Regardless of the hoopla, the price of the system is quite amazing.
Consider the following based on Pocono's pricing.
G-11 Package with Polar Scope $1895
G-8 Package with Polar Scope is $1449
G-8 (same as G-11) electronics package separately is $400
G-8 without electronics is about $900
G-8 Polar Scope is $145
G-8 Package if bought seprately is $1445.
Now DSCs are $595
DSC Delrin covers are $70 (which I'm told you should buy)
Aluminum Motor Covers are $79 (which I'm told one should also buy)
Total for these is $744 and they are not needed with the GOTO, if I
understand correctly.
G-11 package with DSCs and 2 sets of covers = $2643
G-8 package with DSCs and 2 sets of covers = $2193
Difference to get GOTO with its features:
G-11: $3195-$2643 = $552
G-8: $2495-$2193 = $302
So for $300 on the GM-8 and $550 on the G-11 you get GOTO. That's
very nice, especially for the GM-8 I would say, unless I'm missing
something here.
The GM-8 is normally about $445 less than the G-11, but with GoTo on
a GM-8 only costing $302, the Goto version is about $700 less than a
G-11. That makes the GM-8 quite a buy I would say.
Now if this system also eliminates the motor problems and "periodic
error" problems that appear to be associated with the current motors,
then this is a very good upgrade.
The SkyWalker II + G-11 Combo is $3595 (about $400 more, so that's
about a $950 upgrade over the base G-11 with DSCs). It will be
interesting to see how the Losmandy GOTO compares with the SkyWalker
although one thing I like about the skywalker is the ability to
manually move the scope without the scope loosing position since all
positioning info comes from the encoders and also it can uses TPoint
adjustment values.
Even better, if you can't afford it all at one go and don't mind
tracking manually for a while, is that if you buy just a G-8 mount
with no electronics, you add the GoTo later for the same total price
as the GoTo package. From what I hear the GM-8 mount only comes with
manual slow motion knobs in place of the motors (which would be nice
to have any way if the power dies). It seems that G-11 isn't sold as
just a mount, so you've got to shell out the extra $400+79 for the
electronics as part of the mount price at the begining, even though
you'll junk this gear if you get the GoTo later.
So what am I missing here? Is the GM-8 GoTo much more than an
equivelant GP-DX system? (Can't seem to find prices for GP-DX GoTo
equipment anywhere)
--- In Losmandy_users@..., "Jay Stanley" <jstanley@m...>
wrote:
With all the hoopla about the new GOTO Losmandy system I wondered
if
anyone else used one of the other aftermarket Losmandy GOTO
retrofits
like "AIM Control" () or
Skywalker"()
They talk about servo based vs "brushless" motors..etc. What about
accuracy, easy of use and alignment procedures?
Thanks
Jay
