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Old October 8th 08, 05:45 PM posted to sci.astro.amateur
Bill[_9_]
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Default Poll: Orion Atlas vs Losmandy G-11

On Wed, 08 Oct 2008 01:26:33 -0500, Longfellow wrote:

On 2008-10-08, Bill wrote:
On Tue, 07 Oct 2008 21:12:48 -0500, Longfellow wrote:

snip

In addition to saa, the losmandy users group on yahoo is another good
place to seek additional, in depth, info on the G-11 mount & goto
options.

Bill


Aha, thanks. I've sort of gravitated to the Losmandy because of its
source, a precision machine shop not dedicated just to making equatorial
mounts (and all that that implies). Dunno how important an integrated
electronic system would be, and that seems to be the point of contention
from (presumably) Atlas users.

I'll add the user's group to my research.

Again thanks,

Longfellow


Regardless of the mount chosen, the main thing is knowing your own
needs/wants from a goto system.

For example: safety features to alert the user and/or prevent/stop a
mount from slewing/tracking your scope into your pier/tripod may not be
critical if you sit at the scope. But it could be very important if
you're prone to nodding off to sleep while at the scope, or would be
located some distance away, and not be able to intervene in time to
prevent damage to your equipment.

On a happier note, If you'll be doing imaging, one feature I would
personally look for in a goto system is the ability to upload
customized periodic error correction data/files from a personal
computer. This would permit efficient use of tools like Ray Gralak's
"Pem Pro" (www.ccdware.com).

PemPro can collect many cycles of PE data, then aid you in produce
various optimized sets of PE corrections that can be uploaded to the
mount -- in sync with the RA drive. Really nice option to have for
imaging -- not needed at all for visual use.

Enjoy the journey...

Bill
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