Celestron CGE-Pro mount (Not to be confused with CGE)

[AlexN]

Agreed.. Lets all remember, that the CGE-Pro sits around $12K AUD. The Paramount ME is around $13.5KUSD... The price difference (for us lowly aussies) is not great enough to warrant buying a CGE Pro. If we did not pay inflated celestron prices, it may not be so bad... but Im pretty sure we could get an Astrophysics AP900GTO for roughly the same price as the CGE Pro...

[Paul Haese]

I got to be honest here and say I would not buy a CGE pro at that price or anything over 6 grand. The CGE is a good mount (I have one at my city residence which I put my C14 onto) but it does have 10" of PE and even with software adjustment a mount that cannot track at 3" + or - PE is not worth 12 grand. My EM400 cost 12 grand and that is built like a tank and has excellent PE at 1.6" peak to peak. Save your money guys and buy a quality mount if you are going to spend 12 grand on a mount.

[g__day (Matthew)]

There's a review in this months Australian Sky and SPace - not a great review - more a very kind review. I note after alignment it says pointing is +/- 6 arc minutes. My Vixen Atlux at half the cost does twice as well (before MaxPoint which brings pointing to under 57 arc seconds error).

The Adjusted PE is around 5 arc seconds (again more than double the Vixen).

Bottom line - this carries alot of weight and it does look like the DEC design minimises backlash very well. The Handcontroller is no way a Gemini or SkySensor - more a toy in comparision.

[AG Hybrid (Adrian)]

Andrews Communication in Sydney is selling the CGE Pro for $9,999 atm.

You still need to be quite mad to buy it at that amount.

[AlexN]

Yeah. You can have a Losmandy Titan with Gemini for $100 less, carries ~5kgs more weight, tracks with 5 arcsec PE or better out of the box, improved with PEC enabled.. Even though the Titan doesnt come with a tripod, it still seems like a simple choice to me...

[terrynz (Terence)]

I was considering the CGE Pro over a PME; mainly the cost aspect. However the CGE-Pro is just a bigger CGE and being a CGE owner and remembering some of the issues I've had to "make it work"; I wouldn't purchase the CGE-Pro as an upgrade. An AP900 or Titan or EM200 would be a better option for the money.

cheers
Terry

[Logieberra (Logan)]

Saw this price at Andrew's site:

CGE-PRO Super-heavy duty computerised German equatorial mount and tripod. Deposit required Now $7,999.00

[g__day (Matthew)]

Cute - but too much money for that mount - give the AUD > USD at present and OPT Corp sell the CGE-Pro plus an 1100 EdgeHD OTA for USD $7,999 (or an 1400 EdgeHD plus CGE-Pro for USD $8,999).

Seems like alot to pay for what you get; the CGP-Pro retails at Opt for USD $4,999 ... which is about $4,954 AUD

PS

In no way do I infer Lee is price gouging us - just the opposite - I expect that its between Celestron and the distributor that make everyone look like saps in this arrangement. Lee has to advertise the CGE PRO 1400 EdgeHD at $19,999 AUD (RRP A$34,999) (ed. buy price in US retail in AUD is around $8,900 today)...