Congrats, Chuck. What are you going to mount on it? -- Joe ________________________________ From: Chuck Hards <chuck.hards@gmail.com> To: Utah Astronomy <utah-astronomy@mailman.xmission.com> Sent: Tue, May 4, 2010 12:07:37 AM Subject: Re: [Utah-astronomy] Atlas or CGEM? OK, folks, I've gone and done it. I appreciate all the informative feedback I've received. I've actually been looking into this for a while now and had all but made up my mind before posting, but it never hurts to get a thirtieth opinion, right? In the end, I bought the CGEM. Now, I had all but made up my mind on the Atlas- but over the course of a couple of weeks, I changed my mind. I'll get into the reasons in the near future. It was actually a very close race, neck-and-neck for a while. I pulled the trigger to take advantage of a great price on the CGEM: $1250, with FREE shipping. That amounts to a savings of about $270 over the Atlast mount from Orion. And yes, I've already spent the savings on accessories. Truthfully, when the dust settles, even with the sale price, I will be spending more on the CGEM. Hundreds more, actually. Hopefully it will be worth it. Once my new Losmandy-style dovetails get here, and the various other bells-and-whistles I've ordered, I'll schedule a "baptism" night at SPOC, perhaps, and you will all be invited to come out and inspect Celestron's mid-priced mount. Kibitzing and assistance will be solicited that first night, since I'm sure I won't have a clue as to what I'm doing. Thanks again, everyone! Oh, Steve, I've already TP'd the Cloudy Nights forum. Hopefully you don't regret reminding me of it. ;o) _______________________________________________ Utah-Astronomy mailing list Utah-Astronomy@mailman.xmission.com http://mailman.xmission.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/utah-astronomy Visit the Photo Gallery: http://www.slas.us/gallery2/main.php Visit the Wiki: http://www.utahastronomy.com