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<DIV style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Calibri'; COLOR: #000000; FONT-SIZE: 12pt" dir=ltr>I
purchased my Stellarvue 110ED refractor with that company\u2019s 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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<LI>at recent Binbrook Conservation Area cub-scout event, I was going
\u201cnudge-nudge\u201d 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 \u201cGalileo moment\u201d 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 Celestron\u2019s mounts: CG5 or CGEM. There are
substantial differences between these mounts:</DIV>
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<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, you\u2019ll 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 \u201cout of the box\u201d.</DIV>
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<DIV>I should add that I\u2019m not yet into astrophotography (but never say never!!)
and would be doing observing only for the next 2 \u2013 3 years.</DIV>
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<DIV>Thoughts ??</DIV>
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<DIV>-David MacMillan</DIV>
<DIV>Milton</DIV>
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