I know that there are many advantages of GEM over fork mounts. Good GEMs like CGEM or Atlas EQ-G are generally more stable and have less vibration than fork mounts. Also, it can be easier to transport GEM especially for large OTA because it's easy to transport in separate parts where fork mounts require to carry both the mount and OTA and they can be heavy. In my opinion, one big disadvantage for GEMs is meridian flip. Forks don't require meridian flips. I used to own both forks and GEM both performed just about equally well. I would like to be able to image the same object from east to west without meridian flip.
My real question is how does Meade LX200-ACF series perform? How accuarte is the GoTo feature? If I use Mitty wedge, is it as stable as GEM? The electronics and firmware seems to be a little out of date as compared to Celestron. The main reason for picking Meade is that their OTAs have mirror locks and Celestron do not have them. I prefer guiding with guide scope than Off Axis Guider. Celestron requires OAG for longer than 10 minutes exposure thanks to mirror flop. With mirror locks and guide scopes, over 10 minutes subs can be done.
Previous
Index
Next
Flat
Fork mounts vs GEMs
Edit
Reply
Quote
