Meade's Max Robotic German Equatorial Mount stands in a class by itself. It is built to be utilized by observatories, academic institutions and serious amateur astronomers. This mount is unparalleled when compared with other mounts of the same class. It is hugely superior with respect to craftsmanship, strength and accuracy. Built to last, Meade Instruments incorporates a large gear diameter in order to proportionately reduce the shearing forces of the worm assembly. As a result, the mount is able to carry heavier loads.
More teeth signifies that the worm turns quicker and therefore decreases periodic error by half compared to the 360-tooth gear count found in other mounts. The Max Robotic mount features 652-tooth gears to increase precision and smoothness, in order to minimize periodic error during tracking, which is extremely important for Deep Sky Imager users. Meade maintains the same gear diameter in the Right Ascension and Declination assuring the same mechanical robustness and accuracy in both axes.
This exceptional German equatorial mount is capable of supporting a telescope weighing up to 250 lbs. It is well-built, finely geared and will serve the purpose of supporting a large telescope for years of heavy use. This highly precise apparatus promotes excellent balance for astronomical observing as well as long exposure astrophotography. Its accurate tracking capability enables increased time at the eyepiece while navigating the heavens.
Meade Instruments conveniently includes the Autostar Suite 4 in the system to facilitate the task of teaching by enabling lab workstations to operate the scope from any classroom without an extensive software set up. This expanded Autostar Suite version with network and web control allows the user to remotely control the telescope from any web browser without software installation on the remote PC, Mac, PDA or cell phone.