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Hi David,<BR>I own both a sky watcher eq5 ( same as the cg-5) and a skywatcher heq-5 ( no celestron equivalent). the go to heq-5 (pro version) is lighter than the eq6 (cgem), but has all the bells and whistles as the eq6 (cgem). It will carry your 110 easily without having to haul a heavy mount, and has better tracking than and an cg-5 (eq5) as well as able to carry at least 30 lbs. Gary Colwell owns or at least owned a Heq-5 pro and did astrophotograhy with it so you can ask him, by IMO for a little more money than an cg-5 goto and a little less money than a cgem ( eq6) you will have a great platform for both visual AND future astrophotography endevours. If you go for the non goto version ( syntrek version) of the heq-5 ( which costs the same as a goto cg-5), you can still upgrade later by buying the go-to hand control. <BR>Good luck with your search. read the reviews of the skywatcher Heq5.<BR>-Glenn<br> <BR><div><div id="SkyDrivePlaceholder"></div><hr id="stopSpelling">From: starchemist@cogeco.ca<br>To: astronomers@hamiltonrasc.ca<br>Date: Sun, 17 Jun 2012 18:38:01 -0400<br>Subject: RASC Hamilton Pondering Celestron CG5 Mount - Any Tips / Suggestions ?<br><br>
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<div style='color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: "Calibri"; font-size: 12pt;' dir="ltr">I
purchased my Stellarvue 110ED refractor with that companys heavy duty surveyor
trip and M2 alt-az mount. This setup is quite portable, however unless you
know the skies like the back of your hand (or better !!) it presents some
challenges in some circumstances:</div>
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<ul>
<li>at recent Binbrook Conservation Area cub-scout event, I was going
nudge-nudge about every 2nd or 3rd little person to make sure all got a
reasonably centred view of the moon (used a 24mm / 68 degree AFOV eyepiece on
this F7 OTA)
<li>I had a Galileo moment that night, seeing my first Messier object, but
all credit due to Gary Colwell and his rather impressive Takahashi set-up
!!</li></ul></div>
<div dir="ltr">In order to provide go-to / equatorial tracking for my OTA,
Stellarvue recommends two of Celestrons mounts: CG5 or CGEM. There are
substantial differences between these mounts:</div>
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<ul>
<li>CG5 - more portable / cheaper
<li>CGEM - much heavier & more stable / handles more payload / better
tracking / ~ double the cost of a CG5</li></ul></div>
<div>If you look at reviews on both of these mounts, youll find the good, the
bad and the ugly. From what I can piece together, quality control for the
CG5 might be a bit more hit / miss, and you might need to do some serious tune
up to what comes out of the box.</div>
<div> </div>
<div>I should add that Im not yet into astrophotography (but never say never!!)
and would be doing observing only for the next 2 3 years.</div>
<div> </div>
<div>Thoughts ??</div>
<div> </div>
<div>-David MacMillan</div>
<div>Milton</div>
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