Telescope Reviews: Servo vs Stepper

Just a few things.

First, guiding is not using diapers, it is a common method for AP that is used by many people with much more expensive mounts.

I think that you would find that there are some Takahashi mounts that are considered excellent for AP use even though they do not have particularly large worm wheels in them. Large worm wheels are great (I think the old rule was something like the diameter of the RA wheel should be the same as the diameter of the OTA being used), but precision engineering and machining play a very important (if not more important) part as well. It won't matter if a worm wheel is 3 times the size, if it's quality is poor. Hauling around a mount with 11 inch worm wheels tends to be a bit of a pain. Thus, they are most often permanently mounted.

The CGEM/Atlas/EQ6 ARE respectable AP mounts within the confines of appropriate expectations. I'm not sure what you mean by "published" but you can look here www.jwalk.smugmug.com to see some pretty impressive images taken on a CGEM and there are many others out there doing both planetary and deep sky imaging with the CGEM and other mid-level mounts that is quite impressive. Some of them even using C11 OTAs. Most people who own equipment in the CGEM range don't feel the need to pay for or justify their equipment expenditures by "publishing" "fine art" images. I know people who have thrown $50K+ at the astroimaging problem and have taken some astounding images and gotten them published in some of the magazines. I know others who have spent a fraction of that amount to take images that are just as impressive but they don't worry about getting published. There is a significant element of operator/imager talent in imaging and post-processing that comes into play with AP. If all it took was a great setup to snap incredible pics, then all of us would be doing it.

For the record, the G11 does not have an RA worm wheel that is twice the diameter of the CGEM ring gear. Maybe about 50% larger, but still quite small in reality and it uses a worm that is at most 50% of the diameter of the CGEM worm.

There are pluses and minuses to everything. If you have the money to buy high end equipment and are really serious about the hobby, then I certainly recommend pumping that money into the economy. But the average person does not have to spend that much (comparitively) to do some great work and the CGEM/Atlas mounts can do it. Expectations are very important. It would appear that you went into the CGEM with unrealistic expectations and as a result, your results are not surprising.