CGX Computerized German Equatorial Mount and Tripod

Definitely a beast! I've got an Orion 10" x 1000mm Newtonian Astrograph attached to it, and it has no problems moving with multiple finderscopes and imaging devices attached. The mount itself is a little awkward to carry, but not too much trouble. Plan to order additional weights if you have a large instrument like mine, and be sure to get the right ones. It comes with a pair of 11Lb weights, and I ordered a pair of 17Lb weights to go with it. I currently have a 17 at the end, and an 11 about midway up the shaft.This one was a bit pricey compared to the AVX mount I was looking at for $800. However, I got this to handle a variety of scopes I was looking at, as the AVX was a tad small when I started looking at the instrument weight capacity I needed. This handles up to 55Lbs, and my current instrument rig is about 40Lbs (too high for the AVX). The counter weights are not part of the weight calculation, as the capacity is the essentially the mass the drive can move. I recommend having a bit of headroom in the capacity, and I've heard people recommend not to exceed 50% of the rated capacity. However, I think, if you know how to balance it, you can run it up close to the limit without trouble, and Celestron has told people it will handle the full 55Lbs. I setup and balanced everything inside and I marked my weight shaft for where the weights need to go, which helps get it set up faster outside.The scope sits a bit high when mounted. With my scope, I set it up with the tripod legs fully retracted so I can reach the eyepiece. If you're doing visual observing using a longer scope where the eyepiece is near the aperture, such as a Newtonian, you might look into right-angle adapters so you don't have to constantly reposition the scope to reach the eyepiece.Tracking is solid. I don't notice any shake during imaging, and objects stay pretty much where I put them. I'm still getting used to proper alignment, so I have to make periodic corrections. They just recently released the polar axis scope for it. So, I'm hoping to get a more solid alignment as soon as I mine arrives. I also find it doesn't shift much when I adjust the position of the scope in its' rings.Since I've never used a computerized mount before, it took a bit to set up. I recommend fiddling a bit before trying to use it for the first time. I have several other alignment, guiding, and control accessories for it that I haven't had a chance to try. So, I can't speak to them just yet. But I found it does pretty good right out of the box.Definitely get the vibration dampening feet for the tripod if you're on any type of pavement or other rigid surface.You'll need the 5A power supply, if you intend to use it where you have AC power. I use a big jump pack with a 12AH SLA battery to power it, even though I'm usually well within reach of AC. I've gone a couple of nights on that setup without recharging the pack. Unless you turn off tracking, the motors run continuously when the mount is on. So, take that into account with your power source.I usually have an imager and computer attached and haven't had any issues keeping the cables from tangling. I think it helps that the wiring for the mount is internal, so I only have to deal with cables for the mount power, hand controller, and imager.So far, I'm loving this! I'll try to remember to come back and post some pictures of my rig and images from the scope.UPDATE 2018-06-29:I've been having intermittent issues with the RA drive since my original post. It's not anything user adjustable. The RA drive just decides to rapidly move back and forth (I call it shoe shining, something anyone familiar with computer tape drives from the good 'ol days will recognize), or it will start moving until it hits the stop than reverse, and it keeps doing this regardless of input or power cycling. It recently became extremely consistent. Celestron support has been very quick to respond on this issue and wants me to send it in for repair. Unfortunately, that means shipping to California and being without a mount for several weeks. I probably won't have it back in time for the upcoming Mars Opposition, which sucks, because this is my only mount.Also, in this update, I added a few pics of the various setups I've done. The one with 4 instruments was my eclipse viewing rig back in August 2017. The mount handled it with ease! The other two pics are my current solar rig and the 10" Newt (for reference, the gal looking into it is about 5' 3").

I cannot give this mount a good review. When I pay $2,300 I expect the thing to work. Over 50% of the time the Nexstar + hand controller gets stuck on "Initializing..." I have followed all instructions on troubleshooting, resetting, updating, etc, and it is still a crap shoot as to whether or not all my setup time will even allow for a computerized mount. I paid to send the controller back to Celestron. They sent me a new one. It doesn't work either, so now it's pretty clear to me that the issue is the mount itself. I now have a very expensive paperweight. No more Celestron for me.

I own a CGX I did not buy in Amazon. Pros: very solid, good concept of ergonomics, the software supports pointing models which is awesome. Cons: within some years it starts to fail tracking/guiding due to worn out mechanical parts like the belts and gears, the tripod is not very sturdy like the "L" version, this mount is heavy like hell therefore terrible for carrying on trips, no native support for PoleMaster polar assist, there are workarounds. But overall it performs magnificent and the concept is great for cable management in AP.

I have had this mount for about a year and half now. It still performs well, and I still like it a lot, and the five star rating still holds. I have used this mount with a Tele Vue 85mm APO, a William Optics RedCat 51 Petzval Refractor, and a Celestron 235mm Schmidt-Cassegrain. Here are some things I have noted over time:- The WORM gears might need an occasional adjustment. The manual has a section on adjusting the tightness.- I generally use CPWI, the Celestron Planewave Interface telescope control program, to set up pointing. If the scope sits idle for several nights, it's a good idea to manually move the RA and DEC axes to an extreme (far from HOME) position, and then home the mount using CWPI. Moving the mount to two or three different extreme positions and homing it exercises the gears and belts, and avoids backlash later when aligning the mount.- If power to the mount is not clean (fluctuates a lot), like if you are powering from your car's cigarette lighter, then CPWI's alignment model can get horked during operation, and you're not doing your laptop any favors either. It's a good idea to save the alignment model as soon as you create it, so that you can re-establish alignment quickly.- I'm not sure why, but after doing a meridian flip, it's usually necessary to recalibrate PHD2 Guiding. I thought I was doing something wrong, but I observed that APT recalibrates PHD2 Guiding if a meridian flip occurs during a session, so now I think I'm not wrong, but I could be wrong about that.- After getting a new laptop, I was able to use QHY Polemaster again. I believe that All Star Polar Align gives better results when you can use a star that is away from the pole and away from the meridian - partly because the image from the telescope's camera is much better (and larger) than the Polemaster image. As long as you have a decent guider, CPWI and ASPA work well. The nice thing about Polemaster is that you can align nearly perfectly before creating a pointing model. After polar aligning with Polemaster, create a pointing model, then ASPA. On average, this kind of celestial voodoo gives pretty sharp alignment and goto results.- If you are using CPWI by itself to move to Deep Space Objects, the CPWI local database is rather lame. For instance, it doesn't know what M45, Subaru, or the Pleiades is (they're all the same, but it doesn't know this DSO by any name or catalog number). You either have to have an Internet connection, which is impossible in the deep desert, or you need some way to get J2000 coordinates (like the SkySafari Pro app, which has an enormous local database), or you need a front-end integrator with its own database, like APT.------------------------------------------ O R I G I N A L R E V I E W --------------------------------------------------I originally wrote a review for this mount that basically touted its advertised capability. Since that time, I have had the opportunity to use it on many occasions, and I can give a better evaluation, but not more stars.First, do NOT get the CGX Polar Scope accessory from Celestron. It has the problem of impeding the range of motion of the scope in dec, and even some of the alignment stars suggested by NexStar (i.e., the hand control) and Celestron PWI were inaccessible. Trying to slew to some stars caused a collision of the polar scope with the mount itself. This is a problem, as the alignment stars are well above the horizon, and well below the zenith. There is no way to position or retract the Polar Scope arm so that this impedance is not a problem. The scope must be removed before creating the pointing model. I finally just gave up on the polar scope, and now I position the mount by using the alt-az controls to place Polaris in the center of a medium-high power eyepiece. This puts you within a couple of minutes of the pole. Not precise, but read on.Second, I like this mount more and more. I recently got a really good astronomical camera, and was experimenting with exposure times that are far longer than those I could get with a DSLR. I started taking successive 10 minute subframes to test the camera, and finally pushed it up to more than 30 minutes (2000 seconds). The mount, properly polar aligned, tracks really well. One note about longer exposures is that I had to get a better guiding camera than I used previously. I was able to shoot about three hours with 30 minute subframes in light polluted West Los Angeles before the target moved out of range. My equipment weighs about 30 pounds altogether (9.25 SCT, autoguider, camera, filter wheel, OAG, and visual finder). I've been told, by other CGX owners, that CGX does just as well with an 11-inch EdgeHD tube too, but the 14-inch SCTs are pushing it. I guess those folks with bigger scopes can get a CGX-L - kinda big to drag out to the desert. As long as you can keep the equipment weight (don't count the counterweights!) under 42 lbs, CGX should track really well. Even loaded up, the alt-az controls work smoothly and don't require strength to position the mount axis.To polar align, I used to use a QHY Polemaster, which works fine, except when it doesn't. There is some issue with my astro laptop that QHY has been unable to resolve. I did drift alignment a couple of nights, but that eats up a lot of time. Finally, I tried All Star Polar Align (comes with NexStar, and as far as I know, is available for all Celestron computerized NexStar equatorial mounts). ASPA requires a decent pointing model, so do a two-star align first, with four calibration stars. Then use a reticulated eyepiece - or some kind of grid overlay if you're using a camera - for ASPA to precisely position the target star, and follow the directions on the hand control.The CGX mount comes with everything you need to precisely polar align it, provided you can see Polaris for the initial setup of the mount. In the southern hemisphere, I guess you might need an app or compass to figure out how to orient the tripod to put the southern pole in range.I'd like to see what can be done with stacking 30 minute subframes. Seems like this mount can do it, as the PHD2 and Prism tracking graphs stay pretty flat through four hours of shooting. I'd like to see how it does with eight hours, or even how it can do with multiple nights on the same target. Very exciting.

It arrived in a timely manner and the mount seems to be made very well. Slewing is quiet, the HC is easy to use. I cant complain.update, Very good mount. Tracks beautifully and is a breeze to autoguide. It does what it says it will do. I have had no issues with this mount , I have fallen in love with it. No problems tracking at all. I almost dont need to guide. PE is under 1 arc second with good seeing. amazing.

Within a few hours of receiving the mount, I now have a very expensive paperweight after updating the firmware. I expect more from a product with this high of a pricetag.

It works great!