New Toy - Mesu200

[derrickf]

I picked this up from Bernard at Modern Astronomy last weekend but have been away on business since. I managed to get it attached to my pier today without too many problems.

I'll be mounting an Edge 11HD on it initially; I previously had the scope mounted on an EQ-8 which worked fine for imaging at 1900mm using a reducer and my Atik 383L+ but hi-res imaging at native focal length was a challenge with only about 50% of images worth keeping. The EQ-8 is a fantastic mount for the price and did a great job at shorter focal length than 2000mm but needed constant attention when imaging at close to 3000mm

I'm hoping that the Mesu will let me concentrate on imaging rather than having to nurse the equipment at long focal lengths - I plan to mount a 14" or 16" RC on it in the near future if it works out as well as I expect with the Edge 11HD.

Derrick

[Davey-T]

Very nice Derrick, expect to see some top images

Dave

[Mr Spock]

Nice mount. It should handle the bigger scopes really well.

[Helen]

Welcome to the club    Read Steve Richard's starter guide rather than the manual first 

Helen

[ollypenrice]

In two years ours never dropped a sub at 2.4 metres. I think you should be fine. I'm sure Steve's manual will be a big help, too.

Olly

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

Drool!!!

That looks great. Congratulations

[derrickf]

Thanks everybody - I'm really looking forward to getting to know the mount over the next couple of months of night-long twilight in the UK.

@Helen and the others who recommended Steve Richards' quick start guide - yes this is a really useful resource that distils the important setup requirements from the rather daunting Sitech manual.

@Ollie - your experiences with Yves' setup was one of the factors in my decision to try the Mesu rather than spend 3X as much on a new AstroPhysics mount. I used to own both an AP900 and AP1200 and imaging at 3000mm focal length with either of those was a doddle.

Derrick

[kirkster501]

I am also hoping to get one of these later this year.

[derrickf]

I'll be reporting on progress as I get the mount bedded in; I don't recall seeing any negative feedback about the mount so far (other than as a result of user error) - I have high hopes.

I've been following your thread in another forum documenting your observatory build - I wish I had your DIY skills