CGE reviews?

Just curious, but does anyone actually own any of the CGE mounted scopes? If so, are there any reviews anywhere? A Google search turned up nothing other than dealers. I am specifically interested in the CGE11, but I would like to hear what folks think about them first. I am mainly wondering about pointing accuracy, slew speeds, and whether or not the mount is actually sturdy enough for the 27 lb carbon fiber tube of the C11 OTA. PE and such don't really concern me that much as I am strictly a visual observer.

I have to say that having looked through a couple of the recent 11" GPS models, I was more impressed with the optics than I thought I would be. I am, however, more interested in the GEM mounted C11 so that I could mount other OTAs on it.

Anyone?

Doug
Midway, FL

Hi Doug,

I recommended the CGE 1400 to my friend in the local astronomy club who was considering the purchase of a large SC. Actually he was considering the Meade 14 " LX200GPS but I steered him away from that scope since he wanted to be able to set it up himself. He ended up getting the CGE 1400. The major issue he has run into was a dead RA motor when he got the mount. The problem was in the electronics pier section , which Celestron replaced free of charge. The mount is quite solid with the 14" on it so the 11" would be no sweat at all. My friend just rolls the mount out on wheeled dolly he made for the tripod, does a rough polar alignment by eye, then mounts the ota and does a two star alignment. He routinely gets objects in the field of view of a 26 Nagler and most of the time in a 17mm Nagler (assuming they will fit in the fov, sometimes they are so large you have to drop the magnification just to see them ;-) The slew contols are quite nice and easy to use. One thing I have noticed about the mount is that the clutch locks require some fiddling and need to be quite tight to keep the goto alignment. You do have to keep an eye on the scope since it seems that maybe once a night it will decide to point well into the southern hemisphere (at the ground) and you have to kill the slew on it. It is either a software or cord connection issue, we haven't quite figured it out yet.

Joplin

Thanks Mike! Actually, I just discovered that group over the weekend when a search of saa archives brought it to my attention. There is enough information on that group to make me change my mind for the time being. Sounds like there are a lot of issues that still need to be worked out with the mount.

Doug
Midway, FL