The short version: if you're looking for advice about how to make a Solitaire or SmartGuider work with a standard, non-Gemini, G11, I can't help you.

In August 2009, I added an Orion Solitaire (a re-badged LVI SmartGuider) to my kit. This was an effort to make my outfit simpler and more portable, especially for DSLR imaging, and most especially for narrow-band DSLR imaging where subframes can be much longer than the limits of unguided tracking.

I did that based in part on this message from LVI posted on a popular astronomical watering hole, Cloudy Nights:

It's just not so. A few weeks of trying and experimenting led me to conclude that the Orion Solitaire / LVI Smartguider simply would not work with the non-Gemini G11 digital drive 492, relay box or no.

Orion "explained" that they don't carry Losmandy products and knew nothing about any of that. When I asked for technical help, LVI admitted that I would definitely need something called an MGA (the Multi Guiding Adapter), and promised that this would make the SmartGuider work just fine with the standard Losmandy drive. It would be available "shortly," "soon," "in October," and "before the end of the year." "Watch our website for news," they said. Indeed, good news was forthcoming: a PDF of the LVI system posted by LVI in October 2009 showed how the MGA would fit into the system.

But, when the MGA finally seemed ready to ship (current promise: April 2010), it turned out that it will work only with a second version of the SmartGuider. So I am told by Herb York of Anacortes, LVI's new North American distributor, and finally by LVI directly. Thank you Herb for the quick, accurate assessment. See the thread below where LVI finally tells me what I need to know instead of what I want to hear -- this is a good example of how not to communicate with customers you want to keep. Maybe it's a cultural thing, maybe Italian businessmen just won't deliver bad news? Just the same, I paid a lot of money for equipment that was supposed to do something it just can't do and then strung along until it's worth, at best, half of my investment at resale.

If you want to use a SmartGuider with a G11, you'll need to upgrade to a recent Gemini kit or buy a SmartGuider 2. If you have an earlier SmartGuider or Solitaire you're pretty much up a creek if your main mount is a non Gemini Losmandy. Use it with another mount, sell it for what you can get on AstroMart and buy a SmartGuider 2 from Herb, or install a Gemini retrofit kit.

Take your pick then get out there and make some pictures. And stay the hell off the bleeding edge.