Telescope Reviews: Deforking Celstar to SVP or CG5?

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Equipment Discussions >> Mounts

Pages: 1

ylem
sage

Reged: 01/27/09

Loc: Monroe, NC

Deforking Celstar to SVP or CG5?
#5586881 - 12/24/12 09:41 AM

Hi all, 1st is the svp up to the job visual only, the ota weighs about 18lbs with every thing on it? One thing I notice it does not have cables/knobs for RA and dec, will that cause issues or will I have to spend the 150 to add motors? That brings the total cost up to the cg5.

I been leaning to the svp because I dont need goto and have to worry about power source. If I went with the cg5 how is manual tracking acomplished?

Thanks jeff

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ylem
sage

Reged: 01/27/09

Loc: Monroe, NC

Re: Deforking Celstar to SVP or CG5? new

[Re: ylem]
#5587623 - 12/24/12 06:50 PM

Anybody using the svp with a c8 out there?

Merry Christmas,
Jeff

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Jim7728
Postmaster

Reged: 04/10/05

Loc: Stoop Landing Observatory, NYC

Re: Deforking Celstar to SVP or CG5? new

[Re: ylem]
#5587755 - 12/24/12 09:12 PM

Quote:

Hi all, 1st is the svp up to the job visual only, the ota weighs about 18lbs with every thing on it? One thing I notice it does not have cables/knobs for RA and dec, will that cause issues or will I have to spend the 150 to add motors? That brings the total cost up to the cg5.

I been leaning to the svp because I dont need goto and have to worry about power source. If I went with the cg5 how is manual tracking acomplished?

Thanks jeff

The Orion SVP does come with knobs for manual tracking and should be fine for visual but, you may need more than the supplied 11lbs of counterweight to balance the load.

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simpleisbetter
Carpal Tunnel

Reged: 04/18/11

Re: Deforking Celstar to SVP or CG5? new

[Re: Jim7728]
#5587763 - 12/24/12 09:21 PM

The CG-5 doesn't have an unpowered manual capability beyond push-to (which works well enough for quick sessions). But you can select "Quick Align" and skip all the alignment routine. Quick Align simply turns on the RA drive and you can just unlock the axes and move the scope where you want from there.

Having owned both, I'll say I'd much rather have the CG-5 with its sturdier tripod. The SVP, while a CG-5 class mount head, has too much flex in the tripod IMO for the weight you want to use.

Merry Christmas everyone!

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Geo.
Carpal Tunnel

Reged: 10/01/08

Loc: Upstate NY

Re: Deforking Celstar to SVP or CG5? new

[Re: simpleisbetter]
#5589975 - 12/26/12 04:50 PM

The SVP has somewhat lighter legs than the CG-5 (1.75 as opposed to 2"). It is adequate for visual,

But I'm left wondering why you'd ditch the Celestar fork. It's perfectly fine for visual use, already has a fairly accurate servo motor drive system, can be controlled by a simple handbox and will operate quite while on a 9v battery.

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ylem
sage

Reged: 01/27/09

Loc: Monroe, NC

Re: Deforking Celstar to SVP or CG5? new

[Re: Geo.]
#5590263 - 12/26/12 08:33 PM

Quote:

The SVP has somewhat lighter legs than the CG-5 (1.75 as opposed to 2"). It is adequate for visual,

But I'm left wondering why you'd ditch the Celestar fork. It's perfectly fine for visual use, already has a fairly accurate servo motor drive system, can be controlled by a simple handbox and will operate quite while on a 9v battery.

Yea, Im thinking the same thing, I am going to leave it be, its really a nice classic set up. Its also lighter then a cg5 setup.

Thanks, jeff

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Geo.
Carpal Tunnel

Reged: 10/01/08

Loc: Upstate NY

Re: Deforking Celstar to SVP or CG5? new

[Re: ylem]
#5594488 - 12/29/12 01:59 PM

Check out CeleStar_8_users@yahoogroups.com.

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