I bought used a year ago the 9.25 version, and it has been the most fun telescope I’ve owned as you said. It is also built like a tank, and still runs smoothly and accurately. I’m out there looking at the night sky with it almost weekly since having it. For the price I got it for (a little over $500), it was steal, and the previous original owner used it as a living room decoration for the last 20 years as it was too heavy for him to haul around. I also would recommend anyone who can get a good price on a decently kept sample to buy one. No regrets thus far.
This is a very good overview of this excellent telescope, very well presented too. I have one of these, and I love it. The only downside is its weight, you just don't grab it out for a 1hr observing session. Mine has survived the GPS rollover issue and still is fully functional. I always align using the very easy SkyAlign function after that it's goto's and tracking are very good for several hours before it degrades ever so slightly.
Happy to see a good review of this scope! I own one and the drives are showing weakness… after more than 20 years of service and some reparations on the electronics. I am considering to defork it and place it on a CGX … for 20 additional years of service
Got the 8" version about two months ago and love it! The mount works flawlessly, the GPS even works! I use my mobile phone loaded with Stellarium Mobile Plus through a USB to serial cable to steer it after alignment. I wasn't aware that you could de-fork this tube but that is a good option.
Nice review, I have the nexstar 8 gps that I bought new and I swear had it under the night sky for an hour. Optics exposed for approx 20 mins and haven’t used it since. It is a fantastic scope but I was always afraid of getting something on the optics where I lived at the time, lots of pine trees so I always used my smaller n4 and Meade etx 90 and 125. Life then got in the way and I haven’t used any of them in so long but you are correct the nexstar gps series is built like a tank fantastic scopes.
What a fantastic scope. I managed to buy a Nexstar 8 GPS in wonderful condition after watching your review on it a couple of months ago. Also thanks for your videos on the internals of the LX200. Helped me out a lot. Keep up the great work!
Would be amazing if you could do a similar maintenance video for the Nexstar 8 or 11 concerning DEC, RA and roller bearings. Again, thanks so much for your work!@@MaximumAstronomy
Max, I have deforked my Nexstar 11GPS SLT, so I have a fork assembly, that works / spare parts. If you are interested, contact thru the club. Oh, I mounted my CF 11 on a CGE-Pro in my observatory.
It is an old model. They are still very good telescopes and are built very well. But the GPS do not work any longer so you’ll need to input date and time manually for proper operation. But parts are scarce on these if anything ever happens. But if you get a good deal, I’d go for it! They’re fantastic.
I have the nexstar gps 11, just pulled it out of the closet. Haven’t used it in years. I have the 40mm eyepiece which it came with and bought a televue nagler 16mm type 5 and a televue power mate 2.5. I would like to stay with the televue nagler line. Can you make any recommendations on eye pieces?
Naglers are fantastic eyepieces. They are expensive though. Any of them will give you great results. You'll want something under 12mm to really dial in on the planets well and something like your 40mm for viewing deep sky. I prefer the Explore Scientific 82-degree eyepieces myself as they give really good results for the money and rival some eyepieces far more expensive. Eyepieces are like cars though, you find the ones you like and stick with that lineup.
@@MaximumAstronomythanks for the info! If you had to pick three eye pieces to use the nexstar gps 11 What would you go with? Doesn’t have to be televue nagler.
I have a 2001 Nexstar 11 GPS and my GPS also stopped working--can you better explain the crossover issue with it? I've never heard of that . Thank you!
A number of years ago, they did an update on GPS data around the globe. And with that “update” or whichever you want to call it was, older GPS receivers would no longer receive correct data. So the older NGPS models suffer from the older GPS modules are affected where the day and month will be correct but the year will be vastly wrong. So you’ll have to disable the GPS and manually enter it so the correct data is in there for planet positions and accurate Goto performance.
I imagine that there is nothing I can do to get the GPS to operate again? I have no problem using the 2 star Auto alignment, but I always enjoyed seeing the telescope doing its GPS dance! @@MaximumAstronomy
@@Starman2440 Look at your firmware and see how old it is. Celestron had an update for the Nexstar 4 and plus hand controllers to address the GPS rollover issue in 2019. You can try to update to the latest and see, but there is a chance the 2001 model is outside of the range they were able to save.
You can use a brand new Controller (with Alt-Az Firmware) as long as the control board is from 2001+ or something. This will solve the GPS rollover problem you will have with the old controller. It will pick up a GPS signal and get correct data thru SkyAlign
@@icecorebaby Try the old one first. You should be able to do a two-star alignment even if the GPS shows the wrong time and date. My controller is a reflashed AVX controller (maybe one year old) using the most recent Alt-Az-firmware. You can do that with Celestrons firmware updater if you get a new controller. The new controller displays "Nexstar GPS" instantly and gets a correct GPS signal in seconds. Make sure to keep your scope powered on for a couple of hours indoor on first startup to recharge the GPS internal battery. Good luck!
