10Micron GM1000 HPS Review & Impressions

[@kalon9999]

Thank you for keeping it clean, it would be very tempting to turn to smut! Looks like a wonderful, big, black... mount

[@adrianphotovisions2308]

For perspective, Ive owned the GM2000HPS for around 7 years. These mounts are very expensive and the reason is because they have absolute encoders as well as a high build quality. Once a sky model is made, these mounts are capable of unguided imaging with 3M focal lengths for an hour, they are that good. These days, with CMOS camera's, shorter exposures are more ideal, but you can be sure the object will stay center all night. Pointing is generally under 10 arc secs, often below 5 arc secs, so I turn off centering in automated software, it isnt needed. But I must emphasize that absolute encoders are the reason this mount is so good.

[@AstroWithRoRo]

Yes, I noticed that the RMS is kept nicely under control with the encoders. In conjunction with the sky model it really provides fantastic accuracy. I wasn't able to test it with such long focal lengths in my short time with it, but it was fine up to 1m FL with unguided subs for me.

[@adrianphotovisions2308]

RMS? So you are guiding? Do a decent model and test unguided to show its true capabilities. I am currently imaging despite windy conditions here in the UK. FL = 1070mm and an ASI 183 giving 0.46 arc sec/pixel. Perfect round stars with 5 minute unguided subs. 10 micron conservatively quote periodic error of less than 1.0 arc sec, but my own measurements with PemPro show

[@AstroWithRoRo]

I didn’t guide, but did let PHD2 track the sky with corrections disabled to see what kind of RMS it could obtain. Unfortunately with such a short time having it I wasn’t able to get enough data to go in depth on it. Likewise I only had time to build a 40 point model so again didn’t want to speak too much about tracking performance since I am sure it could perform much better than I was able to get it to. My subs did look very good and had no obvious star elongation so was very happy with the results I saw but would also love another go with it to see how far it can be pushed. 😁

[@ASTROKING-S]

Good to see you back fella

[@BenManuele]

Amazing preesenation skills! Not even a hint of a smirk broke through. You need to do more of these :-) Loved it!

[@izelennkhan]

Love how the dog suddenly awakes whenever something heavy is getting moved.

[@astrofalls]

The 10u mounts are perfect. The only thing I would change are the dovetail saddle tightening knobs, I've had some accidental slips since they are quite hard to torque on heavy payloads.

[@AstroWithRoRo]

What kind of focal lengths do you use with yours Bray? I've heard from a few owners that guiding is necessary over about 2m, have you found similar? I didn't have any issues with the saddle but only tried about 16kg of payload on it.

[@astrofalls]

@@AstroWithRoRo you could probably roll unguided over 2m as long as you have a good pointing model. I’ve ran it at 2800mm FL, 135mm, 400mm, both GM1000hps-3000hps.

[@AstroWithRoRo]

Good to know :)

[@artisans8521]

The corgy's reaction on attaching the telescope was golden. A knob extender?

[@j.s.3407]

How much of a difference a mount of the quality would make on something like a SCT with floppy mirrors that make the "model building" something that doesn't work well?

[@o0SeroQuel0o]

Ace and comprehensive review. Hey once that sky model is built, were 5 min unguided subs possible?

[@AstroWithRoRo]

Yes at the focal lengths I tested (525mm & 1000mm) unguided 5 minute subs were possible once the model was built.

[@mpk2707]

Ro, I understand the intro. That thing is pure porn. I have been looking for a good review of the GM1000 and hope you will get a little more into use cases with the mount. 🎉

[@luboinchina3013]

That intro earned a subscribe😂

[@AstroAF]

lol “Just listen to this…”. Oh… 😅 So much innuendo, so little time. What a nice looking precision mount!

[@johnadastra1754]

Nice mount but pricey! (What's with the pillow?)

[@AstroWithRoRo]

Juno loves her Alan Rickman pillow. :D

[@nikaxstrophotography]

That intro was um, disturbing lol

[@mrtransistor6173]

The fact you must use approved power adapters is very silly. I don't like that you can't download the drivers from their website either.

[@Rob_1472]

No need for weight bias on these mounts. I have the same mount and you want to be balanced period...no bias. There's a balance feature under the drive menu. This is no skywatcher or CGEM/CGX

[@AstroWithRoRo]

Thanks Rob, this understanding is based on manuals from Astro-Physics which describes about how to best balance your mount. It's not that only low quality mounts need this, but that in general it is best practice to have a slight bias towards the counterweights and camera: www.astro-physics.info/tech_support/accessories/mounting_acc/balance-to-optimize-guiding.pdf

[@SXBB]

Hi RoRo, Great review! The instructions for use of the GM1000HPS actually recommend using the built-in balancing function to get the balance error down to less than 0.4% on each axis in order to have the best results when imagiing un-guided. Looking forward to a more in-depth review of the mount! CS

[@one-two-three-four-five]

For over $10K this mount must make you coffee every morning and read most recent astro news.

[@mpk2707]

Dude, did you fall in love with the 10micron and eloped into the desert never to be seen again?

[@GregMcCall]

Funny, Steve lost his knob. Now you will have to review a real mount. The NINA interface seems good but I wonder if that's because it doesn't have it's own decent control app.

[@AstroWithRoRo]

For sure, the NINA plugin for it is really simple and easy to use. I didn't have time to try out if there was any standalone software for it, so can't speak to that.

[@johnreilly8672]

I want one but I'm going to have to win the lottery to make it happen 😂

[@--Adrian--]

With an SCT you are not taking full advantage of the mounts precision. Get a proper telescope for that mount

[@Alan-vk6bk]

Sooooo many knobs 😂😂😂😂