Telescope Reviews: 1st outing with a CG5 ASGT

CG5 came in today (used off Amart) that I plan to replace my LXD75 with. I am giving it to someone that works for me. The LXD75 works and does a fair job but having never played with a CG5 and reading good things about them made me decide to give one a whirl.

Its used, you can tell its used but not abused. Setup went easy, no polar scope so I just eyeballed it thru the hole

I read thru the manual online ONCE and went to work about dusk dark setting it up. By the time polaris could be seen I was waiting on it. Went thru the intuitive initial setup routine and was pleasantly surprised at how intuitive the menus and controls were after about 15 min of browsing the menus. Until now my goto experience has been with gemini and autostar (both older fancy version on a LXD650 and the newer one on a year old LXD75).

Dont have a single complaint with Gemini, Autostar on the other hand.......Well lets just say autostar doenst do it for me.

I have played with the CG5 now for about 2 hrs this evening and imo for a lower cost mount it impressed me, with the ease of setup, rigidity and the goto's are spot on. Thumbs up to the CG5. I even stuck a C11 on it for few min to see how it reacted. For visual its fine although having the microtouch 2 speed focuser was a big help in that dept.

It should handle upto my 140 Vixen with no problems......Assuming it doesnt blow up tomorrow I highly recommend it for a good grab and go with goto......

Greg

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APM 8" f/9.0 Achro
Meade 6" AR6 f/8.0 Achro
Celestron C11, Intes MK67
Vixen ED102SS, FL102S, ED102S, NA140SS, R200SS, WO Megarez 80 w/TMB Fluorite Optics
SV70ED, AT66ED
LXD75/LX200, Ioptron Mini-tower, SP, GP-DX, CG5 ASGT, LXD650, GM-8, GM-100, G11, Gemini 40
4" portable AP convertable 44" or 70" pier
APM 100mm Binos Millenium Mount, Dobstuff 10" DOB

Augusta GA