Losmandy G-11

[mick pinner]

Could any of the members with the Losmandy G-11 and the Gemini Go-To give a quick (or not) run down on their opinion, and please be critical if there is any area you are not happy with, l'm thinking about one for my R-C, Advanced Telescopes have some coming in 2-3 weeks and one isn't spoken for so l have to decide
which way to go. Thanks.

The only negative I reckon is the somewhat unusual manual. It is in my opinion, for what it is worth, not very user friendly. I am only just coming to terms with it now. As far as its performance and construction, I believe it is 1st class. Yeah I know there are better, but they are also a lot, lot more expensive. As it is, I paid around $5500 for the G11 and Gemini, but that was when the Aussie dollar was absolute crud, so it is probably a little cheaper now.
Just my 2 cents worth.

[ausastronomer (John Bambury)]

Mick,

What scope do you plan to mount on it ?

CS-John B

[mick pinner]

l've ordered a 16" carbon fibre R/C.

Not sure about the weight of the 16", but it might be worth considering the Losmandy Titan. Apparently this is a beast of a thing.

http://www.losmandy.com/hgm-titan.html

Have a look.

Peter

[mick pinner]

according to Advanced Telescopes the old Titans are out of stock and the new ones have been completely redesigned and will cost about $12,000 au.

[ausastronomer (John Bambury)]

Mick,

I will post you a detailed reply tomorrow, I am waiting on some info from the USA for you, to accompany the info I already have. The Losmandy G11 would not carry it, so forget that option IMO. The Titan would be not if it were my scope.

Seriously I would be looking at a better quality mount than a Losmandy for that scope. The scope you have bought is right at the top of the tree, putting it on a Losmandy is a bit like ordering a new Rolls Royce with vinyl seats instead of leather.

I am not knocking Losmandy mounts at all, they are excellent at their price level, I just don't think they are to the same level as your intended scope in this case which is $AUS 50k plus I would imagine and about as good as it gets.

CS-John B

[westsky]

Hi Mick, for that scope your'e buying you need one of these mounts
http://www.anssentechnologies.com.au/
not cheap but thats not a cheap scope either :-))

cheers
david.

[ausastronomer (John Bambury)]

David,

Their is another Anssen Technologies mount also appropriate to that scope and its smaller and cheaper than the Atika mount. It is called the Alhena mount but there is no link to it from the homepage you provided. Here is the full link to the Alhena mount

http://www.anssentechnologies.com.au/alhena.html

I was actually going to give Mick this link tomorrow with some futher information regarding 2 other suitable mounts, the Takahashi EM500 and the Software Bisque Paramount ME.

CS-John Bambury

[westsky]

Thanks John , that was the mount I was looking for. I last saw it a couple of years ago and was considering buying one back then.
I couldn't find the link to the Alhena and thought they had maybe stopped making them.

cheers
David.

[ausastronomer (John Bambury)]

Mick,

As I mentioned yesterday your dropping a serious amount of coin on that scope which is about as good as it gets from an amateur point of view. Realistically it should be matched to a mount of similar quality. Peter Ward will probably tell you the Losmandy is up there, my American colleagues that have high end astrophotography setups tell me otherwise, but remember they are not Losmandy agents. The Losmandy is not quite to the same standard in terms of machining tolerances and resultant PE. The Losmandy is a mount well matched to a scope like a Celestron C14 not a scope costing 5 or 6 times what the C14 costs.

You already have the links to the mounts from Anssen Technologies. Peter Mellander who owns Anssen Technologies actually has a large Ritchey Chretien mounted on one of his own mounts. I also know that Joe Cauchi, one of Australia's leading astrophotographers has a 16"/F4.5 solid tubed Newtonian mounted on an Alhena mount. Grove Creek observatory has a C14 mounted on one, as does Sutherland Astronomical Society. The Alhena mount can be matched to Argo Navis. There were some issues with the electronics of the mount in the early days but I understand these have been resolved, talk to Peter Mellander about this. Gary Kopff from Argo Navis may be able to shed a little more light on this as I know he has been working very closely with Peter Mellander in respect to some new innovations for the firmware upgrade of Argo Navis. If there were to be issues with a mount of this size I would prefer to resolve it locally within Australia than via the USA.

If you were to go with an imported mount the best options would be the Paramount ME or the Takahashi EM-500. I have a colleague in the US (Kevin Dixon) who owns both a Takahashi EM-500 and EM-250 and has also used the Paramount ME and Astrophysics AP-1200 extensively and rates the Paramount ME as marginally superior to the Tak EM-500, which he also rates as superb. He didn't feel the AP-1200 was as good as the other two and the waiting time on it is several years. The wait time on the Paramount is about 6 months, while the wait time on the Takahashi EM-500 would be minimal. Optical Guidance Systems (OGS) who also make Ritchey Chretiens, more expensive in fact than those from RCOS, supply their 16" RC on a Paramount ME if ordered with a mount. Steven Lee has a Paramount ME on permanent loan from some American colleagues out at Coonabarabran.

http://www.aao.gov.au/local/www/sl/sl-digp3.html

Send Steven an email and ask him how he rates the Paramount ME to the Losmandy G-11 which he was previously using with an AP 130.

sl@aaocbn.aao.gov.au

http://www.takahashiamerica.com/EM500.htm

http://www.bisque.com/Products/Paramount/

Hope I have been of some assistance and enjoy your scope.

CS-John Bambury

[mick pinner]

Thanks for the time and effort fellas, l will follow up on the good advice offered.

[seeker372011 (Narayan)]

Gosh Iceman, once Mick's scope is up and running dont you feel an Ice in Space star party coming on at the Astrolounge Observatory

[iceman (Mike)]

That's for sure Seeker.. I'm sure mick's observatory will house the 100 iceinspace members that will attend

[GCO (Closed)]

Hello John,

Just for accuracy, Grove Creek Observatory has never had a C14 mounted on a Alhena mount. The C14 is still in the original sand cast mount, that has been retrofitted by me with stepping motors and and a Argo Navis.

We have never used a Alhena mount and do not own one.

Steven Williams.
Managing Astronomer.

Originally Posted by ausastronomer

Mick,

As I mentioned yesterday your dropping a serious amount of coin on that scope which is about as good as it gets from an amateur point of view. Realistically it should be matched to a mount of similar quality. Peter Ward will probably tell you the Losmandy is up there, my American colleagues that have high end astrophotography setups tell me otherwise, but remember they are not Losmandy agents. The Losmandy is not quite to the same standard in terms of machining tolerances and resultant PE. The Losmandy is a mount well matched to a scope like a Celestron C14 not a scope costing 5 or 6 times what the C14 costs.

You already have the links to the mounts from Anssen Technologies. Peter Mellander who owns Anssen Technologies actually has a large Ritchey Chretien mounted on one of his own mounts. I also know that Joe Cauchi, one of Australia's leading astrophotographers has a 16"/F4.5 solid tubed Newtonian mounted on an Alhena mount. Grove Creek observatory has a C14 mounted on one, as does Sutherland Astronomical Society. The Alhena mount can be matched to Argo Navis. There were some issues with the electronics of the mount in the early days but I understand these have been resolved, talk to Peter Mellander about this. Gary Kopff from Argo Navis may be able to shed a little more light on this as I know he has been working very closely with Peter Mellander in respect to some new innovations for the firmware upgrade of Argo Navis. If there were to be issues with a mount of this size I would prefer to resolve it locally within Australia than via the USA.

If you were to go with an imported mount the best options would be the Paramount ME or the Takahashi EM-500. I have a colleague in the US (Kevin Dixon) who owns both a Takahashi EM-500 and EM-250 and has also used the Paramount ME and Astrophysics AP-1200 extensively and rates the Paramount ME as marginally superior to the Tak EM-500, which he also rates as superb. He didn't feel the AP-1200 was as good as the other two and the waiting time on it is several years. The wait time on the Paramount is about 6 months, while the wait time on the Takahashi EM-500 would be minimal. Optical Guidance Systems (OGS) who also make Ritchey Chretiens, more expensive in fact than those from RCOS, supply their 16" RC on a Paramount ME if ordered with a mount. Steven Lee has a Paramount ME on permanent loan from some American colleagues out at Coonabarabran.

http://www.aao.gov.au/local/www/sl/sl-digp3.html

Send Steven an email and ask him how he rates the Paramount ME to the Losmandy G-11 which he was previously using with an AP 130.

sl@aaocbn.aao.gov.au

http://www.takahashiamerica.com/EM500.htm

http://www.bisque.com/Products/Paramount/

Hope I have been of some assistance and enjoy your scope.

CS-John Bambury

[Bassnut (Fred)]

Hi Mike

Im new here, so whatever its worth . A 16" RC sounds like perfect match for an ME. I have a 12" on a G11, its OK but pushing it. The FL alone would make the G11 unsuitable I think. At best, I get 5 arc secs PE.

Cheers
Fred

[Striker (Tony)]

Wow this thread is a year and half old.

I dont think Mick is interested in any of these mounts or scopes now.

[Bassnut (Fred)]

Hi Tony, hehe, so much to learn, didnt notice the date, sheesh, good start ;-)

[h0ughy (David)]

Originally Posted by Striker

Wow this thread is a year and half old.

I dont think Mick is interested in any of these mounts or scopes now.

Umm I don't think that was the point, I think it was to correct some misleading information Tony

[ausastronomer (John Bambury)]

Exactly David, but I am now curious as to who has the C14 on the Alhena mount. I actually enquired of several people about the Alhena mount 4 years or so ago, on behalf of an American friend who was planning on buying one for himself.

It must be Sutherland Astronomical Society who has the C14 on the Alhena Mount with Argo Navis. I know I talked on the phone for some time, with someone who had such a setup. lol

CS-John B