¿ªÔÆÌåÓý

  1. Losmandy_users
  2. Topics

Upgrading from Half Hitch FTQ

scubaLee
 

Hello all,
My first posting after several years of reading for information. I am interested in upgrading to a losmandy gemini mount system. While I have the encoders on the ftq, sky commander xp4, and sturdy manfrotto lightweight tripod, I want a tracking system. I live in a suburb of Cleveland, OH, and have light pollution always and clouds the majority of the time. I am mostly interested the moon and planets, thinking about entry level photography. I have a good dark site about a hour drive and super one in PA, Cherry Springs, about 5 hours. I have a celestron C80 refractor with several televue eyepieces. I also want to upgrade eventually to a larger scope as well.
I am interested in an used system and found one on Cloudy Nights with this description:
Up for sale is my Losmandy G11 with Gemini 2. I have all the latest updates installed. It comes with one of the motors upgraded to the newer style high speed type, and a Losmandy side by saddle. Also included are the upgraded captain¡¯s locks. Everything works perfectly just as it should. Also included is the GPS add-on and a non-illuminated polar scope.As a bonus I will include many other Losmandy parts and pieces including extra D size cradles and Vixen sizes as well.Comes with all the cables needed for operation as well as 3 20lb coutnerweights.Large CI-700 Tripod available for $75 + shipping extra if interested.Asking $1600 + shipping and PP fees.
Is this a reasonable deal? What questions should I ask the seller? Is the tripod worth getting? Thanks in advance!
?
 

sounds like? good deal - perhaps too good of a deal?

i'd ask what are the latest installed updates, does it have spring-loaded worms, tucked in gearing and RA extension

ask why they are selling it

it's entirely possible this person is on this list as well :)


Brian

On Sat, Sep 28, 2019 at 1:45 PM scubaLee via Groups.Io <hfenner89=[email protected]> wrote:
Hello all,
My first posting after several years of reading for information. I am interested in upgrading to a losmandy gemini mount system. While I have the encoders on the ftq, sky commander xp4, and sturdy manfrotto lightweight tripod, I want a tracking system. I live in a suburb of Cleveland, OH, and have light pollution always and clouds the majority of the time. I am mostly interested the moon and planets, thinking about entry level photography. I have a good dark site about a hour drive and super one in PA, Cherry Springs, about 5 hours. I have a celestron C80 refractor with several televue eyepieces. I also want to upgrade eventually to a larger scope as well.
I am interested in an used system and found one on Cloudy Nights with this description:
Up for sale is my Losmandy G11 with Gemini 2. I have all the latest updates installed. It comes with one of the motors upgraded to the newer style high speed type, and a Losmandy side by saddle. Also included are the upgraded captain¡¯s locks. Everything works perfectly just as it should. Also included is the GPS add-on and a non-illuminated polar scope.As a bonus I will include many other Losmandy parts and pieces including extra D size cradles and Vixen sizes as well.Comes with all the cables needed for operation as well as 3 20lb coutnerweights.Large CI-700 Tripod available for $75 + shipping extra if interested.Asking $1600 + shipping and PP fees.
Is this a reasonable deal? What questions should I ask the seller? Is the tripod worth getting? Thanks in advance!
?



--
Brian?



Brian Valente
portfolio

 

¿ªÔÆÌåÓý

What questions should I ask the seller?

***

Two questions.. ¡°What¡¯s wrong with it¡± ?? You¡¯ll get a response.. Then ask ¡°What else is wrong with it¡± and ask it *repeatedly* and get it in writing and notorized, as for that price there has to be something wrong or the seller is otherwise very unhappy they ever owned it, as that deal is ¡°too good to be true¡± in my opinion.. As in I paid more for mine than that and it doesn¡¯t have all the latest upgrades.. FYI.. I am quite happy with mine and the deal I made for it..

?

Derek

Morgan Hill, CA

?

From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of scubaLee via Groups.Io
Sent: Saturday, September 28, 2019 1:45 PM
To: [email protected]
Subject: [Losmandy_users_io] Upgrading from Half Hitch FTQ

?

Hello all,
My first posting after several years of reading for information. I am interested in upgrading to a losmandy gemini mount system. While I have the encoders on the ftq, sky commander xp4, and sturdy manfrotto lightweight tripod, I want a tracking system. I live in a suburb of Cleveland, OH, and have light pollution always and clouds the majority of the time. I am mostly interested the moon and planets, thinking about entry level photography. I have a good dark site about a hour drive and super one in PA, Cherry Springs, about 5 hours. I have a celestron C80 refractor with several televue eyepieces. I also want to upgrade eventually to a larger scope as well.
I am interested in an used system and found one on Cloudy Nights with this description:

Up for sale is my Losmandy G11 with Gemini 2. I have all the latest updates installed. It comes with one of the motors upgraded to the newer style high speed type, and a Losmandy side by saddle. Also included are the upgraded captain¡¯s locks. Everything works perfectly just as it should. Also included is the GPS add-on and a non-illuminated polar scope.As a bonus I will include many other Losmandy parts and pieces including extra D size cradles and Vixen sizes as well.Comes with all the cables needed for operation as well as 3 20lb coutnerweights.Large CI-700 Tripod available for $75 + shipping extra if interested.Asking $1600 + shipping and PP fees.

Is this a reasonable deal? What questions should I ask the seller? Is the tripod worth getting? Thanks in advance!

?

?

Virus-free.

 

¿ªÔÆÌåÓý

An alternative take..

For an 80mm refractor, entry level photography, and an interest in Moon and Planets, as long as ¡°it works¡±, as opposed to being a box of bricks, it¡¯s a great deal and would serve well in the above role, and in the future with a larger instrument.. Any ¡°issues¡±, usually adjustment or ¡°tweaking¡±, can be worked out, usually rather easily, as your experience increases..

?

Point being, I image the moon and planets with a G11 w/ Gemini II.. I use an exceptional 130mm triplet, and I have yet to guide because it tracks just fine as it is.. I would have no need to ask the seller to provide guide logs, but rather will it follow a planet at 250X for 30 minutes.. if it works perfectly for Visual, it¡¯ll be fine..

?

When I bought my G11, it was local. I met with the seller, who moved the scope in all four directions, the motors sounded the same in all directions, and the hand controller looked great.. I was headed home with it 30 minutes later.. My biggest problem was in changing from a fork mounted SCT to a GEM.. I had to sledgehammer my previous training into submission.. THAT took a lot of help from this group.. :-))

?

Derek

?

From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of scubaLee via Groups.Io
Sent: Saturday, September 28, 2019 1:45 PM
To: [email protected]
Subject: [Losmandy_users_io] Upgrading from Half Hitch FTQ

?

Hello all,
My first posting after several years of reading for information. I am interested in upgrading to a losmandy gemini mount system. While I have the encoders on the ftq, sky commander xp4, and sturdy manfrotto lightweight tripod, I want a tracking system. I live in a suburb of Cleveland, OH, and have light pollution always and clouds the majority of the time. I am mostly interested the moon and planets, thinking about entry level photography. I have a good dark site about a hour drive and super one in PA, Cherry Springs, about 5 hours. I have a celestron C80 refractor with several televue eyepieces. I also want to upgrade eventually to a larger scope as well.
I am interested in an used system and found one on Cloudy Nights with this description:

Up for sale is my Losmandy G11 with Gemini 2. I have all the latest updates installed. It comes with one of the motors upgraded to the newer style high speed type, and a Losmandy side by saddle. Also included are the upgraded captain¡¯s locks. Everything works perfectly just as it should. Also included is the GPS add-on and a non-illuminated polar scope.As a bonus I will include many other Losmandy parts and pieces including extra D size cradles and Vixen sizes as well.Comes with all the cables needed for operation as well as 3 20lb coutnerweights.Large CI-700 Tripod available for $75 + shipping extra if interested.Asking $1600 + shipping and PP fees.

Is this a reasonable deal? What questions should I ask the seller? Is the tripod worth getting? Thanks in advance!

?

?

Virus-free.

 

Be careful. That poster has no ratings. Did you see it is "pick up only"??
-Karl
 

ScubaLee,

This is not as good a deal as you think it is. This is the old Gemini 2 on a standard straight drive G11 mount. It has no tripod which will cost you at least $250 to get a Losmandy MA and a used Meade Standard Field Tripod and the minimum fastener hardware.?

If you consider the cost to ship, maybe $150 fully insured and back out the selling value of a used Losmandy SBS @$150 you are paying $1,850 for a older unupdated G11 and original Gemini 2.?

For a small scope like your 80mm and most faster modern ED or triplet apo refractors up to a 150mm or anything from a C6 to C11 a GM8 will do very well. The GM8 is lighter and travels more compactly.

For imaging the Losmandy GM8's standard lightweight tripod is fine if you don't extend the legs much and keep the imaging payload under 20 pounds, 25 pounds with a stiffer tripod.

I have both a full house G11 -illuminated polar scope, 7" double clamped saddle, tucked HT servo motors, spring loaded one-piece worm blocks w/HP worms, RA extension with Gemini 2-mini, all topless knobs etc-? I use for imaging and visual with the C11 and C14 SCTs and a GM8 with classic straight drive and HP worms I use for visual work with everything up to the C11.?

My advice is to buy the latest Gemini 2-mini or the rocker switch Gemini 1 which were the latest version Geminis offered. The Gemin-1 has all of the same functions as the G2 just no color touch screen, USB, Ethernet and web interface. The Gemini-1 is MUCH, MUCH more quiet in operation when slewing. For visual use the G1 when used with a Sky-Fi 3 and Sky Safari-6 Pro you have a much better touchscreen (your smart phone) with the power of a planetarium in your hand, much more useful IMO for the visual observer.?

Be patient, the right deal will come along.
--

Chip Louie - Chief Daydreamer Imagination Hardware
 

I have seen 492 G11 heads offered for as low as $750 recently. MA adapters are $100-125 used, but they don't come along often. If you can find one this Losmandy made adapter for the G9 will work for a Celestron field tripod. OnStep goto offers a inexpensive alternative to to Gemini II. See my blog for information.


I had a couple and let them go for $40. It would be fairly easy to machine. The center six holes can be omitted as they were for bolting it to a CG-5 tripod hub. The outer holes are located to use three of the six wedge fastening holes and two for the mount fastening holes. A 6" by .05" slice of aluminum rod runs about $20 on eBay.

On early tripods the six wedge holes were threaded 5/16th". Later hubs have three threaded and three unthreaded. In the photo of the adapter mounted you can see a 5/16th" bolt under the hub used to fasten the adapter.

George
https://www.stmbluepillkits.com/
scubaLee
 

Thank you everyone for super advice! I'll wait, work on selling my ftq, and consider the gm8.

1 - 8 of 8