Celestron Nexstar 11 GPS

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Celestron Nexstar 11 GPS
I love this scope!
It must be the largest SCT you can carry easily.
It has fantastic optics and I see the 6 stars in the Trapezium easily. It has given me some of the best views of lots of objects (my other scope is a Tak FS152 so I know what quality looks like). These 2 scopes complement each other well.

The Go-Tos are superb and every time in the FOV.
You can image using a DSLR, an F6.3 focal reducer without a wege if you limit shots to 45 seconds. Stacking multiple 45 second shot in this scope means you can image most anything except feint galaxies. Even then you can get some.

It is quiet, it is transportable, it is easy to use, it is accurate, the computer is great, it is easy to learn, there are plenty of accessories, it is great value. The tripod could be sturdier but is adequate.

I love it!!

The prices these are going for is staggering. The amount of scope/computer power for the price is amazing.

I would recommend it to anyone.

Throw it in the car and take it to a dark site and you are touring a large number of objects in about 10 minutes time! Try that with a fussy GEM mount!

Greg.

Overall Rating: 9
Optics:10 Mount:9 Ease of Use:10 Value:10
Weight: 1 (Unreliable Vote)
Date:
By:
Link to this vote: http://www.excelsis.com/1.0/displayvote.php?voteid=431603

Celestron Nexstar 11 GPS
I purchased my Nexstar 11 GPS in October of 2003. Problems with the software developed almost immediatly. The motors on the mount would lock up and the telescope would not slew. I could get around this problem for a while but shutting off the power and turning power back on and performing a realignment. But this gets frustrating when this procedure needs to be performd many times during a viewing session. Especially when you just paid $3200 to view the night sky.

I called technical support at Celestron and they told me to check a few things, most notably the hjand controller or the power supply has improper voltage.

The problem got worse so technical support at Celestron (John) told me to send it in. Send it in!? This is a big box and a big scope and a great exspense. So in January 2003 I sent in the hand controller, a much smaller item. The hand controller was defective. They sent me a new one. One little problem with the new hand controller: the LED display assemply was loose. It moved around in the casing. But I can live with that. The scope would slew.

Now it is July 2005 and the tlescope needs to be sent in. And not just the hand controller. Performance has been degrading for some time, electronically speaking. The first hint of a problem was when the HIBERNATE function would not work. I would HIBERNATE the telescope, come back in a few hours and the software would not know the orientation of the night sky. John at technical support told be that this means that the lithium battery is dead. Located in the fork of the mount. This item is not user servicable and would need to be sent back. Well I can live without HIBERNATE. But, then I could not get the scope to perform a GPS alignment (or any alignment for that matter)!! Now I have a problem. I need to use the tlescope in pure manual mode.

OK, I can live with that. But now the altitiude motor drive will not work in speeds 8 or 9. So with all of these problems I had better send it back while it is still within warranty.


Yes I get a two year warranty, but that is just about up. At least Meade permits you to purchase extended warranites. Which I would reccomenmd you do if you have a Meade. I don't have Meade, but I wonder if Meade has problems too.

Aside from these short coming ( and they are huge problems), when the scope is working, it is a fine instrument.

The optics seem to be jsut fine. It has nice aperature. I would like to get a 14 inch Meade. (I got the fever). The Schmitt-cassegrain design is very versitile. TheDenkmeier bino viewer is an awesome and I mean jsut awesome accessory to have for the Schmitt. When using the Denkmeir Sky sweeper you have an F5 telscope. I use the binoviewer with generic plossl 32 mm eye pieces ( as reccomend by the salesman Gary at Hands ON Optics). They seem to work just fine and don't break the bank.

The mount seems to be solid. The Nexstar is quiet when it slew. The Nexstar 11 is easy to move and set up becasue the carrying handles are very nicley placed (as mentioned by the salesmen at Astronomics). I set the scope up nightly and I have not problem moving it. These are the main two resons I got the Celestron over the Meade. Also when I inquired about their products, Meade representatives were a bit less interested in speaking to me.

The optices are fine. I don't have many other high quality optical instruments to comare with though. Make sure your scope is properly colimnated. Schmitts are very sensitive to colimnation. Tighten the screws, not loosen.


Putting the telescope on the mount can be tricky. I hear that the Starizona attachment would help with this. I don't have such a device.

Overall. I wish I didn't have the electronic glitches. The scope is a joy to use when working properly. As I mentioned the scope has great versatility. I suspect that a telescope from any brand that is electronically integrated will have problems. It just seems that this one is very tempermental. Please note, that the problmes with the telescopes will never be covered in magazines because the manufacturers pay big bucks to the magazines for advertizing. They will not get bad publicity.

Even the retail sales outlets will not inform you of such problems. I called Astronomicss several times and told them of my problems. I ask if they get such feed back form other costomers. The answer is always NO.

Overall Rating: No Vote
Optics:8 Mount:7 Ease of Use:9
Weight: 1 (Unreliable Vote)
Date:
By:
Link to this vote: http://www.excelsis.com/1.0/displayvote.php?voteid=447771

Celestron Nexstar 11 GPS
The Nexstar 11 GPS is simply the best telescope for the money. The optics and mechanics are far superior to the meade LX-200 telescopes, the controller is better designed and laid out... and it works well in sub-zero Canadian winters where the meade sunny-California controller fails at about -5C...the nexstar is very accurate in go-to, easy to set on a wedge or a tripod, very quiet oparating (where the meade sets dogs barking a half-mile off) and the XLT coatings do improve the light-gathering by about 0.3magnitude.... need I go on? Oh, the Fastar assembly, permitting f/1.9 imaging with an ST237 or Meade DSI... simply breathtaking.

Overall Rating: 9
Optics:10 Mount:9 Ease of Use:10 Value:9
Weight: 1 (Unreliable Vote)
Date:
By:
Link to this vote: http://www.excelsis.com/1.0/displayvote.php?voteid=472118

Celestron Nexstar 11 GPS
The GPS is dead accurate, the object is always in the FOV of the included 30mm plossl. I'm no optical expert, but the fresnel rings when defocussed are concentric and round, and look equal on both sides of focus. But at high powers (185+)I'm not seeing tight stars. But that could very well be the NJ skies. Overall, I'm very happy!

Overall Rating: 8
Optics:8 Mount:6 Ease of Use:10 Value:9
Weight: 5 (Veritable Vote)
Date:
By:
Link to this vote: http://www.excelsis.com/1.0/displayvote.php?voteid=509304

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