11" Celestron C-11 XLT Carbon Fiber f/10 Schmidt-Cassegrain Telescope
Celestron CGE German Equatorial Mount

The Celestron C-11 Optical Tube is as fine a Schmidt-Cassegrain (SCT) as you are likely to find.  Lots of thought went into the design of this particular model, with a smooth focuser and carbon fiber construction.  The carbon fiber OTA was important to me as an imager because it tends to retain it's focus throughout the night, begin less resistant to thermal expansion.  This particular optic tube also boasts the new XLT Starbright coatings.  Although I haven't done an imaging with this scope as of yet, I have put its optics  though its paces in the dark skies of West Texas.  Once properly collimated, the scope demonstrated sharp optics with no discernable spherical aberrations.  The contrast is surprisingly sharp, something I didn't expect since having owned an older Meade LX200 for a couple of years.  It's a fantastic visual insrtrument.  The only thing I'd like to see added to the Celestron SCT tubes is a mirror lock feature and a zero-shift focuser, something that the new Meade LX200 GPS includes as standard equipment.  These would make this OTA even more attractive for imaging.

The Celestron CGE mount is relatively new to the market.  It was produced by Celestron as the successor to the Ci-700 and to compete with the Losmandy G-11 mount, an outstanding value in its own regard.  Like the G-11, it has a rated payload capacity of 65 lbs. only with a Nexstar GOTO system right out of the box (the G-11 uses the optional third party Gemini GOTO system). Celestron provides this excellent mount at $2999, a full $150 cheaper than its Losmandy cousin.  I got a great deal on a barely used CGE for 2/3 the regular price.

I have had plenty of success imaging with this mount while using the Tak FSQ-106 refractor, through I haven't tried anything other than visual observing with the matching C-11 tube.   The amount of periodic error is quite good (not great) and the pointing precision is quite accurate, despite some initial problems with the firmware, something that Celestron fixed with an update last February.   The major negative of this mount is its inability to track too far beyond the meridian.  All German equatorial mounts must be flipped once you reach the meridian, but most will allow for a good 30 minutes to an hour of imaging before it hits the hardstops.  The CGE stops tracking less than 10 minutes after the meridian is reached.  This is most certainly an inconvenience, but I feel it's not something that should prevent astroimagers from purchasing the mount.  Many people are buying Losmandy G-11s instead, despite the remaining virtues of this mount.