Good afternoon,

I'm trying to narrow down an upgrade for my atrophotography.
Right now my imaging train consists of an 80mm APO.? I'm looking to purchase a larger telescope to add to my imaging (120mm APO) and will need to get a larger mount.? My existing mount is just enough to handle what I currently image with.
I'm very interested in the G11G.
My only problem is that I cannot find any recent reviews from the last few years, from 2021 to present.

I would really like to know how the new G11G's are performing, problems, etc.

First question - my existing imaging train is only 14 pounds.? Will I still get good guiding with being that much underloaded from what the G11 can actually carry? I have been told that large capacity mounts do not perform well with small loads.? I would have to think this is false.

Do the spring loaded worms on the new mounts need to be adjusted or do you just use the mount right out of the box?

How tight do you make the clutches?? Should you still be able to move the RA axis and DEC axis with decent pressure from your hand? I'm used to locking down the clutches and the RA and DEC don't really move unless by force.

Is there is excessive dec backlash that seems to pop in reviews or is that just something that may happen? I understand that not everything made can always be 100% perfect. Things happen.

People talk about fiddling with the mount.? Reading things from Losmandy and other reviews, everything points to just use it, don't make any adjustments with the new mounts, don't fiddle, etc.

I know these questions have been answered in the past, but that's the problem.? I would like to know about the newer mounts, not 10 year old, 15 year old mounts.

I also know that problems, bad reviews, etc. get posted more than the good.? You really do not get a good picture of how things really are unfortunatley.

I know I have viewed all of the Losmandy tutorials on their youtube channel at least twice.

A new reliable mount is a lot of money.? I just want to make sure.

Any information is greatly appreciative.

Thank you.

After months of considering various mounts, I bought a G11G a few months ago and I’m extremely happy with it. Mine is on a permanent pier. I still have a Celestron CGEM ?on a pier in a different part of my property and an old CG5GT which is on a tripod.
I had an issue when I first got my G11 with a bad noise when slewing in Dec, but I contacted Losmandy and Tanya sent me a fix. Turns out, I had overtightened the Dec motor when I’d installed it.

Oh, btw, the RA and Dec motors are re-designed from what’s seen in the videos. The connectors have been relocated, so the installation instructions are wrong. When I initially installed the motors one of the connectors was against the mount and inaccessible for connecting the cable. It took me a minute to figure out where the missing connector was. (Duh. LOL)

I’m still learning how to get the best performance from the mount, but I’m impressed so far. I’ve built a ‘sky model’ (aka pointing model) and used the built-in PAC app to tweak the polar alignment. (Much like the ASPA app that Celestron has.)
I particularly like the G11’s ability to track through and beyond the Meridian. I designed my pier a bit like a ‘bent knee’ type, so the mount can track about 2 hours on either side of the Meridian without having to do a Meridian flip. (Ie., I’ve set the limits so an object in the East can be tracked to 2 hrs west of the Meridian; or the G11 can start tracking an object 2 hrs east of the Meridian and track towards the western horizon.)?

In the ‘Mounts’ section of Cloudy Nights there have been a couple threads going back a few months that discuss Losmandy mounts. Most of the comments are highly positive. It might be well worth your time to review them.

On Thu, Mar 28, 2024 at 07:56 AM, <kevinwalsh324@...> wrote:

Oh, btw, the RA and Dec motors are re-designed from what’s seen in the videos. The connectors have been relocated, so the installation instructions are wrong. When I initially installed the motors one of the connectors was against the mount and inaccessible for connecting the cable. It took me a minute to figure out where the missing connector was

Do you have pictures of this? I bought mine last April and I am curious to see what you mean.

On Wed, Mar 27, 2024 at 07:14 PM, gsch159 wrote:

Do the spring loaded worms on the new mounts need to be adjusted or do you just use the mount right out of the box?

I have needed to adjust mine frequently. I also had to adjust the worm blocks to make the spring adjustment remove the RA stalling I was getting. These mounts do need adjusting, I cant say that "Just use it" is a good recommendation.

Well, I think you’ll probably get more positive reviews than not here but I have had my G11g for about a year now. I haven’t done the Gemini update yet and have only been using it for visual but I am building by astrophotography setup now so I am testing with NINA in the next few weeks.?

The learning curve on Gemini is pretty steep compared to petty much anything else out there. You need to be prepared to spend some time learning the Gemini system because it is much different than any other system. From a hardware perspective, I have the lightweight folding as well as the older heavyweight take apart tripod. Both are exceptionally solid, More often than not I am using the lightweight because I am not using anything bigger than a C8 on it. My Meade LX85 feels like a toy by comparison.?

No major issues so far, make sure you set the limits so your scope does’t bang into the legs or anything, I learned that very early on since one of my scopes is a F/11 90mm which isn’t overly long but long enough to be a concern. Having the GPS is very useful as well, especially if you go to different locations a lot.?

The biggest concern is the weight of the G11, this is not a lightweight mount even with the lightweight tripod. It will sink into soft ground pretty easily and picking it up and moving more than a foot or two when it is assembled is possible but difficult. With the heavy duty tripod it is not really something I’d want to do much. You can, and I’d recommend you do, get the RA extension so you can take it apart for storage and moving. IT makes it much more manageable in the field.?

That’s about it. Maybe some of the experienced astrophotography folks may have specifics they have come across to add.?

--
Visual Telescopes: Meade 395 90mm f/11, Celestron C8, AstroTech AT80
Beginning AP Scope: Meade Schmidt-Newtonian 6” with Moonlite focuser and motor
Current Mount: Meade LX85, Losmandy G11g

开云体育

I have not adjusted my GM811G.? What am I missing?? What would improve if I adjusted it?

On Thu, Mar 28, 2024 at 09:53 AM, Michael A. Covington wrote:

I have not adjusted my GM811G.? What am I missing?? What would improve if I adjusted it

Unless you see obvious problems, don't bother.

On Thu, Mar 28, 2024 at 09:53 AM, Michael A. Covington wrote:

I have not adjusted my GM811G.? What am I missing?? What would improve if I adjusted it?

Adjusting the Spring-Loaded Worm Gear is a matter of balancing the backlash and the tightness of the gear mesh, which will result in stalling if it is too tight. It has taken me some time to get a feel for this. It is possible yours are already set, mine were not. These 2 videos can be confusing, I wish there was only one, with more complete information.

“?Do you have pictures of this? I bought mine last April and I am curious to see what you mean.”

Here are two photos. The first is a photo of the Dec motor on my G11. This mount is only a few months old.

The second photo is a screencap from the video of Brian Valente installing the Dec motor (I think on a GM811). Notice the orientation on the Losmandy name and the location of the connectors. In the video the connector is on the side of the motor housing. On mine, the connector is on the flat end.?

So when I installed my motor per the video, I inadvertently hid the connector up against the saddle. LOL It took me a second to realize they’d change the motors a bit and moved the connector location.

?

On Thu, Mar 28, 2024 at 02:39 PM, <kevinwalsh324@...> wrote:

Here are two photos. The first is a photo of the Dec motor on my G11. This mount is only a few months old.

This is a new G11? Did you buy it from Losmandy?

Balance is key from what I have read also.?

I do believe I will have my work cut out for me for a while with Gemini to make sure I have all settings done correctly all the time.? I have been very use to the synta hand controller for several years.? I ditched the hand controller over a year ago.
I intend to run the mount through NINA.

I do appreciate all of the responses. My mind has been put at ease.

I have read the CN posts on Mounts. I figured I would go directly to the horses mouth and ask the Losmandy User Groups.

I still have one question - how tight do you make the clutches?? Tight enough to where you can still move both axis by finger touch? Or tight enough where you have to get a hand hold to move the axis?

Thank you everyone and please keep the responses coming.

On Thu, Mar 28, 2024 at 09:53 AM, Michael A. Covington wrote:

I have not adjusted my GM811G.? What am I missing?? What would improve if I adjusted it?

I have a 2018 GM811G and I noticed in some of Scott’s videos that dec slewed quite a bit louder. So I adjusted it as he shows in the video and I have not touched it since. I’ve been visual but started last year to attempt imaging but some neck issues set me back a good bit. Now I have that behind me so I’m fixing to get back out to start again. We did a major renovation of our home and all my stuff has been put up. I am also going to upgrade it to a G11 since I plan to do imaging. I have a ES 127mm fcd100 CF telescope that I have added a feather touch focuser to it. I have so imagers and an ASIAIR plus. I’ll be about done spending on it after I upgrade to a G11. But the wife is cool to getting an observatory and pier! Soooo.

I have a 4 year old GM811. To answer a few of your questions.

PHD says my dec has a massive 10-15 sec backlash, yet the guiding is usually around 0.4-0.6” in dec. rA is a different thing and haven’t messed much with it but I need to re-align the oldham coupler, however it’s usually around 0.8”. So, large backlash in DEC is not something to worry about, at least in my experience.

As for the clutch pressure, just tight enough that it won’t move of it’s own accord should be enough, you don’t need to tighten to the point of not being able to move it by hand. In fact, I think having it a bit loose can help in the event of a cable snag as it’s better to loose tracking or position than to have a broken cable or worse, a burnt motor (although I don’t think that last will likely happen, but still).

The option to separate the RA axis is a must in my mind, unless you plan on a permanent, pier mounted setup.

tweaking the mount will likely be needed from time to time, especially if you live where there are wild temperature swings. Thankfully where I live we get from around 13C at night in winter to about 20C in the summer, so I haven’t needed to tweak for stalls or something similar. Your milage may vary. Having said that, in general, tweaking is easy and straight forward.

Underweighing the mount is a non issue. The only problem might be finding a way to balance such a small load. I use mine with a 72mm refractor and had to use some weight on top of it to make the puny little 7 pounder be able to balance it. After turning to AP, with a 50mm guidescope, filter wheel and heavy cooled camera that 7lb CW is riding pretty high up the CW shaft. Other than that it’s not like the mount will suffer from using too small a load (as long as you can find balance)

Hope this helps

On Thu, Mar 28, 2024 at 10:33 AM, Paul Kanevsky wrote:

Unless you see obvious problems, don't bother.

I had an ongoing intermittent RA stalling issue that would result in motor overheating. Repeated adjustment to the spring was only temporary until I adjusted the worm blocks. So, what is needed is not always obvious.

Yes. Brand new from Losmandy a few months ago.
KW

On Thu, Mar 28, 2024 at 07:11 PM, <kevinwalsh324@...> wrote:

Yes. Brand new from Losmandy a few months ago.

I don't understand the new motor. Why would the cable be directly in front of the polar scope? The way the cable is in my motor works just fine.

On Thu, Mar 28, 2024 at 07:11 PM, <kevinwalsh324@...> wrote:

Yes. Brand new from Losmandy a few months ago

Both motors are on the website, it seems like they might have put the older non tucked version on yours.

The advice I got here was that with the spring loaded worms, people who start adjusting them never stop.? Just use it, is the advice from the factory.? Which I have done with good results on a 75mm refractor.??

Mine has been out side under cover since August, hot summer, cold winter, no adjustment.? Tracking always about the same.? ?Since the computer comes inside with me, it's great to just leave out all the time.? Best mount in its price class. If you ask me.? G11G.??

“?Why would the cable be directly in front of the polar scope? The way the cable is in my motor works just fine.”

To use the polar scope, the Dec axis has to be turned about 20 degrees anyway, so the cable wouldn’t actually block the polar scope. Fwiw - I don’t have the polar scope. When I did my initial PA I just sighted through the empty polar axis and tweaked the azimuth bolts until I could see that Polaris was approximately centered. I did this since I was planning to use the PAC app to adjust my PA later anyway. When I was done I put the caps back on the polar axis shaft and set the Dec axis back to 90°. No problemo.

Did Losmandy install the ‘non-tucked’ motors on my G11? I don’t know. Apparently so. (My G11 is the only G11 I’ve ever seen ‘in person’.) I bought mine with the RA extension kit already installed, so maybe they used the ‘non tucked’ set of motors for it since my G11 would not need the ‘tucked’ version of the motors.