Telescope Reviews: Re: Latest Tranche of AP900's are Now Coming up!

Y'all might consider NOT selling your G11 and or MI-250 if you can afford to take delivery of the AP900 and hang on to the others.

First, you need to make sure you can get through the shake-down period with no significant downtime. I bought a 900QMD and it spent a month or two at AP before I was actually able to use it, and I was glad I still had my G11.

Second, if you can afford the outlay, you may find that the G11 is the mount you prefer for throwing in the car while you leave the AP900 at the observatory.

For my part, I find the G11 on a Berlebach tripod a very fast setup compared to my AP900QMD/ATSPier so I decided to keep it for my FS128, which is a match made in heaven. This is my scope for faster setups and when the moon is rising or it might rain and I'll need to break down, etc.

My general thought, which I know is something of a novelty, is that I've never really regretted selling an OTA but I HAVE regretted parting with a good mount. I sold my Vixen Super Polaris thinking I'd never want it but that turned out to be a mistake and I ended up buying another.

So, I recommend holding on to your G11s and MI250s for six months past the arrival date of your AP900s. You may find that you actually have some uses for these mounts, both of which are rugged and proven performers.

The new Saddle plates from AP have "offset holes" which allow you to mount the saddle plate forward instead of in the classic T pattern. If you are using SCTs this is definitely the way to go (forward offset) since the weight of the SCT is mostly forward and the butt is only a few inches from the axis of rotation.

The Cassidy saddle plate is very nice. "All it costs is money."

regards
Greg N

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"Aperture will get you through times of no money better than money will get you through times of no aperture."

featuring selected astrojunk:

bunch o' widefield eyepieces
bunch o' narrowfield eyepieces
couple o' Barlows
couple o' scopes
couple o' mounts
couple o' tripods
and a pier 'n' stuff

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