celestron Nexstar SE mount

[nightfisher]

After a lot of deliberating over a period of maybe a year, a few months back i sold my HEQ5 and bought the Nexstar mount, as 99% of my astronomy is solar system, Luna and planets i felt this would be a more suitable mount, using my 150 pro Maksutov and/or 127 Mak.

This mount has been sat in its box for several months but i have finally got round to assembling and checking it, at this stage i have to admit to being a little "worried" about all the set up procedure!   A case of "fear not" as the unit "walks you through it"

My first impressions are good, its well made, comes with both "quick guide" and comprehensive instructions, its not to "noisy" in use, but its going to be very limited as to what scopes i can use with it, on this note i sold my 150p ds and bought a 130p ds with the idea of using it on this mount, but i dont think this will work in practise, due to tube length, time will tell.

The tripod is going to prove a little to "wobbly" for my liking, but once i have moved to new house i will be putting a "pier" in the garden, this mount will fit onto a home made hard wood pier very easily 

I see in the "menu" it has a basic tracking facility, very pleased about this as i can point it at the Moon and select track for quick grab an go sessions.

Overall first impressions are very good, i will add to this at a later date when i get to use it under the night sky 

[Demonperformer]

One tip (apologies if teaching granny to suck eggs). When you switch between Moon and other objects, remember to switch the tracking mode. The number of times I have gone from imaging a planet (on sideral mode) to moon and forgotten to switch and wondered why I can't keep the crater I want in the centre of the chip (or visa versa), I could not begin to count.

[Gazabone]

I'm surprised you find the tripod wobbly, have you screwed up the brace firmly? Mine is pretty solid. Agree it wouldn't be terribly suitable for a longish scope.

[nightfisher]

I'm surprised you find the tripod wobbly, have you screwed up the brace firmly? Mine is pretty solid. Agree it wouldn't be terribly suitable for a longish scope.

Im used to a 2" CG5 tripod so the Se is a little less sturdy, but it will do

[Cath]

It is less sturdy Jules, although I tend to think the legs/top-plate are the least problematic.

[nightfisher]

It will be fine for my Luna and planet stuff, i have just offered my 130p ds up to the mount and bad news, tube is to long to use with it

[MarsG76]

I don't find the mount too wobbly... I use it to observe if I'm imaging something on one OTA on CGEM and I think it's quite stable.

You wouldn't want to use a longish telescope on it tho. After its balanced you'll find a long scope won't be able to point too high up... Even a 8SE is just barely allowing to point at zenith.

[MARK3835]

Hi i was thinking of purchasing a GPS receiver for my Nexstar mount. The cheapest I've seen is around £140. Are they worth purchasing?

[sdkfz181]

Hi i was thinking of purchasing a GPS receiver for my Nexstar mount. The cheapest I've seen is around £140. Are they worth purchasing?

I have Skysync, it works very well, and takes a lot of fuss out of setting up. I also have SkyQ Link plus tablet running Skyportal, which is an alternative. I prefer Skyportal for ease of use, but the handset + Skysync is more reliable.

[MARK3835]

Thanks, the quick setup swings it for me. I've allways used a smart phone App, not sure of the accuracy on those Apps

[MARK3835]

New Owner. Can i plug in the hand control in one if the ports near the battery cover. I like to keep my hand control in a bag not on the mount when not in use, i find it very awkward unplugging it from the main input port as i have saussage fingers.

[Unklefunk]

I'm surprised you find the tripod wobbly, have you screwed up the brace firmly? Mine is pretty solid. Agree it wouldn't be terribly suitable for a longish scope.

Agreed, with the brace screwed up its a solid tripod, Im very impressed with this setup, currently using a nexstar 4se and I find the whole thing very sturdy indeed