MAROON-X has only one fixed instrument setting and currently one readout mode (100kHz, 1x1 binning). Observing strategies depend on the science case, i.e. whether general purpose echelle spectroscopy or high-resolution radial velocity observations are desired. The latter will require more careful planning of calibrations, both instrument stability tracking via the simultaneous calibration fiber as well as bracketing etalon exposures during the night.
Since MAROON-X was designed for high-precision radial velocity measurements, some design compromises are limiting the ability of the instrument to obtain spectra of very faint objects. The MAROON-X internal tip-tilt guiding system works reliably only for targets with a peak SNR of at least 30 within a hypothetical 30min science exposure time. You can check if a proposed target will be bright enough with MAROON-X ETC, by entering the target's magnitude, spectral type, required observing conditions, and a 30min science exposure time.
Exposure time limit: The 100um thick high-rho CCD in the red arm collects more and longer cosmic ray signals than a classical thin epitaxial CCD. The CCD has also a few cosmetic artifacts that have a stronger impact on pixel neighbors based on exposure time. We thus advise to limit individual exposure times to 30 min or less.
Signal limit: The spectrum is distributed over three fibers, sampled by 10 spatial pixels each (hence 30 pixels per 1D spectral bin). Hence the signal level in each stripe is lower than in the combined spectrum. For long exposure times (and hence high level of cosmic ray hits) this might compromise the ability for outlier rejection if the signal level per pixel is so low that optimal extraction techniques are no longer feasible.
Detailed information about the Gemini Phase I Tool (PIT) can be found here.