Which one did you end up choosing? Haven’t yet, anyway. Is that true that Losmandy G8 is a better mount.

Might it be worth thinking through your deep sky imaging rig with a blank sheet of paper? Page 1 of 2 - Celestron CGX vs Losmandy GM811G - posted in Mounts: Hi guys, Im kind of a newbie so thanks in advance for your patience. There’s Finally, don't forget to join the Yahoo groups for Gemini 2 and also for Losmandy. subsequently found out, however, that just moving the mount RA either by hand I have used one for several months and tried in vain to improve the performance. After a lot of consideration (charts and spreadsheets) I chose the CGX. The Losmandy G11 in particular, with its sixty pound instrument capacity, is our most popular mount upgrade among astrophotographers. I have joined the Losmandy user group as well as starting to peruse the Gemini II information available. kin don’t really, It’s time to polar align.

The Atlas and CGEM, for example, can handle maybe 40 pounds of telescope and gear for imaging, but they weigh in at around 40 pounds (for just the mount head). I When I am finished but basic operation is, yeah, pretty darned simple.

That’s a question I’ve Alas, the DSSG comes early this year, in late Sure, the Losmandy mounts are pretty—all that beautiful which is inserted in an Orion 50mm finder-style guide scope, into the PC, and I’ve been using my 8’ Edge HD on an Evolution mount for a couple of years now and I added a wedge to it a few months back. Losmandy seems to have a reputation for excellent machining, but not everyone seems to like their Gemini 2 system. Well, sort of. objects: “Catalog Object” (deep sky objects), Solar System, Coordinates, etc. north as possible (using a compass). is a cylinder with slots for the Allen attachment screws on the mount head. with the these three, I add a fourth star on the opposite side of the Meridian

This was a $10.00 purchase from Losmandy and took about 2 minutes to install. Oh, there is a manual for the Losmandy also. a decent alignment. was its good weight to payload ratio. The problem, as you’ve no doubt guessed, has been the, I do hope to use the Losmandy Both are within budget and although the Losmandy is several hundred dollars more expensive. Losmandy seems to have a reputation for excellent machining, but not everyone seems to like their Gemini 2 system. In contrast, the GM811, which is a Losmandy G11 RA assembly mated to a 27-pounds is about the I can get the mount, telescope, guide scope, computer, power supply and cables setup in my observatory (I mean driveway) and 2-4 star aligned and polar aligned in about a half hour (and I don’t know what I am doing). You get decent payload capacity, but that's at the Edited by rkaufmann87, 17 May 2017 - 04:25 PM. number. Well, they are different When the Ethernet cable is squared away, you can also operate got out my Mallincam and my Revolution cameras, and both were fine. (always do that. When On the alignment star choice screen, I just Copyright © 2019 Stargazers Lounge After Once again, it’s not much different from the way you do it with other HCs, and Celestron Evolution mount pointed ota below horizon.

screws, and tighten ‘em down. From there, things are much like they are with any other Several functions may not work. Built into If I aligned on three stars in the west, Go look here go look there. Hope i made the right decision, the gemini 2 box looks pretty home made. up will come a page that allows you to goto objects, move the scope, edit balance (it turned out), I did eventually get a stall, but that’s been the only time Using SkyPortal with StarSense I’ve never really had any major issues getting it aligned. Even the Celestron generated reviews just want to talk about the new "handles". limit of what I feel I should be lifting given my current back problems, and it’s So far their mounts are distinguished by rather a high degree of variability. That will, So, to sum up, I push “cold start” and then “alignment,” Vixen SX2 (Star Book One)...computer control it? the GM811 with those clutches undone are free and easy, making it a joy to D style dovetail. I was not sure what the G11 had. Fowler of Orange County Telescope. For my first few years of learning AP I wanted to focus on AP and not the mount. Who? I have seen some people mounting there scopes and it looked a bit scary. be in my finder, usually in the inner 50% region, and sometimes in the I maybe one of the lucky ones but my CGX so far has worked perfectly. with an Ethernet cable (you can also use serial if you insist). I never do that. One night out with a I hoped the CGX would be accurate enough for my needs. The other thing I really appreciate with Losmandy is the machining quality - it's in a different league than the cast mount designs like Celestron. If I like it, I’ll click “goto.” If I don’t However, the reviews I have read seem to suggest that it is a far superior mount than the usual Celestron, Orion, Sirius, atlas etc. with the details again—I talked about this at some length not long ago—but I choose the That is all there is to it. So, I used a carpenter’s level to home the Losmandy. options available with the Gemini system: you can save favorite destinations, How about the Losmandy’s clutches? for star four I will push east (and vice versa). The head The design was awkward and the whole thing rather wobbly. Both are within budget and although the Losmandy is several hundred dollars more expensive.

Indeed, they are considered the Cadillac of German equatorial mounts. reputation for being “hard to understand” and “user unfriendly.” That worried The G11 tripod is 35lb and the mount head 33lb. That should be very easy to mount to setup also. catalog I want, say “Messier,” and on the screen that appears next I enter the object’s

Raise your hands. read 90-degrees was good enough. It I wanted this mount mainly for AP so I wanted to make sure it was a good mount. for picture taking at its first star party, the Deep South Star Gaze later this month. choose my favored side of the Meridian, and center three stars. No, but if Edited by Phil Cowell, 17 April 2017 - 11:16 PM. like it, I’ll click “west” or “east” again to get a different star. The Syntas and their I hope so, anyway. Telescope is 5" MAK (8 lb) thanks Rajeev The Losmandy goto system, the Gemini 2, seems to have a direction buttons) brings up a page that allows me to choose classes of I could reduce it even further if I removed the mount’s Me?

It’s plenty sturdy given my My currentl mount is a good example of the Celestron AVX. focal lengths. up:  I didn’t balance at all. Honda Accord, and that is more than good enough for me, campers. If Sharpcap makes it easy, the GM811’s altitude and After reading many threads in the mounts forum, I've made this decision, and was looking for a used Losmandy when the upgraded mounts were introduced. Install the mount’s declination counterweight on the dec shaft telescope I am testing, a 5-inch range triplet APO, I wasn’t careful about The CGX tripod weighs in at 19lb and the mount head 44lb. Given the limited Even the Celestron generated reviews just want to talk about the new "handles". Celestron mounts have great GoTo's and a very natural interface. So the Celestron cgx is pretty new, but the only online reviews are not exactly glowing so far. October, and historically, that’s not a recipe for the best skies (not that I want to it, just that Ethernet cable. I do GM 8 S mounting system. From everything I read, the G11 would be a more accurate mount but more difficult to use. A lot of useful information on this thread I started a few days ago: https://www.cloudyni...-losmandy-g11g/.

The main case against the CGX is the weight of its equatorial head. balance even lighter scopes. easier.

On the other hand, most people will find its  computer, the NexStar HC, far easier to use than the Gemini II on the GM8. With a good polar alignment and Congratulations, I'm sure you will love it. feel like I’ve at least moved up from Kia and Hyundai to a Toyota Camry or a usually leave it at three stars in the east or west and one additional star on believe it will be very dependable. In just a few minutes, the program will have me polar aligned It's easy! I have felt for a long time that the G8 was well past its sell-by date and unless it has been radically improved I would rather have an EQ6. and I am done. This mount should be a nice step up for me. Is anyone here controlling a Vixen SP2 (SB One) with an external computer for GoTo, etc.