Bernard Murdoch

Do not usa a star next to Polaris for calibration. In that region of the sky you will need huge mount movement to make things move at the eyepiece. Pick a star moderately high east or west and you should find calibration much easier.

The link I provided earlier is the wrong one. The kit installed on my mount is this one. Please write them to be sure you have a good fit. I sent them a picture of my mount to be sure and got a quick reply. https://astro-gadget.net/gadgets/control-of-telescopes/eqstarproeq5-goto-drive-upgrade-kit-for-eq-5-cg-5-meade-lxd-lx-vixen-fr-gp-dx-gpd2-orion-skyview-and-bresser-eq-4-eq-5-mounts

It cost me $279 + $24 shipping (US$). It took several weeks to arrive here in Canada but, luckily, I was not charged any duty.

Finally getting good guiding from the mount. The clincher was to make sure there was a bit more weight on the east side of the telescope-counterweight axis. That ensures the drive gear is always pushing on the same side of the worm gear. ( Hope this makes sense !) The EQStar kit is living up to its promise !

Thanks ! DSS stack of 60 120 sec exposures, stretched in Photoshop.

The set-up

Single 120 sec frame, Evoguide + ED50 flattener, Zwo 294 MC Pro

Just to be sure everyone understands what type mount the EQStar EQ5 kit fits on, here are shots of the mount before, and after the kit motors were installed.

I've never tested my mount by seeing how long I could go before stars would elongate from mount error. I was frustrated by poor guiding results when using PHD and medium focal lengths (400 to 600mm). Last winter I took my mount apart , cleaned out the old grease, re-greased and adjusted the mount. During the spring, I made a stupid mistake and sent too much voltage to the hand control and fried it. I found a replacement and ordered it but of course, ended up with the same guiding problems I had before. That's when I discovered the Astro Gadget system. I ordered it after contacting them to be sure it would fit my mount. They quickly answered and assured me it would fit perfectly. Indeed it did ! Goto capability really transforms the observing/astrophoto game. When set-up, I use my Iphone to point my telescope to objects. When I check at the eyepiece, the object is sitting in the field of view; Marvellous ! As for guiding accuracy, it has improved ( again judging from guiding when I use PHD ) . Backlash is substantially diminished and the mount is much more responsive to corrections from the computer . I attribute the improvement to better motors and the belt drives. I recently loaded the mount with 14lbs of gear (80mm scope, 50mm guide scope, side by side saddle, guide and main cameras) and found that was close to the mount's limit. Some of the 60 sec frames were unusable but most were good. This is an image from that test (at 600mm FL).

I purchased this kit a few months ago. It took a while to arrive but it transformed my EQ5 mount. All I can say is wow ! Much improved tracking ( I had the 6v motors before) and responsive goto capabilities. https://astro-gadget.net/gadgets/control-of-telescopes/eqstarproeq5-goto-drive-upgrade-kit-for-eq-5-cg-5-meade-lxd-lx-vixen-fr-gp-dx-gpd2-orion-skyview-and-bresser-eq-4-eq-5-mounts