I am possibly in the position to upgrade to a 12'' or 14'' lx200ACF and was looking for an opinion on the quality of the mount on this scope. Would it be better to buy a $2-$3K Losmandy type German equatorial and an LX OTA or does the lx mount compare well in terms of PEC, stability, flexure etc for long exposure imaging with the typical mounts in this price range.

Any views appreciated

Stewart

Hi, Stewart - great question!

The LX200 mounts can be very good performers if you are willing to put in the time to tune them up properly. You should plan on spending the better part of a year getting there if you have no previous experience with the mount. The chief advantage of the fork mount is the ability to image continuously through the zenith.

That said, my choice would depend on the targets I wanted to image and the camera I was using. The long focal length of the 12 & 14" scopes yields a tiny FOV with the DSI cameras. Most of us seem to end up piggy-backing a small refractor on the scope and using it as the preferred imaging scope, while the large SCT OTA gets relegated to guide duty. If that's the direction you are headed, I would suggest you would be happier & find it more efficient in the long run to go with a quality GEM and refractor setup from the start.

So the questions we need to answer first are, what objects do you like to image most, and what camera will you be using? Once we know that we can give you better advice.

HTH,

Chuck

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Chuck Reese
CDIP Certified: Nebula, Galaxy, Solar System, Stars & Clusters Imager
CDIP Mentor: Nebulae & Solar System Categories
For information on the Certified DSI Imager Program, see:
http://autostarsuite.net/forums/1427/ShowForum.aspx