Celestron Ultima 11

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Brand and Model:Celestron Ultima 11
Price ($USD):$3995
Type:Schmidt-Cassegrain
Attributes: checked Go-To checked PEC
Aperture:279mm (11")
f Ratio:f/10
Focal Length:2790mm
Finder:7*50
Electric Power:DC 9v
Mount:fork mount/HDwedge
Tripod:HD field tripod
Weight (lbs):80.0 lbs lbs.
Dimensions (w/h/d):50.5*12.5*23.5
Description:

Vote Highlights Vote
Celestron Ultima 11
Great optics for a Schmidt-Cassegrain and good mechanical construction. Excellent resolution and magnification on the planets, can see six cloud bands on Jupiter on a good night. The sharpness is quite good for this type of scope, although there is just a hint of spherical abberation near the field edge.

For deep sky, one can see the fine details of many nebulas, such as the Orion or Veil. This is no doubt a tremendous scope for viewing nebulas, especially with an O-III or UHC filter. Very bright nebular patches, just like looking at clouds when using the filters on the brighter nebulas. Quite amazing!Decent on galaxies...however, short on aperture as it fails to impress unless you're looking at a bright one.

This scope is probably right at the practical limit of large aperture and portability for a single person to set-up.

Cool down period can easily exceed 1.5 hours, given the large air volume in the OTA. Mount is adequate for most applications. Make sure to remove rubber tripod feet, or you will get vibration at higher magnifications (especially on grass.)

Overall, a great telescope that will give you a very noticeable edge in light grasp compared to the 8-inch model. I feel like I got my money's worth and am quite happy with my Ultima 11.

Overall Rating: 9
Optics:9 Mount:9 Ease of Use:8 Value:10
Weight: 20 (Notable Vote)
Date:
By:
Link to this vote: https://www.excelsis.com:443/1.0/displayvote.php?voteid=132808

Celestron Ultima 11
Purchased a used Ultima 11 PEC, the model with tined fork in attemp to upgrade in OTA size from the excellent results in quality I experience with my Ultima 8 PEC. After hearing many negitive comments regarding the stability of the mount I decided to purchase anyway and I am glade I did. This scope is slightly less stable than Ultima 8 PEC but on a pier it performs just as well as my Ultim 8 PEC and I have taked better images and can take longer unguided CCD images. I now realise that must of comments regarding mount are due to it's use on tripode which I must admit is not adaquate but on a pier it work VERY well.

-Dan

Overall Rating: 8
Optics:10 Mount:8 Ease of Use:10 Value:10
Weight: 1 (Unreliable Vote)
Date:
By:
Link to this vote: https://www.excelsis.com:443/1.0/displayvote.php?voteid=107419

Celestron Ultima 11
I bought my 11" from a friend for 200 dollars because he said that it wasn't working properly and needed some work and maybe some money to make it function. It turned out to be only a collimation problem. After calling Celestron and a little practice with the scope I was getting very good views of everything. One morning I was out viewing Saturn and Jupiter. Io was casting a well defned shadow and I could actually see same texture in the atmosphere on Jupiter. The smaller bands were distinct. It was breath taking for someone who is used to looking through a short focus 4 inch inexpensive refractor. Saturn was equally impressive with bands and rings separation very clear. At star parties people looking through this scope comment how great things look compared to most of the other scopes including some large expensive refractors. The disadvantage of this scope is the weight and the long cool down time of the optics.

Overall Rating: 9
Optics:10 Mount:8 Ease of Use:7 Value:9
Weight: 1 (Unreliable Vote)
Date:
By:
Link to this vote: https://www.excelsis.com:443/1.0/displayvote.php?voteid=71755

Celestron Ultima 11
Guys:

Just to CLAIRIFY...there's no need to have both a Ultima 11 PEC and an Ultima 11 NON PEC listed on the site...no U11s were sold without PEC!

As for the U11 itself, good scope. The C11 OTA has often been a problem child for Celestron, but when they're good, they're good. The problem is the fork and drive base. What as great for the Ultima 8 and fine for the Ultima 9.25 is just PASSABLE for the U11. Heavy old puppy too!

Rod Mollise

Overall Rating: 8
Optics:8 Mount:7 Ease of Use:7 Value:8
Weight: 1 (Unreliable Vote)
Date:
By:
Link to this vote: https://www.excelsis.com:443/1.0/displayvote.php?voteid=49200

Celestron Ultima 11
This scope is probably right at the practical limit of large aperature and portability. Anything larger is likely to gather dust most of the year.

Great optics and good mechanical construction. Excellent resolution and magnification on the planets. For deep sky, especially nebulas, one can see the delicate wispy details of the Orion Nebula. This is a tremendous scope for viewing nebulas! Good on galaxies, but a little short on aperature.

Overall Rating: 10
Weight: 1 (Unreliable Vote)
Date:
By:
Link to this vote: https://www.excelsis.com:443/1.0/displayvote.php?voteid=39481

Celestron Ultima 11
Converted my Ultime 8 to an Ultima 11 by buying OTA and forks. Wedge, drive base, and tripod the same. Got a used Company Seven scope and the extra effort they put into their scopes is well worth the extra money the original owner put out. No morror shift down to 7mm and the star images are great. The Orion Nebula will knock your socks off when teamed up with a 31mm Nagler Type 5. Only saw ingages like that in long exposure photos.

Overall Rating: 10
Weight: 1 (Unreliable Vote)
Date:
By:
Link to this vote: https://www.excelsis.com:443/1.0/displayvote.php?voteid=39465

Celestron Ultima 11
If it's sold by Company Seven it's a winner. No mirror shift and great star images. Teamed up with the 31mm Nagler type 5 and it can't be beat

Overall Rating: 10
Weight: 1 (Unreliable Vote)
Date:
By:
Link to this vote: https://www.excelsis.com:443/1.0/displayvote.php?voteid=39480

Celestron Ultima 11
very undercorrected optics

Overall Rating: 5
Weight: 1 (Unreliable Vote)
Date:
By:
Link to this vote: https://www.excelsis.com:443/1.0/displayvote.php?voteid=39477

Celestron Ultima 11
Optics are very good for the $$$. The larger size glass is much more sensitive to seeing. The fork mount is conveniant and easy to use. But not suited for astro-photography or ccd. The DEC motor on mine was underpowered and sometimes wouldn't drive the scope. The fork mount, even with the counter balance system is difficult use with accesories on (piggy back cameras, etc). I sold the fork mount and moved up to the Losmandy G11. I feel it's worth the extra money, unless you just want a visual, easy to use scope.

Overall Rating: 8
Weight: 1 (Unreliable Vote)
Date:
By:
Link to this vote: https://www.excelsis.com:443/1.0/displayvote.php?voteid=39476

Celestron Ultima 11
Resolution= fair , can't stand high powers >120x on brighter objects.
Contrast= fair, ( especially under city lights)
temp stability= low, takes hours to really adjust to nighttime conditions
Fork mount= superior,except for the trashy dec. drive provisions
overall= fantastic!! How marvelous to be able to have a portable, large-aperture
scope which far exceeds the light grasp, faint-object resolution, and drive accuracy of any refractor of comparable cost!

Overall Rating: 8
Weight: 1 (Unreliable Vote)
Date:
By:
Link to this vote: https://www.excelsis.com:443/1.0/displayvote.php?voteid=39475

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