RASC Hamilton Pondering Celestron CG5 Mount - Any Tips / Suggestions ?

[glenn kukkola]

Hi David,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. Good luck with your search. read the reviews of the skywatcher Heq5.-Glenn
 From: starchemist at cogeco.ca
To: astronomers at hamiltonrasc.ca
Date: Sun, 17 Jun 2012 18:38:01 -0400
Subject: RASC Hamilton Pondering Celestron CG5 Mount - Any Tips /	Suggestions ?






I 
purchased my Stellarvue 110ED refractor with that company’s 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:


  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) 
  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 
  !!
In order to provide go-to / equatorial tracking for my OTA, 
Stellarvue recommends two of Celestron’s mounts: CG5 or CGEM.  There are 
substantial differences between these mounts:


  CG5 - more portable / cheaper 
  CGEM - much heavier & more stable / handles more payload / better 
  tracking / ~ double the cost of a CG5
If you look at reviews on both of these mounts, you’ll 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”.
 
I should add that I’m not yet into astrophotography (but never say never!!) 
and would be doing observing only for the next 2 – 3 years.
 
Thoughts ??
 
-David MacMillan
Milton
 

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