Celestron's CPC Series with revolutionary SkyAlign AlignmentTechnology re-defines everything that amateur astronomers are looking for ? quick and simple alignment, GPS, unsurpassed optical quality, and easy use. Once the CPC's internal GPS has established the telescope's position, aligning the telescope is as easy as 1-2-3! Simply locate and use hand control to manually point (slew) the telescope to three bright celestial objects. Celestron CPC 1100 series GPS Schmidt-Cassegrain telescope has the most, light gathering power and has a limiting magnitude of nearly 15. It takes full advantage of its vast database of thousands of NGC and Abell galaxies as well as delivering a new level of detail to all your favorite deep sky objects. The CPC 1100 GPS features Celestron's premium StarBright XLT coatings. Ergonomic design Star diagonal provides more comfortable viewing position when observing objects that are high in the sky Convenient remote hand control holder allows you to view information hands-free while using the scope 40,000 object database with 400 user-definable objects and expanded information on over 200 objects Re-designed drive base and drive mechanics - Quiet operation, large drive gears, and quick release clutch SkyAlign allows you to align on any three bright celestial objects, making for a fast and easy alignment process Flash upgradeable hand control software and motor control units for downloading product updates over the Internet Auxiliary port for additional accessories such as Autoguider, GPS accessory Aperture - 280mm (11.02) Focal Length - 2800mm (110.24) Focal Ratio - 10 Magnification - 40x and 660x Linear Field of View - (at 1000 yards) 32-feet (9.75 m) Optical Coating - Starbright XLT Coating Tracking Modes - Altazimuth, EQ North & EQ South Alignment Procedures - SkyAlign, Auto Two-Star Alignment, Two-star Align, SolarSystem Align, EQ North Align, EQ
Customer Review: Celestron CPC 1100
Scope was easy to set up and operate. Quality of scope was excellent. Works as avertised.
Customer Review: Great telescope for visual use
I bought this telescope primarily for visual use. I almost decided to get a smaller aperture. However, after seeing the telescope size and comments on it's handling, I decided it would be light enough for me to setup alone. The telescope tube and fork are pretty heavy. However, the ergonomics are very good such that lifting the tube isn't too bad (carried close to your body). I was seriously tempted by the Meade LX200R 10" and 12" scopes. In the end I decided the ergonomics on the Celestron were better and it was quite a bit cheaper (Celestron 11" was cheaper than Meade 10"). The fork mount is perfect for visual use since it can be setup very quickly. I suspect the Meades would be better for serious imaging if mounted on an equatorial mount. I was concerned about getting a telescope shipped to my home, but in the end it wasn't damaged in transport. I love the goto features of the scope. Using the handheld controller you can quickly find objects in the sky. I find the built in database quite good for visual objects. I quickly started using the Constellation view mode (view objects in a constellation) to reduce the amount of slewing across the sky. I find the auto-sky-align feature to work pretty well. This alignment mode is great since you don't need to know star names; just pick 3 bright stars. However, it is prone to occasionally fail alignment and 3 stars take more time than 2 stars. To eliminate the alignment failure and decrease the alignment time (2 stars only), I now primarily use auto-2-star align despite the fact you need to know the star names. The 10x50 finder scope is not terribly good but does the job. My focus knob is not as smooth in turning as some telescopes in the store. I notice this more as the scope is near the horizon. There is quite a bit of mirror shift when focusing but this is a Schmidt-Cassegrain characteristic. It took me some practice to obtain fine focus. I plan to order a feathertouch focuser to get finer control over the focus. My telescope was shipped with the GPS turned off. To turn it on you must go deep into the menus. I also discovered that you must set your scope to the proper daylight savings time setting or some stars will be out of range. The cord wrap feature sometimes annoys me. This feature tries to prevent wrapping the power cord. However, I usually watch for this problem anyhow and the cordwrap feature sometimes forces longer than necessary telescope slews. Cord wrap gets turned on automatically after every alignment. The tripod seems pretty heavy duty and comes with a nice heavy eyepiece tray. My tripod did not come with a leveling bubble. Placing the telescope fork on the tripod is pretty easy. Once you manage to grab the center guide pin with the fork, you simply need to rotate the base until the scope falls into the retention screw cutouts. Sometimes finding the center guide pin can take about 30 seconds but you get better with time.
Optically the scope seems pretty good so far. You can see the Cassini division of Saturn and banding on Saturn and Jupiter. It took me a while to figure out collimation. I ordered a set of Bob's knobs and played with the collimation for a while to get the hang of it. I have tried to perform a star test and didn't get a perfect diffraction pattern on either side of focus. I believe there is possibly a slight downturned edge in the mirror from looking at the diffraction patterns. However, so far objects in the telescope look great and I am not an optical expert anyway. I have used the Neximage web cam for Lunar and planet images. The images turn out great. I have also tried some limited piggyback photography. All of my viewing and imaging so far has been from my backyard in a suburban light polluted area. I am able to see quite a few galaxies and nebula from my backyard. Celestron technical support is a bit slow in responding to inquiries through their web site. Overall, this is a great scope for visual use.
Buying a Global Positioning System (GPS) to meet your needs may not be as simple as one might think. There are a myriad of different devices, for many different purposes.
The first thing to consider when buying a GPS device is its primary use. Will you be using it on the road, on the trail, or on the water?
On the road devices are usually temporary mounted in the vehicle with suction cups or bean bags. Most of these devices have turn-by-turn instructions and auto correction if you miss a turn. I would highly recommend getting a device with the auto-correction feature, that way you don't have to mess with the device if you take a wrong turn, it will recalculate the route for you automatically. There are some devices that are also portable, so you can unplug them from your vehicle and take them with you as you walk around in a large city. My favorite in this category is the Garmin c330, c340, and c530 series. They are a wonderful size for using it in the vehicle and small enough to use as a portable. They have city maps pre-loaded, so they are not much use off-road. Many of the newest designs have built in picture viewers, MP3 players, traffic updates (careful, that usually costs extra!!), and many other bells and whistles. One of the best features of the Garmin c-series line is the ability to ask for the closest landmarks, such as food, gas, shopping, golf courses, etc. Make sure you understand what it has and what you want to use for before making the final decision.
One of the most asked questions is should I buy the car with GPS already in it? Personally, I don't like that option because it limits how you can upgrade, and the device cannot be used in multiple vehicles. Some car manufacturers are charging several hundred dollars to update the map data on these devices and you have little choice in using them to do this. The GPS market is an ever changing market and I like to be in control of which device I want to purchase. Having said that, I am choosing to have a device mounted to my dash or windshield (suction cups....also illegal in some states, so make sure you know which ones!!!) with wires trailing to the power source. Some folks don't like that, it is a trade off you have to decide on.
On the trail devices are handhelds which depict topographical, or basic mapping data, not detailed street level details. These are great for hiking and geocaching. They have the ability to either import coordinate, or download coordinates of a location and then tell you how close you are to that point and which way you need to go to get there. For hiking, you can set different points as you walk, like a breadcrumb trail so you can get yourself out the way you came in. These devices range from $80-$500+ depending on the different capabilities of the device. Some of the higher end models allow you to buy pre-loaded map detail on memory cards, so they can double as driving directions, however, they still don't have the turn-by-turn capabilities.
GPS devices used on the water are fixed mount devices. These devices can have water depth, temperature, etc, especially helpful for the fisherman. Maps that can be downloaded can have tidal waters, known shipwrecks, ports, and are very detailed. There is a huge range of devices to consider in this area.
Keep in mind that mapping software used on these devices changes about 1-2 times per year. Less frequently for the maps on the water. Understand what your devices downloading capabilities are so you don't get stuck with outdated maps forever! Also beware that because maps change, you have to be somewhat flexible when following the directions. I have had instances where it tells you to "turn left here", only to have that be the wrong way on a one-way street!!! In other words, these are guides to get you close to where you need to be, you cannot use them as gospel....common sense should prevail!
More GPS information and resources can be found at 4Runner Sports.
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darkskycast.org » Blog Archive » Cases for your astronomy pr..
Technlogy Press Blog » Celestron Telescopes from OpticsPlanet.com
darkskycast.org » Blog Archive » Cases for your astronomy pr..
Technlogy Press Blog » Celestron Telescopes from OpticsPlanet.com
darkskycast.org » Blog Archive » Cases for your astronomy pr..
Technlogy Press Blog » Celestron Telescopes from OpticsPlanet.com
darkskycast.org » Blog Archive » Cases for your astronomy pr..
Technlogy Press Blog » Celestron Telescopes from OpticsPlanet.com