Telescope Reviews: Celestron VX mount

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hectar
member

Reged: 12/24/12

Loc: Ontario, Canada

Re: Celestron VX mount [Re: Whichwayisnorth]
#5630635 - 01/18/13 09:46 PM

Quote:

Ok all set up and ready to go for tonight. I did an unboxing video and a video with it slewing around. Two parts, each 15 minutes long, It'll take me quite a while to upload them to youtube and for the processing to take place. I'll post links asap. Also I'll get in touch with Ed on Monday and talk about taking this thing apart so I can show what it looks like inside.

P.S. So far I love this mount.

Update: Currently uploading to youtube part 1 of 2. Both broken down into 15 minute pieces. Here is the link for

part 1. http://youtu.be/-L8r7yHmKeU

part 2. on its way... http://youtu.be/5lYRIWdBzSo Give it 50 minutes from this post.

Just watched both videos. found them good. I am in market for a new mount and keeping my fingers crossed. Thanks for posting it.

Edited by hectar (01/19/13 09:13 AM)

Post Extras:

zawijava
scholastic sledgehammer

Reged: 10/06/07

Loc: Wells, Maine 04090

Re: Celestron VX mount [Re: Whichwayisnorth]
#5630776 - 01/18/13 11:04 PM

thanks for the videos, looking forward to hearing more! -Tim

Quote:

Ok all set up and ready to go for tonight. I did an unboxing video and a video with it slewing around. Two parts, each 15 minutes long, It'll take me quite a while to upload them to youtube and for the processing to take place. I'll post links asap. Also I'll get in touch with Ed on Monday and talk about taking this thing apart so I can show what it looks like inside.

Post Extras:

Zamboni
professor emeritus

Reged: 01/03/05

Loc: Colorado Springs

Re: Celestron VX mount [Re: Whichwayisnorth]
#5630862 - 01/19/13 12:12 AM

Quote:

Ok all set up and ready to go for tonight. I did an unboxing video and a video with it slewing around. Two parts, each 15 minutes long, It'll take me quite a while to upload them to youtube and for the processing to take place. I'll post links asap. Also I'll get in touch with Ed on Monday and talk about taking this thing apart so I can show what it looks like inside.

P.S. So far I love this mount.

Update: Currently uploading to youtube part 1 of 2. Both broken down into 15 minute pieces. Here is the link for

part 1. http://youtu.be/-L8r7yHmKeU

part 2. on its way... http://youtu.be/5lYRIWdBzSo Give it 50 minutes from this post.

WAIT WAIT WAIT

So you bought a whole new mount, it arrived today, and you expect to test it tonight as if it will be CLEAR?

I DON'T BELIEVE YOU!!!

Post Extras:

dr.who
sage

Reged: 01/05/12

Re: Celestron VX mount [Re: Zamboni]
#5630869 - 01/19/13 12:15 AM

Hey! I bought one today too and put it together and got to use the new OTA! It was just down right WIERD! Perhaps it's the Mayan Calendar ending or something!

Here are some images of it:

Side detail view of the Celestron AVX mount. Note the attention to detail with the dec connector being on top and the extra AUX ports and most importantly a REAL on/off switch! Celestron does listen it seems...

This is a *BLEEP* shot of the latitude adjustment scale. What you can't see is that unlike the CG5 you can actually tell where you are on the scale like on the CGEM. Another nice feature that Celestron listened to users on.

Rear view. Note that the knobs holding the OTA on the mount are now much more robust. And... Note that the Index marks are actually visible!

Final detail shot. And an important one. No more loss of alignment due to cord pull! It's a threaded plug just like the CGEM!

And here is the front on the VX...

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Whichwayisnorth
professor emeritus

Reged: 07/04/11

Loc: Southern California

Re: Celestron VX mount [Re: Zamboni]
#5630896 - 01/19/13 12:33 AM

Quote:

Quote:

Ok all set up and ready to go for tonight. I did an unboxing video and a video with it slewing around. Two parts, each 15 minutes long, It'll take me quite a while to upload them to youtube and for the processing to take place. I'll post links asap. Also I'll get in touch with Ed on Monday and talk about taking this thing apart so I can show what it looks like inside.

P.S. So far I love this mount.

Update: Currently uploading to youtube part 1 of 2. Both broken down into 15 minute pieces. Here is the link for

part 1. http://youtu.be/-L8r7yHmKeU

part 2. on its way... http://youtu.be/5lYRIWdBzSo Give it 50 minutes from this post.

WAIT WAIT WAIT

So you bought a whole new mount, it arrived today, and you expect to test it tonight as if it will be CLEAR?

I DON'T BELIEVE YOU!!!

Well, there is this moon up and the wind is still sticking around. Oh and the seeing is still kinda bad regardless of what my clear sky chart says below.

But I am happy to report that after 2+4 the go-to's were reasonable. I am simply too tired tonight to press on with drift alignments and PEMPro charts. Maybe tomorrow night. I'll take a nap tomorrow.

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FoxTrot
sage

Reged: 06/01/06

Loc: Melbourne, Australia

Re: Celestron VX mount [Re: Whichwayisnorth]
#5630967 - 01/19/13 01:45 AM

Mike, many thanks for the most informative videos. I had no idea the mount was already selling retail, whoa! I'm not sure if its the right upgrade for me. The major drawcard is that it certainly seems to be a tighter mount all around compared to the standard CG5, and that it maintains the lightweight design. But from first appearances, I'm curious why they have stuck with plastic motor housings and not gone towards something along the lines of say the HEQ5. I guess that they wanted to keep it around the original price point.

Questions:
1) Would you say the stiffness and load carrying capacity is better than the CG5 ? I ask because my the LXD75 can carry a TV NP127is (about 7-8 kgs OTA), but it's not exactly optimal, even after adjusting the slack out of the worm gears.

2) How do the motor housings and worms attach to the axes? Its my big gripe about the LXD75 - they attach via a large single Allen bolt, and boy IMHO its very crude in design and build quality indeed.

Cheers,
Fox

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Stew57
Carpal Tunnel

Reged: 05/03/09

Loc: Silsbee Texas

Re: Celestron VX mount [Re: FoxTrot]
#5630988 - 01/19/13 02:21 AM

Looks like the best thing about the VX is Celestron packaged some clear skies with it!

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gmartin02
sage

Reged: 04/11/05

Loc: Santa Clarita, CA

Re: Celestron VX mount [Re: Zamboni]
#5631026 - 01/19/13 04:19 AM

One thing I noticed that no one else has mentioned yet - the dec motor on the AVX does not rotate with the dec axis like on the AS-GT, but is stationary (and smaller than the AS-GT motor housing). Also, it looks like the RA motor & electronics on the AVX are attached much more securely to the mount than on the AS-GT.

Looks like a bunch of good evolutionary changes compared to the AS-GT. I guess its time to shine up my 5 year old AS-GT (which has been a great mount) and trade it up for one of these things. It looks like it would work as a decent imaging mount for my FS-60, MK-67 (for moon & planets), and maybe even my 110ED.

Greg

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cn register 5
sage

Reged: 12/26/12

Re: Celestron VX mount [Re: gmartin02]
#5631076 - 01/19/13 05:42 AM

Nice videos Michael.

That's a 10" Meade SCT isn't it? It will be interesting to see how well it carries that much weight.

If you are using the ASCOM driver for guiding you will need to upgrade to version 5.0.30 or better. I've just put this in the files area of the ASCOM-Talk Yahoo group. The earlier versions don't recognise the new mount ID and assume that guiding isn't possible.

With the correct driver it uses the new guide command in the motor controller so doesn't rely on the PC for it's timing.

I had clear skies about a day after the scope arrived, but I'm in the UK and it may have taken a bit longer to arrive

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Whichwayisnorth
professor emeritus

Reged: 07/04/11

Loc: Southern California

Re: Celestron VX mount [Re: cn register 5]
#5631338 - 01/19/13 11:08 AM

Quote:

Nice videos Michael.

That's a 10" Meade SCT isn't it? It will be interesting to see how well it carries that much weight.

If you are using the ASCOM driver for guiding you will need to upgrade to version 5.0.30 or better. I've just put this in the files area of the ASCOM-Talk Yahoo group. The earlier versions don't recognise the new mount ID and assume that guiding isn't possible.

With the correct driver it uses the new guide command in the motor controller so doesn't rely on the PC for it's timing.

I had clear skies about a day after the scope arrived, but I'm in the UK and it may have taken a bit longer to arrive

Thanks for the tip. All I got around to last night was doing the initial alignment, testing pointing out then I spent way too much time collimating my OTA. Which I still need to work on.

The mount seemed to carry the weight really well visually but I haven't tested with a camera yet. I want to re-align tonight, do the polar alignment routine and get my auto guider up and running.

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stryder
journeyman

Reged: 06/24/12

Re: Celestron VX mount [Re: Whichwayisnorth]
#5631835 - 01/19/13 04:23 PM

Excuse my ignorance, but I have an 8SE -- I'm assuming it's got a Vixen dovetail so I should be able to upgrade to that mount down the road right?

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Mkofski
professor emeritus

Reged: 07/19/11

Loc: Greenfield, Indiana, USA

Re: Celestron VX mount [Re: stryder]
#5631998 - 01/19/13 06:41 PM

Yes

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drksky
Carpal Tunnel

Reged: 09/01/09

Loc: Bloomington, IL

Re: Celestron VX mount [Re: Mkofski]
#5632074 - 01/19/13 07:22 PM

I see notes that people are buying them. Are they actually available at retailers? Last I saw was that delivery was going to be late February.

Post Extras:

Whichwayisnorth
professor emeritus

Reged: 07/04/11

Loc: Southern California

Re: Celestron VX mount [Re: drksky]
#5632108 - 01/19/13 07:38 PM

Quote:

I see notes that people are buying them. Are they actually available at retailers? Last I saw was that delivery was going to be late February.

I called up Farah at Woodland Hills Camera and Telescope and I said "hey, that new Celestron Advanced Vx, when can I get one?" and she said "I can ship it out Thursday so you'll have it by the weekend (I am about 50 miles from there)." I said "cool" " she said send me your info via email" I did that. I got it friday.

So to answer your question, YEP. They are available. The Starsense accessory is scheduled for March though.

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Ken Hutchinson
sage

Reged: 04/24/03

Re: Celestron VX mount [Re: Whichwayisnorth]
#5632293 - 01/19/13 10:02 PM

Celestron told me they were planning to have the AVX in stock when the announcement was made. Sounds like the plan worked. Perhaps the February date on the Celestron website indicates that everything they had is already in dealer's hands and once the dealer stock is gone the next shipment will arrive then? I'm just guessing....

Ken

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dr.who
sage

Reged: 01/05/12

Re: Celestron VX mount [Re: Ken Hutchinson]
#5632501 - 01/20/13 12:29 AM

Woodland Hills Camera and Telescope is my shop too and Farah is great to work with. So is Kevin. Really knows his stuff. I picked mine up from there as well. I know she has several in the warehouse if someone wants one ASAP.

And to the poster about the 8SE... As long as it's Vixen it will work fine on this mount. And the 8" does very well on it.

Post Extras:

drksky
Carpal Tunnel

Reged: 09/01/09

Loc: Bloomington, IL

Re: Celestron VX mount [Re: dr.who]
#5632681 - 01/20/13 06:54 AM

Dang..Woodland Hills must have a direct line to Celestron. Every place else still shows them as Pre-Order.

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Whichwayisnorth
professor emeritus

Reged: 07/04/11

Loc: Southern California

Re: Celestron VX mount [Re: drksky]
#5632914 - 01/20/13 10:32 AM

What I am really pleased with is that I heard about the mount and a week later I had one. A week. Not 6 months or a year.

Also I like the fact that it has worked really well so far. My only complaint is, and I may have to do a reset later, the go-to's when doing the 2 initial star alignments were off a lot. It wasn't until I was on the 2nd calibration star that it seemed to understand what it's purpose was. Having said that, the first night it was a lot closer. I've also been building pointing models using The Sky X T-point addon. The new celestron ascom driver that was posted earlier in this thread seems to work great.

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hectar
member

Reged: 12/24/12

Loc: Ontario, Canada

Re: Celestron VX mount [Re: Whichwayisnorth]
#5633048 - 01/20/13 11:55 AM

Quote:

..the go-to's when doing the 2 initial star alignments were off a lot. It wasn't until I was on the 2nd calibration star that it seemed to understand what it's purpose was...

Thanks for posting the honest opinion. Any AP done last night??

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Mkofski
professor emeritus

Reged: 07/19/11

Loc: Greenfield, Indiana, USA

Re: Celestron VX mount [Re: Whichwayisnorth]
#5633098 - 01/20/13 12:21 PM

Michael,

I had a CG5 that did the same thing on the alignment stars. After the alignment was done everything was fine. I guess that everything was fine from the beginning and that was what the alignment stars were for.

Edited by Mkofski (01/20/13 12:22 PM)

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