Astromaster 130 EQ MD

[Crossway]

A daft question perhaps but I will ask anyway....willl the Dec and RA gearing readily disconnect so as to permit casual use of the 'scope as a free swinging Alt/ Az unit.  I know that the motor can be disconnected.

[brantuk]

If you have dec/ra motors then that suggests it's an equatorial mount - so no it won't operate as an alt/az. However you can disconnect the motors and use it as a manual equatorial mount.

If it's just dec/ra gearing (ie not motors) that you're asking about - then they do have a clutch you can disengage easily to place the scope on your object. But then you have to lock them again to track the object. It's pretty much impossible to operate without the clutches engaged - you won't be able to track nicely and it'll constantly move off the target. Hth

[NGC 1502]

A daft question perhaps but I will ask anyway....willl the Dec and RA gearing readily disconnect so as to permit casual use of the 'scope as a free swinging Alt/ Az unit.  I know that the motor can be disconnected.

Not a daft question at all.  

If this   http://www.astronomycentre.co.uk/Celestron_Newtonian_Telescope_AstroMaster_130_EQ_p/c31045.htm   is your scope,  then you can loosen the clutches and disconnect the motors, then you can use it as a 'free swinging' mount.  A bit of tension applied by the clutches would help, so that it's not too free swinging.  Make sure that the scope is balanced.

If you set the altitude scale to + 90, then you have converted your EQ mount to alt-az.  Makes it easier to navigate the Polar region of the sky, and you can rotate the optical tube within the tube rings to bring the eyepiece to a convenient position, and it will remain convenient, unlike in EQ mode.

You can still use the manual slow motion controls if you tighten the clutches, but of course you will be using both controls at the same time, in alt-az mode.

All this is total rubbish if I've misunderstood your post 

Regards, Ed

[Alfian]

Ed, you are bang on with the EQ130, and you can create an Alt/Az action the way you say. It makes for a bit of clumsy Alt/Az but it works.

[Langy]

I think though that once you get used to the EQ mount it is far more powerful to use as an EQ.

Yes rotating the EP around all the time can be a bit of a pain, but you tend to look for an object and setup for that object and view it for a while.

You shouldn't need to do anything with the motors as they are directly on the slow motion controls, just means you use the clutches and your hands to move the scope.

[brantuk]

I hate disagreeing with folks but has anyone actually had one of these mounts and used it? I set one up for a kid only last month. It was a real effort getting it to work properly as an equatorial mount - never mind alt/az.

It won't balance properly cos the weights are fixed in position at the end of the bar, the axes and screws grind due to the poor materials used, and you have to tighten the axes so much to prevent slippage, that it becomes too tight for it to glide as it should - in any axis. The controls and motor clash in certain positions that it totally restricts further movement.

Really - if you're lucky enough to get it working as an equatorial mount - don't change the configuration or you're asking for (or creating) more problems then you need. Sorry but imho (having actually used one) upgrade to a proper mount as soon as poss.

[NGC 1502]

I hate disagreeing with folks but has anyone actually had one of these mounts and used it? I set one up for a kid only last month. It was a real effort getting it to work properly as an equatorial mount - never mind alt/az.

It won't balance properly cos the weights are fixed in position at the end of the bar, the axes and screws grind due to the poor materials used, and you have to tighten the axes so much to prevent slippage, that it becomes too tight for it to glide as it should - in any axis. The controls and motor clash in certain positions that it totally restricts further movement.

Really - if you're lucky enough to get it working as an equatorial mount - don't change the configuration or you're asking for (or creating) more problems then you need. Sorry but imho (having actually used one) upgrade to a proper mount as soon as poss.

Hi Kim, no problem at all disagreeing with me  we learn bouncing ideas off each other.

You are right, I haven't actually used this particular mount, sounds like it's not well designed at all.........

Back when I used EQ mounts, I used to set the altitude to 90 degrees and use it as alt-az, the EP was always in a convenient position, and the polar region far easier to navigate.

Several years ago I switched entirely to alt-az, as I'm strictly visual and find it works for me, but of course not for everyone.

Cheers, Ed.

[nicks90]

I hate disagreeing with folks but has anyone actually had one of these mounts and used it? I set one up for a kid only last month. It was a real effort getting it to work properly as an equatorial mount - never mind alt/az.

It won't balance properly cos the weights are fixed in position at the end of the bar, the axes and screws grind due to the poor materials used, and you have to tighten the axes so much to prevent slippage, that it becomes too tight for it to glide as it should - in any axis. The controls and motor clash in certain positions that it totally restricts further movement.

Really - if you're lucky enough to get it working as an equatorial mount - don't change the configuration or you're asking for (or creating) more problems then you need. Sorry but imho (having actually used one) upgrade to a proper mount as soon as poss.

really?

i had a 130eq md as my first scope and the mount was really good. The weights had a grub screw through one of them to allow you to fix it at the right point on the bar, the tube balanced easy enough and both axis were good and smooth with the slo mo controls.

the only thing I didnt like about it was the plastic fixings that held the spreader plate to the tripod legs also doubled up as the tripod brace and they are way too flimsy.

[Langy]

I hate disagreeing with folks but has anyone actually had one of these mounts and used it? I set one up for a kid only last month. It was a real effort getting it to work properly as an equatorial mount - never mind alt/az.

It won't balance properly cos the weights are fixed in position at the end of the bar, the axes and screws grind due to the poor materials used, and you have to tighten the axes so much to prevent slippage, that it becomes too tight for it to glide as it should - in any axis. The controls and motor clash in certain positions that it totally restricts further movement.

Really - if you're lucky enough to get it working as an equatorial mount - don't change the configuration or you're asking for (or creating) more problems then you need. Sorry but imho (having actually used one) upgrade to a proper mount as soon as poss.

At the end of the day it is a budget scope. I'm pleased with mine but suspect that if I had spent another £50 - £100 the quality could have been vastly different.

Once you get it locked on something it does glide well enough. Even with the MD and reasonably polar aligned I can sit there and track something like Jupiter or the moon for several minutes with only having to do minor adjustments. The MD cost about £34, which for that price works very well.

As to the weights mine are not at the end of the bar to balance the scope at all. The only time I stick them to the end is when I hang my DSLR on the EP for some PF images of the moon etc. and then it is still reasonably balanced.

It's a bit like going back to the 80's and comparing a Skoda with even a Ford of that time. Price vastly different, engineering probably quite different but the Skoda did actually still get you there (not that I had one or even been in one) and it did what it was built for. Sorry for Skoda owners, it was just an example of the 80's, hopefully the wheelbarrow quotes won't come now.

Like all things, you get what you pay for but often or not budget items can perform with the non budget items in many areas.

[Crossway]

OK, not a daft question but just a bit cautious as a new guy here.  Plenty of interesting comments but ,oh dear, some confusion as well.  So the next thought , Brantuki is it likely that other EQs in the Celestron range are  similarly  afflicted. They all look the same to me ( from illustrations)

Thankfully haven't ordered my scope yet and seriously thinking in terms of alt /az mount.....I have been using my bins happily  for a long time and in a sense this is an alt/az function. Works fine.

Just a comment on last nights clear skies here in rural Northumberland....and probably lots of other areas as well. Never witnessed such clarity for a long time.  An absolute delight.  I tried out a small spotting scope type refractor which I had recently finished making. Needs a tripod and possibly star diagonals but excellent results. at about mag. 15.   Objective  is 50mm ex a pair of broken Tascos but the focussing eyepiece  is  from a pair of ex wartime Zeiss bins which had broken prisms. and damaged objectives. Great pity because it must have been a wonderful instrument.

Pete

[Langy]

Pete

If you haven't ordered or bought the Astromaster yet then I'd suggest you let people know your budget and what you want from the scope. I dare say that others will suggest something totally different.

The scope is reasonable, the mount a bit wobbly but for such a cheap price is usable and allows a lot of enjoyable times. Someone else on here posted a really nice webcam pic of Jupiter using and SPC900 so just proves that the scope is capable of things.

As I said before if I had added another £50 - £100 the scope would have been totally different.

[brantuk]

"Back when I used EQ mounts, I used to set the altitude to 90 degrees and use it as alt-az"

Yup I would have said the same for something a bit more sturdy like an eq3/eq4 or upwards. And I agree the ota is ok apart from the horrible finder they put on them these days and the plastic bits. But the mount I just found intolerable. Maybe the lad I was helping had a particularly bad example of the mount - but it looked and felt like it wouldn't last 5 mins.

Poor chap hadn't seen anything with it since receiving it for xmas - the collimation was right off the edge of the primary and I was honestly disappointed with Celestron for selling this kind of combo when they should know better. I'm sure it was some commercial or market grabbing reason.

It's true though - it is a budget mount and you do get what you pay for. But I would never recommend this one when you can get an equivalent SW with reasonable accessories on an eq2 mount that works out of the box for only £16 more.

[NGC 1502]

Post # 12  -   "honestly disappointed with Celestron for selling this kind of combo when they should know better"

Fully agreed, makes me wonder why a respected brand should do that, but it gets worse - each December my local Asda has Celestron refractors for sale for £30, with those daft magnification claims and colourful pics of M42 etc.  There is a disclaimer (in very small print that I had to hunt for) "images for illustration purposes only"  but the pics are far larger and prominently displayed.............

Regards, Ed.

[Langy]

Marketing. Just goes to show just about all organizations will resort to something for a quick sale to get the money rolling in.

Yes the RDF really is poor but some people actually like and use it.

Mount a bit wobbly, but the scope does seem capable of descent viewing.

Sent from my Windows Phone 8X by HTC using Tapatalk

[nicks90]

Last year - just before selling it and jumping up to my 12" dob - I was at a fairly dark site with WADAS and had the chance to use my celestron 130 and regularly look through a SW 130 on an alt/az goto. The views were identical. We were both using generic plossls and you really couldn't tell the difference.

As for stability, when adjusting focus they both wobbled and both settled after similar couple of seconds. There really was nothing in it - other than the electrics on the SW version.

[Langy]

Nice to know.

Sent from my Windows Phone 8X by HTC using Tapatalk