I agree with Brett, this has been a very interesting read.
There have obviously been some not so good experiences for some of the people buying the SB PMX. I guess the heart of the beef is that given the price being paid for the PMX, there was no expectation of some of the issues that have been raised. If you had paid 1500 for the same mount, there may have been more acceptance of the issues. Another problem I suspect is that we (amateur astronomers) have never had it so good, mounts, cameras, focusers and associated software are being delivered at levels of sophistication that 10-15 years ago we could only dream about. This also brings significant levels of complexity, a sentiment that has been echoed by a number of people.
SB have a solid reputation as leading the field, is the PMX perfect? probably not, but I can't imagine that SB won't learn from the problems that have been identified and will continue to improve their mount and software offerings. If you look at the history of AP, your will find a similar pattern.
I for one cant wait to see what's coming up around the corner. In the mean time, one of my greatest regrets was selling my SB PME, the third incarnation of the venerable 1100 GT mount. What a mount, what a great experience to have owned such a superb piece of gear.
Let's keep all of these things in perspective. Many of us love fiddling with our gear, SB have increased our opportunity to do so, even if only for a short period of time.
