Telescope Reviews: EQ-2/CG-3 Motors

I have 2 garage sale finds that are on EQ-2 style mounts, one is a Tasco 4 1/4 and the other is a Meade 4 1/4 4450. I picked up both in the $30 range. I was looking at motors for these, as I use them in public outreach, but I didn't want to spend big $ on a motor. I found that you can get the Celestron 93511 motors for about $10 shipped off Amazon and some other places. I just got one in tonight and put it on. I had to make a bracket to hold it, as there were no screws to line up the bracket to, but that was not too hard to do and had something in a few minutes. These motors mount in place of the RA Slo Mo knob, so you have to get fairly close in positioning before locking the clamps, but I have found the RA slo mo shafts to be a pain sometimes as they got in the way of the tube.
The results, PERFECT TRACKING.

These little units have an adjustment control on them so you can actually slew a little with them and can easily turn off the motor to help position items without the slow mo control. I put Saturn in with a 12mm illuminated reticle and a Celestron Ultima barlow. Once I tweaked the speed control, Saturn stayed centered in RA. I hadn't done any polar alignment so I did have a noticeable dec shift. I left it for an hour, simply had to turn the dec slo mo and Saturn came sailing back into the eyepiece! It is so nice to sit an watch Saturn and see the detail that these little 4.25" scopes can do. I would compare it to the tracking I have on my C-8's. I may even do some imaging once I have time to polar align! If you have one of these mounts, paying $10 for a motor is a no brainer! (There is a thumbscrew for attaching the motor just like the slo mo's, so you can release it and use the gear on the other side as a manual control if need be, but you will need to align the shaft with the thumbscrew so you get the flat under it.)
I just ordered a 2nd motor for the other mount! These work off a 9volt battery for supposedly 40 hours, and it would be easy to get one of the battery eliminators if you were using it a lot where you have power.
The motors are a little noisy, but not overly obnoxious.
Brian