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**DONOTDELETE**
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Hello. I'm considering a jump back into astronomy after a three year absense. My one and only scope was a StarMaster 7" Oak Classic that I sold in 2000 (doh!). Now I'm seeing all these GPS bad boys and must admit I'm intrigued. I am considering the 10" LX200GPS, the Celestron NexStar GPS 11", and the Celestron 11" CGE.
Question for you Meade experts... With the 10" LX200GPS, if I understand correctly, I would need to upgrade the wedge if I want to do any kind of CCD imaging (which I will at some point in the future). I remember hearing good things about the Milburn wedge and would most likely get one if you can tell me that it would mount on the tripod that comes with the 10" Meade. Is there anything else I would need to make this scope CCD ready (other than the camera of course)? Is the Meade tripod stable enough for imaging? I live in the outskirts of Albuquerque and it can get pretty windy here, especially in the spring. Can you upgrade the tripod from Meade when you order?
Thanks in advance.
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jrcrilly
Refractor wienie again
Reged: 04/30/03
Posts: 22464
Loc: NE Ohio
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Isn't it great to have three choices, all excellent?
One factor you didn't mention is portability. I've owned the three scopes you mention and the Nexstar 11GPS is by far the easiest to transport and set up, even though it seems as though it should be similar to the 10" Meade - it's NOT.
The tripods on the 10" Meade and the 11" Celestron fork mount are nearly identical and both are marginal for wedge use. The Meade can be used with the Giant Field tripod, but it's not available as an upgrade. The Milburn wedge will mount on either tripod (mounting arrangements are identical). The Celestron tripod will soon be able to be replaced with the one offered with the CGE, which is a very solid unit, but again it won't just be an upgrade but a replacement.
For the Meade, the Superwedge isn't so bad on the 10"; for the Celestron 11" I haven't heard many positive comments about the Celestron wedge but haven't tried one.
If imaging is a real priority, the CGE 11" has too many advantages to casually dismiss; lots of room for imaging equipment behind the primary housing, easy to balance, robust tripod, plenty of excess capacity to carry guidescopes & accessories, great tripod, Fastar capability, easier to accurately polar align than any wedge (in my opinion), big tripod. It takes longer to set for a portable, visual evening's use than a fork mount, though.
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John C
Urban Observatory
Tele Vue Pronto
A&M/Astreya 76mm F/6 APO
TMB/LOMO 80mm F/7.5 APO
Tak FSQ-106N F/5 APO
Meade 152ED F/9 "APO"
152mm F/10 achromat
Tak CN-212 8" F/12 classical Cass/ F/4 Newt
Teeter 20" F/3.8 truss Newt w/ServoCat
LXD750, EM-200, CI-700
ST-10XME
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Charles
Post Laureate
Reged: 06/12/03
Posts: 4111
Loc: Enterprise, AL
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I agree with just about everything John stated with just a comment. I own a Meade 12inch LX200GPS and I like you wanted to do astrophotography after I learned how to use the scope. If that is what you truely love then spend all your money on a great EQ mount, i.e., TAK temme 200 or their NGP, AP 600/900, etc. Read the reviews on mounts, their pros and their cons. Find out what their error rates are right out of the box. You get what you pay for in the telescope hobby and I wish you got get a great mount for less money but the used ones as you will notice are about 80% of their original prices. I have no experience with the CGE Celestron line and have not been succesful in finding out what kind of tracking error they are suppose to have right out of the box. I would assume they are probably in line with the G-11s which is around 10 arc seconds if I remember correctly. Yes you can train them to perform better but why should you. I'm tired of constantly training my Meade and it's a down right chore setting Bertha up. If my home location allowed me to build a permanent observatory the Meade would be great. You would set it up once and that would be the end of it, but if your like me and have to move around for the best viewing sky it's no fun setting it up and calibrating everything. I have learn in my short one year's worth of observing that if a scope and mount have a ton of third party hardware to make it a better scope, than why buy it to begin with? The same holds true for mounts. Research how often you see people buying drive motors for a particular brand. That ought to give you a clue to the mounts true character. I just bought a TAO-130 with the EM-200 Temma II mount. In a couple of years after I pay off the TAK, I'll get a light enough SCT to mount on the mount. That way I'll have two scopes I love, a SCT for the deep sky and a refractor for the planets. I would have loved to buy the NJP but dollars do have a way of keeping most of us from our dreams. So I hope this helps you in decision. As to the Meade wedge question, for fifty dollars you can get mod kits that make it more than satisfactory for astrophotgraphy. But here again, Why didn't Meade build it that way to begin with?
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