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LOSMANDY HGM TITAN GERMAN EQUATORIAL MOUNT
Introduced October 2002
Right: Losmandy Titan Mount Head with Tripod, 21 lb. Counterweight (63,202 bytes). Since the early 1990's the Losmandy Model G-11 German Equatorial mount has come to represent the best value in its class; a particularly attractive choice for those who require a high degree of tracking precision and reliability with payloads up to 6 inch refractors, or 11 to 12 inch apertuure Schmidt Cassegrain telescopes. There are those who consider larger telescopes to be "portable", so for those people who seek a platform engineered for telescopes such as the Celestron C-14, and Astro-Physics 10" Mak, Losmandy developed the HGM Titan. Even the relatively smaller telescopes are more and more requiring higher capacity mounts as the weight of CCD cameras, Flip Mirror, Color Filter Wheels, etc. grows too. At first glance the resemblence of the Titan to the larger HGM-200 mount is obvious The Titan appears to be a scaled down HGM-200. But this is a mount that was engineered from the ground up to take advantage of the dramatic developments in mount drive corrector and computer control technology. In fact this mount is available with only the proven Losmandy Gemini "Go To" computer control system. As has been the case with most Losmandy mounts, it is a valuable asset that the Titan too is a mount among the few high performance platforms whose components are modular, symmetrical, and fairly simple to service or replace in the field. Our experience is that there is rarely a need to return a head to the USA for service, even more so since Company Seven technicians put in about four to five man hours checking through and fine tuning each new Losmandy mount which we receive. You are not likely to encounter any defect that would require a return of the head sold by Company Seven for service.
Payload ratings of telescope mounts vary with design and material used, and in the manner with which the proud manufacturer judges their product, and so this alone is not a reliable predictor of performance. A telescope mount has several factors that will affect suitability including: static load, length and torque, desired tracking accuracy, tripod or pier resonances, etc. What is most important to the user of the product is how rigidly the mount holds the payload, how smoothly it tracks (amplitude and smoothness of the periodic error of a gear), and how it overcomes the moment imparted by the load. This will vary with weight of the load, and the physical length of the load. The weight put onto the mount will vary depending how the instrument is to be used too. For example one telescope used for visual work only may be as much as fifty percent lighter in weight than another employed for imaging (possibly with guide scopes, cameras, etc.). The potential loading on the mount may also vary with local winds; even a mild wind accross the "sail" area of a large reflecting telescope can dramatically increase the effective load imparted to the mount. So, a small mount operating from within a shelter (such as a dome) with a short and narrow telescope might perform as well or better than a larger mount outside a sheltered environment. Indeed, some people elect to buy a smaller mount and then put the balance saved by not buying a larger mount into a shelter. Features of the Model HGM Titan Mount
Popular Options Include
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