Ioptron CEM26

[Astro_mark_c]

Hey,

im looking at getting this mount, does anyone have any experience with it? 

[trailer]

8 hours ago, Sidecontrol said:

Hey,

im looking at getting this mount, does anyone have any experience with it? 

There's an interesting thread here:

https://www.cloudynights.com/topic/759169-cem26-first-cloudy-night/

[Astro_mark_c]

6 hours ago, trailer said:

There's an interesting thread here:

https://www.cloudynights.com/topic/759169-cem26-first-cloudy-night/

dear god that thread has giving me the fear of throwing my money at the CEM26 or the GEM28, although not everyone was having the issue the op was expeirencing.  You'd expect for a mount that costs over a grand that there wouldnt be these types of issues!  

Edited June 1, 2021 by Sidecontrol

[trailer]

Tell me about it! I'm looking at getting a lightweight GOTO to take a Redcat set up so probably wouldn't be too much of an issue I'm thinking. But still not ideal.

[david_taurus83]

I have the CEM25 and I'd expect the 26 is identical inside mostly. Good mount, but I've had to open it up to adjust the belts on both axis. Even with all slack removed from the belts mine still has some backlash on the dec axis so dithering can be a pain if its a big movement and takes time to recover. Most annoying feature on the 25 (to me anyway) is the adjustable tension on the worm housings. Too much and it binds and not enough leaves too much play in the worm. This appears to be removed from the 26 though with a simple on and off clutch. That being said, when you get it dialled in right, it guides great. Really well to be honest, up there with the AZEQ6 I used to have. I regularly guide at 0.5/0.6" RMS with peak to peak errors at around 1.5". I have an 80mm doublet on mine so around 6kg fully loaded but I used to have a 100mm doublet and that was fine as well. I had to buy the mini pier extension as pointing straight up runs the risk of camera catching the tripod without. Balance absolutely has to be spot on to get the best of them. You will need an off axis counterweight on the main CW bar and maybe a side weight on the Dec as well, depending on your scope of course. Mine was £700 or so when I bought it new though current prices seem a bit high for a mount of this size imo. 

If you want something small and lightweight and will only use it with a relatively small setup, then it's probably the best goto mount in its class, but be prepared to get the allen keys out, tweaking, balancing to get things just right.

 If you want something that just works well out of the box, is easy to balance, isn't bothered about a few dangling cables, bit of wind etc, go for the heavier EQ6R or AZEQ6, or in between with a Rowan belted HEQ5 if you can find one.

 

Edited June 4, 2021 by david_taurus83