Celestron NexStar Evolution 9.25 concerns...

[russ.will]

I've attached a jpeg of screen grabs from Stellarium. Sorry if it distorts the page, but I couldn't keep the writing clear otherwise. Drag it to you desktop and use a picture viewer if it makes it easier.

The top and bottom are both 40mm, but you can see the difference in increased actual and apparent field of view of the 2" 68deg SWA, although magnification is unchanged - The image is the same size, but viewed through a bigger window.

The middle one is a 1.25" 24mm 68deg SWA EP which as you can see, basically covers the same amountof sky as the 40mm Plossl, but does so in a much larger apparent FOV. The advantage of the 24mm is that it is doing so at a higher magnification, which darkens the background sky, thereby increasing contrast.

I cannot think of a good reason to buy a 40mm 1.25" Plossl, if you can buy the 24mm SWA. I just sold one for about £50, for instance.

Edited February 5, 2015 by russ.will

[Freedom2099]

It arrived! My precious just arrived!

And of course is cloudy!

[alfingido]

That looks nice. I have the 6" version to go with my LX90 8".

First impressions are that the Evo mount seems very well made, goto is very accurate and controlling it with an iPhone is so easy. Maximum slew rate is a little slow, but it gets there.

I bought a Skysense camera to fit on mine. Alignment is so easy and again, Goto's are absolutely spot on.

I think you will enjoy your Evo.

Allan

[Highburymark]

The evo 6 and 8 share the same mount and tripod - which are very robust. The 9.25 has an even beefier tripod, though I can't comment on the stability of the mount. in terms of reviews, UK Sky at Night magazine reviewed the 9.25 late last year - and gave it 5/5. Looking into a black sky over the Med from the Côte d'Azur, it will be absolutely wonderful Freedom.

[Freedom2099]

Today will be the night of its first light (not even a cloud in the sky at the moment)! Got an unlucky streak of cloudy nights till my precious arrived!

The mount is incredibly sturdy! 

[Tonynexevo925]

I hope you have a great first session

[Freedom2099]

OMG... yesterday night was gorgeous! I managed to see the red spot on Jupiter!

M3 with stars resolved!

The leo triplets!

M104 in all its sombreroness!

Just amazing!

And everything without losing time trying to get to them! Just did the alignment e enjoyed e great evening! 

[Nova Load]

OMG... yesterday night was gorgeous! I managed to see the red spot on Jupiter!

M3 with stars resolved!

The leo triplets!

M104 in all its sombreroness!

Just amazing!

And everything without losing time trying to get to them! Just did the alignment e enjoyed e great evening! 

Sounds great! How did the supplied eyepieces perform?

[Tonynexevo925]

Really pleased for you!

I made a basic error of knocking my finder out of alignment (didn't realise of course!) and struggled to get 3 star alignment for ages. Frustration built and eventually switched off to start again... Realised my error and got alignment straight away then

[Freedom2099]

Sounds great! How did the supplied eyepieces perform?

Quite well actually... the quality of the 13mm eyepiece is slightly better than the one (same focal length) coming inside the celestron 1,25" kit which I already own. A better eye relief I'd say.

Really pleased for you!

I made a basic error of knocking my finder out of alignment (didn't realise of course!) and struggled to get 3 star alignment for ages. Frustration built and eventually switched off to start again... Realised my error and got alignment straight away then

By this time it was late and I'd missed Venus (behind my house) and spent some time in the beehive then went to Jupiter - best ever - spend ages and got first use on my baader zoom!! The banding was amazing, too late for the GRS but saw moon and shadow.

Awesome sight and reminds me why I do it!!

The GRS was terrific! I started looking at jupiter when spot was still not in sight and managed to look at it "rising"!

[LutzBoy]

Hi thanks for the great review of the 920. I’m a newbie on here and your review is frankly amazing and has helped me make the decision to get one of the evo 9..25 units. I know that I will be back asking for your help and guidance so thanks again.

[Highburymark]

You could go for the C8 version?  Mount easily copes with the scope . Wider views. I loved the C8 Evolution that I had - ‘go to’ and WiFi worked perfectly. The 9.25 is quite a bit bigger, and as said above, it uses a stronger tripod but same mount.

[Highburymark]

Oops. Only just seen this thread is ancient.....

[Starwatcher2001]

Ancient thead, but still useful to anyone considering the 9.25 ... like me. Much appreciated.

[Greymouser]

On 26/06/2020 at 16:27, Highburymark said:

The 9.25 is quite a bit bigger, and as said above, it uses a stronger tripod but same mount.

It does indeed I am afraid. I have the C9.25 Evolution and whilst it copes with the weight just fine, the length is another matter. Some say it is fine, but for me, with the accessories I want to use mean a clash with the mount is quite likely. Great mount; great OTA, just do not really belong together. The arm of the mount could do with being a couple of inches longer in my opinion. Not much in it, but they tried to hard in fixing a C9.25 on this. If I can raise the funds, I will be getting an AZ EQ5 or 6 for it, at some point.

I wish I had got the C8 Edge Evolution instead...

[barkingsteve]

As others have said, the 925 seems a tad long and heavy for the evolution arm. If they sold the 8" with the sturdier tripod, that would be a fine combo. The evo 925 is ok for visual but if doing EAA, any kind of breeze will cause you headaches.  I now use a 130 pds with the mount for dso EAA

Also i find sky portal lags heavy all the time and sky safari loses connection allot, even from 2 foot away, though i think this is due to a severely cluttered wifi network, i usually pick up 10 plus signals in my garden 😕 could be time to try cpwi with the pc or learn the handset controls  

Edited July 4, 2020 by barkingsteve

[JG777]

It is true with the 9.25 the clearance is a bit tight but it depends on what you are adding. Mine has a 2 inch SCT diagonal, SSA and an RDF , I did swap out the focusser for a Feather touch one, the whole thing works a charm, but I don't do imaging and this rig would never be a first choice to those who do, so in that respect its important to make the right choice about what you buy and what your intentions are, most of us have made a wrong decision with kit at some point. The wi fi was improved in later versions and for mine which is gen 1 it was ok away from clutter, then hugely improved by adding the Celestron wifi adapter. I use the HC most of the time.

So the problem with the 9.25 Evo is when you want to add dslrs or anything really bulky on the back , note that a 2 inch SCT diagonal clears the base right up to 85 degrees, it means the scope is right back on the rail and more front loaded which in my experience improves the goto behaviour, that was a tip from Celestron themselves. So for a purely visual system it meets the remit and delivers an excellent user experience and is quite a performance jump on the standard 8 and 8 Edge versions which I see a lot of in our observing group. The tripod is pretty hefty and I don't enjoy lifting that into the car. I would like to find a tripod on its own from an 8 version and then use my refractors on the mount with a bit lighter set up but have never seen them for sale anywhere. 

[BlueAstra]

I have the Evolution 9.25 with the Starsense camera. The OTA is large, but with the handle, manageable. I agree the tripod is sturdy but quite heavy and a bit awkward when you are lifting it into the car. I use primarily for visual or planetary/lunar imaging. You do have to check that the diagonal doesn’t clash at high elevations, especially if you are using Starsense auto-align. I sometimes unbalance it slightly forward to give clearance, the mount doesn’t seem to complain. I use a astrozap dew shield, I’ve never needed a dew heater strap. If you don’t use Starsense then you want a decent red dot finder.