New telescope decision

Hello
I am new to this group. I have had an interest in astronomy since I was very young but have not actively pursued my interest. This is hopefully about to change. I do have an old Meade 2080 sct (on an southern hemisphere drive unfortunately) but I have always wanted to get something with more aperture and the ability to do some astrophotography. I had my heart set on a CPC 11 instrument which would still be portable enough for me to move around. My wife however (who is very understanding) insists that I buy something that I wil not be looking to upgrade in the next few years. Therefore I am looking at a C11 on a CGE mount which seems good value as a package deal. Does anyone have a CGE set up? How portable are they, ease of set up, reliability etc...?

John O'Mahony
Shannon AC

Hi John,

I too am looking at the 11" CGE and it seems that Telescope-service in germany are doing a pretty good deal on it. I took the liberty of calling into the Astronomy Shop in Artane, who reckoned that they would be able to match the German price.

The 11" CGE, seems to have some favourable reviews!!, so its a case of trying to sneak it into the house now, after hopefully convincing SWMBO, that it will also cut the grass, do the dishes, and is fully programmable to record all the Soaps!!!

John,

Welcome to the boards.

Your wife is absolutely right. I can assure you if its astrophotography your after, you would eventually be looking to upgrade from a fork mount. Best get it right first time. The CPC11 is very good, but for photography, a fork mount will just give you too much grief.

The CGE mount is excellent. I've only had it a couple of weeks, however my initial tests have exceeded all my expectations. The mount can happily take a C14 so a C11 will be no problem plus you will have plenty of spare capacity for extra equipment such as cameras guidscopes etc if you wish to use these.

I hope to do some tests later today so that I can quantify just how good it really is. I'll post those results here when I have them.

The Celestron OTA's are very good too. A C11 would strike me as the ideal scope for a CGE mount.

Now saying all that the CGE mount is not light, it's still portable but just about on the limit. Mine is permanently mounted in an observatory. I can't say I'd fancy lugging it in and out of doors every evening.

However, ou could look at it another way;

The CGE11 has three main parts, the tripod, the mount, and the scope. I'd be pretty sure that each component on it's own weights less than the CPC11 scope and fork assembly (which can't be separated). So for portability, your probably slightly better off with the CGE11.

Best of luck with whatever you decide.

Many thanks for your replies. I'm pretty sure I will go with the CGE and C11.

regards
John

In that case Dave and John..... me too!!!!!!

Hi John,

I also got the C11 on the CGE mount about a week ago from AI. I not exactly tall and would be inclined to agree with Dave G about the transport side of the mount. Unlike Dave I keep the scope indoors when not in use and my Dad has to help me bring it in and out of the house. I have however (if your interested) come across a design for a mobile transporter. Its baciscally a T Frame on wheels that the mount sits into -
www.mapug-astronomy.net/AstroDesigns/Trp...d/T-Frame/TFrame.htm

As regards the scope I'm very happy with it and glad I pushed the boat out

Clear skies