My current setups revolve around a Losmandy G-11 with Gemini goto. What a work of art! However, it is quite fiddly (the LX200 was cake compared to this), and after several outings I've finally managed to get the hang of it. It really tracks well, and the Gemini goto almost always puts objects right in the center of a tiny webcam CCD. And with a Canon Digital Rebel XT's much larger CMOS imaging device, no misses at all. Here a Meade 152ED piggybacks a Meade 90mm guidescope:

On a wild hair, I recently acquired a used Meade 10" LXD75 Schmidt-Newtonian OTA and mount, from my favorite website Astromart. My plans for the 10" SN are to perch it on the sturdy G-11 and take photos. The mount is barely adequate for the heavy 10" OTA, but along with the Autostar, makes a great little visual platform for the William Optics Anniversary Edition 80mm refractor (a.k.a. Ruby, the Red Temptress ;) The best part of this arrangement is the easy setup and teardown: just pick it all up and move it as one unit!

Here's the Red Temptress riding shotgun with the 90mm guide scope on the G-11:

The goodies I currently use:

• Losmandy G-11 equatorial mount + Gemini + PS polar scope (awesome) + CKS clutch knobs
• Losmandy HD Tripod + TKS knobs + LCLS tripod levers
• Losmandy DSBS (dual scope adapter for G-11)
• Meade LXD75 mount with Autostar
• Meade 152ED refractor (apochromatic 152mm f/9, not really an "apo", but close enough for 1992)
  • Parallax 7" rings
  • Losmandy DUP dovetail plate
  • Russell Optics' 10x60 finder
  • Moonlite CFL2 focuser (what a delight!)
• William Optics Anniversary Edition ZenithStar 80 Fluorite Doublet (apochromatic 80mm f/6.9)
  • William Optics 80mm rings
  • Losmandy DMM dovetail plate (also for digicam)
  • ScopeStuff CG5-style solid dovetail for WO scopes
• Meade LXD75 10" Schmidt-Newtonian OTA (254mm f/4)
  • JMI NGF55DM motorized Crayford focuser
  • ScopeStuff CG5-style solid dovetail
  • Ken's CG5-style dovetail clamps
  • SocalAstro DUP-15 dovetail plate
• Meade 90mm refractor (achromatic 90mm f/11, for auto-guiding)
  • 125mm ADM rings
  • SocalAstro DUP-15 dovetail plate
• Canon 350D (a.k.a. Digital Rebel XT)
  • IRB filter replaced with clear glass
  • Air cooling via mounted muffin fan
• Peltier-cooled Philips ToUCamPro/SC3.2, custom enclosure
• Philips ToUCamPro/SC1.5, "in shell" with Mogg adapter
• ScopeStuff green laser pointer and finder mount
• Robin Casady stainless steel counterweights
• 2" Williams Optics mirror diagonal
• Burgess Optics' binoviewer + 20mm SWA eyepieces
• 1.25" Televue 9mm Type 6 Nalger eyepiece
• 2" Televue 35mm Panoptic eyepiece
• 2" Meade 14mm Ultra Wide Angle eyepiece (what a view!)
• Set of 8 1.25" Meade Series 4000 Super Plossl eyepieces, 6.4mm - 40mm
• 1.25" Meade Series 4000 Plossl 9mm illuminated reticle eyepiece
• William Optics 0.8X Apo reducer/field flattner
• Meade Series 4000 f/6.3 focal reducer
• 2" Televue 2X Powermate
• 1.25" Meade Series 4000 2X Apo Barlow
• Siebert Optics 1.25" screw-on 1.6X Barlow / relay lens (for binoviewer)
• 2" IDAS LPS filter
• 2" Baader IRB filter
• 2" Baader Ha filter
• 2" William Optics VR-1 filter
• 1.25" SBIG dichroic RGB filters
• 1.25" Meade Series 4000 moon and color filters
• 1.25" SAC Filter Pocket
• 1.25" Howie Glatter 635nm holographic & Barlowed laser collimator
• Toshiba Satellite Pro 2GHz/1GB laptop w/Windows XP Pro, mainly running:
  • Cartes du Ciel (for goto's)
  • DSLRFocus (for DSLR focusing & capture)
  • K3CCDTools (for webcam capture)
  • AstroSnap (for webcam capture)
  • GuideDog (for webcam auto-guiding)
  • AiGfxLab (my own image processing software!)

Some past OTA's that I've had the pleasure to own and use include a Celestron C9.25" SCT, a Burgess Optics 1278 refractor, an Orion 80ED, and a StellarVue AT1010. In this configuration (pictured below), a C9.25 SCT and a C80R guide scope ride together on the G-11 via a Losmandy DSBS:

In another configuration, a Burgess Optics 1278 and a StellarVue AT1010 ride together on the G-11. Of course, without the DSBS, any of the OTA's can/could ride alone:

The past equipment I've used with the G-11 were:

• Celestron C9.25 flocked carbon fiber tube with Starbright XLT coatings (9.25" f/10 SCT)
  • Losmandy DC9.25 dovetail plate
  • JMI NGF-S motorized Crayford focuser
  • Russell Optics' 10x60 finder
• Orion 80ED (apochromatic 80mm f/7.5)
  • 125mm ADM dovetail mounting rings
  • Losmandy DMM dovetail plate
• Burgess Optics 1278 (achromatic 127mm f/8, rumored to formerly be Bill's personal 'scope)
  • Losmandy DUP dovetail plate
  • Russell Optics' 10x60 finder
• Celestron 80mm refractor (achromatic 80mm f/11, for auto-guiding)
  • 125mm ADM rings
  • SocalAstro DUP-15 dovetail plate
• Canon 300D (a.k.a. Digital Rebel)
  • IRB filter replaced with clear glass
• TeleVue 4X Powermate
• William Optics 2.5X Apo Barlow
• Meade Series 4000 f/3.3 focal reducer
• 1.25" Lumicon UHC and Deep-Sky filters
• James Lacey LazyFocus PC-focuser interface

Before the G-11 arrived, I used a Meade 10" LX200 for a couple of years (pictured below). This was a great 'scope to start with, very forgiving and quite accurate. I decided to move on to a GEM to be able to use different OTA's.

The goodies I used with this 'scope (not already mentioned above) were:

• Olympus C-3030 digicam with ScopeTronix T-ring adapter
• Meade SuperWedge with some custom work and fasteners added
• Meade dew shield (street light shield more like it!)
• Losmandy DM10 dovetail plate and radius blocks
• Losmandy WS C11/M10 counterweight (with some additional "homebrew" weights added)
• Van Slyke Versa Port Slider
• Rob Roy LX200 keypad joystick (great addition!)
• 2" Sirius Optics MV-1 filter (ugh - killed it trying to clean it :/ )

I also used a motorized Meade LXD500B GEM with the AT1010 when I just wanted to look around for a bit and not set up the big monster. It worked quite well for visual use, but was frustrating with the webcams.

As for my current backyard site, I've got a pretty crappy view to the north (Phoenix sky-glow) and a horrible view to the east (Tempe, Chandler & Mesa sky-blast), but from the zenith to the south and to the west, the sky is fairly dark. As you can see, I'm smack in the middle of the "red zone", where the Milkyway at best is very faint at zenith, M31 difficult and indistinct, and the sky is grey up to 35 degrees. Limiting magntidue 5.0 to 5.5. I need to get out to some real dark skies more often!