 scopes ago. LOL

[Dennis]

Hi Matt

My Celestron Nexstar 5 does something like this, but on purpose it seems. It slews quickly to the object, slows down as it approaches, then overshoots slightly to rewind back to more or less central, taking out the backlash so it can then track correctly.

In my Vixen Skysensor 2000 GoTo unit, you can set the RA and DEC backlash parameters in the software. A low number “means” no backlash so the drive train drives at normal speed; a high number “means” lots of backlash, drive fast to take up the initial slack then slow down to normal speed.

Does you mount have any settings to adjust to take out the backlash? Either mechanically or via software?

Cheers

Dennis

[matt]

Yes Dennis

SynScan has adjustable backlash.

Will have to try it at high and low numbers.

Will let you know what happens:)

[Robert_T]

Gday, I have the LXD75 goto with 2in stainless legs and am happy with it using a 7inch and 9.25 inch cassegrain on it. It's rock solid with the 7in and more than adequate for planetary imaging with the C9.25. I bought it for $1400 new from Star Optics on the gold Coast a few months ago.

cheers,

Rob

[JohnH]

FWIW I researched this recently, there is a middle ground between the Celestron/Meade/EQx and the Losmandy/TAK - it is Vixen, there are varoius models with various ratings from the GP to the Atlux - I drive a Sphinx - a few quirks it has to be sure but it is a quality mount.

[g__day]

So two questions (again)

1. How do you rank the various mounts - price performance wise? Is there a sweet spot or just get the cheapest for $1399 from Andrews?

What factors should sway me to or from a Meade LD 75 an Eq 6 + skyscan or a Sphinx etc? What is the determining factor amongst these options? Is it pointing accuracy, backlash, slew rates, computer controller, weight its capable of managing etc...

2. How does an equatorial mount with a 2 or 3 star align actually work (i.e. find celestial South)? Does it actually slew to point to Celestial South for you - or does it say after entering your GPS co-ordinates plus the time check your first star - say 5 degrees east please, then check your second star and say 1/2 degree more elevation etc?

I'm curious to know how it actually points or helps you point the mount precisely at celestial South thanks!

[Dennis]

Hi g-day

In terms of Q1, can you envisage yourself getting into long exposure, auto-guided deep sky imaging with either a ccd camera or a DSLR? Here, the mount’s control unit makes regular, hopefully smooth and minor guiding adjustments to the polar aligned mount as it tracks the e.g. galaxy at the sidereal rate.

This is important because I have seen club members use the "value for money" Celestron, Meade and Chinese mounts and all appear to work well for visual use, have very rich electronic GoTo systems and satisfy the owner.

When it comes down to long exposure deep sky imaging, the Losmandy, Vixen and Tak mounts operate best "out of the box" with a minimum of tweaking.

My first mount was a Vixen GP and it was great for visual use. When I started manually guided 35mm astrophotography it easily rose to the challenge and made the job easy. When I further stressed the Vixen by auto-guided ccd imaging, it again rose to the challenge although it was getting closer to its full capability, but remained reliable, predictable and easy to use. Lesser mounts would have failed this progressively more demanding set of applications. The demands placed on a mount for long exposure deep sky ccd imaging are quite considerable.

With my Tak mount, it literally is set up and go. I have seen fellow club members really struggle with lesser mounts and they often appear to have to work hard all night to nurse them along or tweak them. Some enjoy this facet of the hobby - I don't.

For short exposure planetary and lunar imaging, from the great images I have seen posted on IIS, it appears that you do not require a mid-range mount like the Vixen, or a premium mount like the Losmandy or Tak.

Cheers

Dennis

[gbeal]

When I first read this thread my initialy reaction was that the mount suggested would not cope with the requirments, "9 inch - 11 inch". I still feel that way.
However, there are a few mounts out there that can and will do most of what people want. The EQ6 seems to be one of them.
My suggestion is buy the best you can, and never look back. The G-11 is probably the pick, as for value for money it is hard to come close to. There are better than this of course, but again the price rises severely.
Get the best you can justify, or be prepared to do it in steps, like most of us, me included.

[JohnH]

Re Q2,

I think you are going to have some issues here, for a good goto performance you need three/four stars, prefereably 2 each side of the meridian, for good tracking you will need accurate polar alignment, a GE mount will only run the RA motor to track (as will a polar aligned fork) so accurate polar alignment is a must. You will need to level your mount and set your latitude on the DEC scale, then use a compass (allow for local variation) so get South, then do a drift alignment and mark your tripod's position on the ground. Alignment after that is the carry/plonk method for visual/planetary and drift to refine it for long exposures.

Q1 has been answered well already - get the best mount you can afford.

[g__day]

But then question one once again boils down to the as yet unresolved how to you assign budget between size of aperature and quality and even type of mount? Once again it is what is better for backyard use where astrophotography might eventually be desired, a:

1. Meade 12" LX90 $5,700
2. Celestron 11" CPC $5,500
3. Meade 10" LX200(R) $5,300 ($6,350)

all of which are fork mounted and costing all up around the $5,500 +/- $200 mark. Else you buy a OTA for say $2,100 for a Meade 10" or $3,750 for a Meade 12" and mount it to a GE say either a Vixen Sphinx for $2,500 up to a Losmandy G11 for $5,000.

So again a myriad of options and prices between low $5,000 to $5,500 for mounted to $4,600 to $8,750 GE mounted on a pretty good rig.

Wonder why folk find this confusing... What is the decision matrix to sort through all of this please! Do I go larger aperature or better quality mount if its most of the time going to be in my backyard? Do I go Meade or Celestron? Do I go fork or equatorial mount? Do I go sturdy tripod or pier?

Please help end this dilemma!

PS

Looking at the Meade 10" LX200R for $6,350 at BinTel which in USD is http://www.meade.com/lx200r/index.html $3,399 (At AUD about $4,850 + postage) don't you ponder where the extra $1,500 in value is comming from that Australian dealers are taking when they pass the price onto us? (Yes I know you have taxes and foreign insurance and freight, plus VAR profits - but 1/3 of your price in pure overheads is a bit much!)

[[1ponders]]

M2CW

If you're primary concern is deep sky CCD astrophotography then an equatorial mount is a must. Yes you can image using fork mounted scopes on wedges but they will struggle for deep work. As a visual mount with occasional imaging with not too heavy demands on them they will work relatively well, especially if you tweak and mod the wedges, or get a premium wedge. But if you want to make the hubble take a back seat you will need an Eq mount (at least :) )

I started with an LX200GPS 8" and still wish I had if for purely visual use, but for imaging I found I struggled with it too much initially for imaging. By the time I'd gotten it figured out I'd bought an eq and needed to sell the LX. Never looked back as far as imaging then. Oh and btw I bought the same OTA that I had on the Meade. An 8" sct OTA. ;)

And the replacement mount I bought? a Losmandy GM8 which now sits proudly beside my Losmandy G11. Yes it is an expensive hobby. :sad: People talk about aperture fever. No one mentions mount fever :(

[[1ponders]]

Oh and as far as aperture V Quality and Tripod V pier.

Again M2CW. Get small good quality and when you've mastered that (oohh in about 50 years you might run out of things to image....not) you will be able to make the transition to longer focal length with more ease. I said I bought the 8" meade, but I also have the 80 mm Orion. Guess which one i spend the most time imaging out of. With the shorter focal length the Orion is less critical of alignment and mount errors so I can be happy with my images while I'm learning to perfect my technique.

Plus until I get a pier then setting up each night takes quite a while to get the mount accurate enough if I want to image through the 8" even with autoguiding. I guess that sort of answers your last question a bit. A tripod is great if you want mobility and the Losmandy G11 mount is as solid as they come but for convenience I am really envious of those who can walk out into their back yard and basically start imaging. (It is going to happen soon :prey: )

This doesn't mean a Losmandy is what you need. It's just to give you another persons perspective. Work out your mobility requirements (it's a heavy mount all up), your carrying capabilities, (don't be mislead by the relatively small weight mounts are quoted at, they are very awkward to carry no matter how heavy they are, unless you pull the bigger ones right down).

Go to a star party and have a look what's available. Pick everyones brains to pieces until they are sick of the sight of you (not likely to happen. There is very little astronomers like more than to talk about their equipment)

Hope my rambling has helped a bit

[Striker]

I am going through a phase of keeping my answers short.

Losmandy G11 with Celestron 9.25 SCT..you cant go wrong.

[g__day]

Taa thank you all.

Summing up feedback seems to be go for an equatorial mount over a fork mount, go for a pier if you don't need mobility and go for mount quality over aperature if CCD astrophotography is on the agenda!

[[1ponders]]

Spot on. You can have the best scope in the world but if your mount sucks then you might as well have the worst scope in the world when it comes to imaging.

The way image processing is going these days you can do wonders with a good achromatic refractor and remove the aberation from your stars, as long as your mount can do it's job properly.