Mount upgrade time.

[RAC]

Hi all, I'm looking at upgrading my mount. I only do AP and currently only have the scopes in my sig. I think i could get away with an eq6 but i do have a little more money to spend on something better if i want, the only problem being that i'm in NZ and no one stocks any better mounts, importing doesn't seem to very costeffective.

So currently my options are a mates very good condition Tak em200 for around the 4-5k nz or an in stock neq6 for 2.6k nz.

One mount that i don't know alot about is the Celestron CGE(the old one), ones popped up for sale with a CGE1100 OTA all for a price i could afford but i don't really have alot of use for the ota although i'm sure i would have a go using it maybe for planets ect.

My main question is the CGE a good mount for AP? i see it has a 65lb loading limit so thats alot more that the em200 or eq6. I don't see alot of people using these mounts?

Thanks

Raymond.

[StarryEyed]

TAK TAK TAK.

Buy it you'll never look back. If you dont you will always regret it !

Everything else you have mentiooned will have bad points from poor quality control. The worst part of a TAK are it goods points everything else about a TAK will be excellent. If its second hand and your in the market the Sky Gods Favour you !!!

[ollypenrice]

I saw a CGE recently and can't say I was bowled over by it. Pretty primitive, I thought, and some bits of nastiness.

I have a Tak EM200 and two EQ sixes. If the Tak is in certain working order then it might be good. Mine, I must say, was not great when I bought it new but now works well, though for the price I'd like it to be even better than it is. It is far more accurate than an EQ6, much better made and is a dream to polar align fast in the field, not that I do that. Spares prices are outrageous - 150 Euros for a cable. With that kind of contempt for their customers Takahashi don't deserve too many sales, in my opinion. I'm still angry about their lousy dealers, prices and refusal to communicate. With a more sensible price and a bit of effort on Tak's part I'd endorse their product which is, in many ways, excellent if a bit basic on the features front. I find it very fussy on balance but when it's right it's right and it ticks away all night. I can't say I'd want to put a very long FL on it though. In a nutshell it's good but it should be better.

For the price of a new EM200 you could buy a new Mesu 2 and that is in a class apart. But portable it ain't.

Olly

[ampleamp]

Hi Raymond, don't necessarily be put off by importing. We moved back from NZ to UK 10 years ago and put all our stuff in a container. Somehow we managed to forget two boxes. The shipping company were brilliant in that they made up a container from people's odds and sods and because you pay on volume, not weight, the charge was very reasonable. The only downside is the time delay. Overall, we were extremely pleased with the result and cost.

Also, don't forget, if you buy new for export (from UK or EU) you will not have to pay vat, which in UK is 20%. The chances of a custom charge in NZ would have to be taken, but our experience is that they are far more interested in spiders and beasties and that they wouldn't care about a lump of metal. Good luck with your decisions, i am going though exactly the same thought processes right now. Alistair

[RAC]

Thanks olly, the mesu is a bit out of reach as is most mounts when looking at importing them into NZ. No one here stocks anything good, the only stocked mount is the eq6 and i could buy one of those and some other goody's to go with it right now if i wanted but i want to hold off and just get the best mount i can afford, the rest can come in time.

[StarryEyed]

Same here upgrading fed up of poor quallity control on expensive items. I am in a position to invest in the near furture and have for years sworn at my EQ5 and sworn I would buy a mount that once bought I would never have to think about again. I could not justify a EM200T2 on price but I could on performance compared to anything below it. I really need to find out more about iOptron IEQ45 v2 it has the price of the TAK and by all accounts (of which there are not many) better than a NEQ6 so it might be the middle ground. The difference could pick up a nice bit of kit.

Personally if I could buy a second hand EM200 T2 I would do it in a heart beat and not worry about the difference.

[RAC]

Same here upgrading fed up of poor quallity control on expensive items. I am in a position to invest in the near furture and have for years sworn at my EQ5 and sworn I would buy a mount that once bought I would never have to think about again. I could not justify a EM200T2 on price but I could on performance compared to anything below it. I really need to find out more about iOptron IEQ45 v2 it has the price of the TAK and by all accounts (of which there are not many) better than a NEQ6 so it might be the middle ground. The difference could pick up a nice bit of kit.

Personally if I could buy a second hand EM200 T2 I would do it in a heart beat and not worry about the difference.

Yep if i can get the tak for closer to 4k nz i'll take it, its only 2km down the road and in perfect nick. But then again i'm always looking at using one of those cheap 12inch relectors and i dont think the tak would like it. You do see them on the eq6's with good results but i'm sure there would be some swearing involved just like there is now with the eq5.

[StarryEyed]

A 12inch wiil have a lot of inertia and require a lot of torque. You my friend have quite a problem.

If your mate has a new or second mount or you can swap yours with his for a while just so you can see how the TAK will cope this wont cost anything and at least you then have a real world test that you can use as a bench mark for anything else. If you throw in some beer I am sure he would let you try it out. I think this would be my first course of action.

[StarryEyed]

One other thing that is important and should not be far from your mind.

Tom Wodasiki (I'm sure thats the correct spelling) said or words to the effect that a great camera and scope on an average mount will produce average results. A 12" on a EQ6 might not return as many good frames as a 10" or a TAK. So you could be more effective and less frustrated which is were I am coming from I guess.

[RAC]

Well i did what i thought i wasn't going to do and that was buy the CGE and C11 combo. I mounted it on the pier and spent about 10min polar aligning it and i could have got it better as it was still drifting to the south a little.

I'm not intending to image with the C11 but thought it would be good to test the guiding out with it as its f10 and 2800mm of FL.

Using an orion starshoot with a finder scope mounted under the C11.

100% crop of a single 10min sub, 1000d.

[ollypenrice]

Remarkably good. Nothing to say, that is good.

Olly

[Plantins]

I'm not an imager but have had and have recently aquired another CGE mount.

They are decent mounts, up with the Losmandy G11 and wayyy better in terms of build quality than an EQ6 PRO.

Good choice!

[RobH]

I had a CGE for a while and had a TMB152 plus guidescope on it, which put it quite near the limit for weight....it still guided well though, although I had to be very careful with balance due to the large load.

I thought it was a good mount.

Rob

[RAC]

Yep it should make easy work of my 1000mm FL scope!