Why I took the decision to invest in a mount costing more than the telescope

[pyrasanth]

Some of you may remember my earlier post about the new telescope I ordered & took delivery of. This is a Celestron Edge HD on a CGEM DX mount.

I am sorry to report that the mount is not very good. Despite protracted set up sessions & much calibration routines the results of its tracking ability have been mediocre at best and whilst many people have been happy with this mount sadly I am not one of them. I was not expecting perfection for this mount but at times it is very jerky even when slewing at the slowest speeds or nudging an object in the field of view. I would not envisage its use for critical astrophotography- it will probably be okay for visual use when I've finished "kicking" it a few times. I went through all the balancing routines, firmware updates & resets to the point of bored frustration to get a better result.

I have placed an order for a Paramount MX to eradicate the issue of poor quality Chinese manufactured mountings- I am having to deal with the situation for my future enjoyment & sanity by rejecting this example of poor quality control. I should not have to "hypertune" £1800.00 worth of mount to get  satisfactory tracking & quite simply I refuse to pay anymore money on fine tuning the sub standard mechanics & suspect electronics that comprise this mount. Even if the mount was returned to the supplier as potentially faulty it would be difficult to demonstrate that the tracking issue is often erratic & intermittent. I am, as I said, going to use this mount as a quick portable field solution if required & nothing more.

Clearly, one gets what you pay for & the paramount MX on a permanent pier will be in a league of it's own according to the reviews I have read.

I understand that not everybody can afford to spend £8000.00 on a mount but potentially for a lifetime of observing pleasure it might just be worth the investment and prevent astronomical suicide.

[oldpink]

not unusual for the mount to be a lot more than the telescope
but I'm of the Opinion the better the mount the better the viewing / imaging

though if I spent £8k on a mount, the Mrs would have me stuffed & mounted

[pyrasanth]

not unusual for the mount to be a lot more than the telescope

but I'm of the Opinion the better the mount the better the viewing / imaging

though if I spent £8k on a mount, the Mrs would have me stuffed & mounted

.....buy her 8k of Diamonds first.........then tell her about the mount-lol

[todd8137]

My c gem tracks and points at any thing in the data base slews fine I use a c9.25 with lots on it never let me down in two years the motor packed up celestron fitted a new motor and it still keep any target in the ep until I tell it other wise good luck with the new mount

Pat

[pyrasanth]

My c gem tracks and points at any thing in the data base slews fine I use a c9.25 with lots on it never let me down in two years the motor packed up celestron fitted a new motor and it still keep any target in the ep until I tell it other wise good luck with the new mount

Pat

I'm glad you got a good example of a working mount. The quality is very inconsistent & that's a shame in a world full of the most amazing machinery that is capable of machine tolerances measured in microns.