Celestron VX Mount with Starsense

[vlebo]

My original plan was to get a Altair Astro 152 mm Wide Field Refractor on a Sky tee 2 or something similar for grab n go viewing but I am now looking at the VX mount with a Starsense attached to make what little time I have at the eyepice a bit more productive. 

I do like like the idea of simple manual alt az set up but the VX with a Starsense does seem appealing and does open up the possibility of later on dabbling with some basic AP .

[Akiainavas]

I'm currently looking at the same mount and from all the reviews and opinions I've read - it seems like a very good, portable and most of all - affordable choice.

[Akiainavas]

The only thing to consider is the payload capacity though - AVX can handle up to 13.5KG. A refractor with that aperture will most likely weigh ~10kg which with photography equipment might stretch it to its limits which is not recommended. Also, they only include 1 counterweight with it - which is fine for 8-9" SCTs, but for a refractor you might need to get an additional one.

[baggywrinkle]

I have the AVX with the 9.25 SCT mount and fitted StarSense.

Was using it in anger last night for then first time, this is because I was renting and there was no garden, now I have my own place with masses of garden.

Even though I have a steet lamp adjacent to one corner of the property and it was nigh in a full moon the StarSense did its set up and afterwards was remarkably accurate.

I had thought the lamp and full Moon would prevent an accurate set up but it did not.

[andy-w-h]

As I have  an AVX and an SS I guess I am somewhat qualified.  For visual it's absolutely brilliant.  Do a reasonable polar align, let the SS do it's stuff, you are pretty much set for the night.  Really slick implementation.  Real time saver.

For AP, then the SS is pointless unless you are running a setup without a computer; otherwise ......  plate solve in SGP or whatever with Astrotortilla and you can forget about star alignments.  The AVX is proving more that capable of upto 45 min subs with a ZS71 frac and Atik One 6 even with quite windy conditions.  I've had an AP setup at around 11Kg and the AVX is still ok but is a little "complicated" with that sort of weight.  I'm not sure that if the AVX needs an additional counter weight to balance then you'll have a stress free experience and it's time to look at the heavier duty mounts.