A God-sent
I doubt one can find the words to do justice when describing this wonderful mount. Aside from being rock solid, it is engineered in such a way that you will begin to appreciate its design and layout each and every night.
The periodic error before correction is less than 5 peak-to-peak and well under 1 (peak-to-peak) when correction is enabled using either the AP version of PEMPro which comes with the mount (for free) or user/CCD corrections.
Once polar aligned, startup during each session involves a trivial one-star synchronization that takes a few seconds (point to a well-known star up in the sky and use the keypad to inform the mount which star it is).
For the astrophotographers, there is a wonderful option where one can delay (or advance) a meridian flip so that the imaging session will not be compromised (as an aside, the mount can easily track and allow one to image when our object has passed the meridian without the slightest problem). Of course, the mount will get the object (any object) of interest right on the chip each and every time so that the only user intervention will be to fine-tune the centering so that a suitable guide star is on the guide chip.
The keypad is a mini-planetarium and a mini-control center, thus allowing the use of the AP1200GTO without the need of a computer.
I sincerely doubt one will look for a better mount after having acquired the AP1200GTO. There is no better mount!
I sincerely doubt I will ever have the impetus to sell my AP1200GTO. I have grown so attached and appreciative to it that it has become my most faithful assistant and partner when imaging.
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10/16/2009 1:48:52 PM
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Excellent, rock solid performer
I have owned an AP 1200GTO for nearly a year now and have used it both for visual and CCD work. The mount tracks incredibly well (PEMPro measures under 2 total PE) and is rock solid under the 85 lbs it is carrying. I did uncover a small bug in the mounts software but AP responded quickly and corrected it quickly. My mount is housed in my observatory and while scopes may come and go, I cant imagine parting with the AP 1200GTO.
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10/16/2009 1:48:49 PM
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Your last mount...
Barring the need for something that carries more than the 140lbs rated load, this is going to be the last mount you own. This mounts tracking is unbelievably smooth. Goto is dead-on every time. The attention to detail in the design and build quality of these mounts is first class. AP is famously supportive of their products. If youre reading this review and are considering one of these mounts you must have seen many superlative statements like these by others, theyre true. I wish I had two of these mounts...
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10/16/2009 1:48:49 PM
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