Astrophysics 1200GTO no more...

[Jessun]

Waiting patiently for an Astro-Physics 1200GTO, it turns out that as of April 20th, they aren't produced anymore!

A new 1600GTO slots in between the 900GTO and the 3600GTO.

The 1600GTO sure looks the part but oh dear what will it cost... and it's pushing the limit for portability:(

That would explain the odd coversation I had with AP regarding certain mount measurments for a home made pier. The answer was "we don't know as it's changing." Some change!

Now what to do...

http://www.astro-physics.com/products/mounts/1600gto/1600gto.pdf

[ollypenrice]

Looks good to me. You're going to love it (because it's dead obvious that you're going to buy it!!!)

Olly

[RobH]

Knowing how big the 1200 is, the 1600 is going to be a beast!!

Portable....hardly

[Jessun]

(because it's dead obvious that you're going to buy it!!!)

Guilty as charged...

[ollypenrice]

Guilty as charged...

Ideally you'd want to install such a mount in the south east of France in a permanent setup. Naturally the weekly rent would be dreadfully expensive but it would be well worth it :D:D.

Olly

[Jessun]

How about simply a bottle of Cote du Rhone's finest for when I'd pop down to remove bird's nests and bat dropping from the mirrors? Cuz a reflector of sort will live atop this behemoth. I'm after smiley you know!

Ah, well, who knows what the waiting list will be like... so maybe we should settle for a decent Beaujolais and a battle scarred HEQ5 for some time to come!

[ollypenrice]

Heh heh. Birds are nesting like mad at the moment but wasps are the ones that like telescopes... I found this out the hard way.

That AP really does look good. The cabling I've seen on the Mach One and what a good idea it is.

Olly

[Jessun]

Hmmm....

An example from modern life:

AP900 GTO is $8750 over there and €9170 here.

AP1600 GTO is $10900 over there and €15000 here...

AP900, could you pay in euros in the US would be €6700, but you can't so here in Europe you pay 36% extra to cover custom, tax, shipping, profit etc.

AP1600 could you pay in euros in the US would be €8393, but you can't so here in Europe you pay 78% extra to cover custom, tax, shipping, profit etc...

Should anyone sensible wait? Wait for what? Or go for something else?

What do you think guys? Should I put €3485 extra! - on top of the 36% - towards someone else's Mercedes??? (My car is a third of that...)

My initial thought is that the AP900 - old as it may be - is actually a bargain of sort. It seems even cheap!

I don't know what the enoders will add to this - and I'm still reasonably hell bent to get the PE version... but to be honest, the maths here annoy me and if I showed the Ms - I'd be returned to star dust...

[astrogaz]

This is seriously bothering me too. My first option was the paramount ME, but they have stopped production until september 2012...aarrghhh and then AP go and stop the 1200..after I have just raised the funds for the 16" LX and a new mount. Needed them both in place for BBC 4 filming at the observatory in August..Now Im stuck for the mount. The problems buying second hand kit are obvious and my funders would string me up if I did...the 1600 seems overkill for what I need it for and at a tasty price too.

[ollypenrice]

Takahashi? Good value they ain't, modern they ain't, but portable the smaller ones are, and with the best polar alignment routine in the business. Mine's pretty good nowadays. This was shooting in Sagittarius, very low, two nights ago. When I saw the RA trace my instant reaction was that the guide programme had hung up, to be honest...

Olly

[JamesF]

This is seriously bothering me too. My first option was the paramount ME, but they have stopped production until september 2012...aarrghhh and then AP go and stop the 1200..after I have just raised the funds for the 16" LX and a new mount. Needed them both in place for BBC 4 filming at the observatory in August..Now Im stuck for the mount. The problems buying second hand kit are obvious and my funders would string me up if I did...the 1600 seems overkill for what I need it for and at a tasty price too.

If the information is any use, SCS Astro have a Paramount ME on display in the shop as far as I recall. It must have been there at least a year.

James