I know the Celestron AVX can be hit or miss for people, but do you guys think it's "good enough" for what I need?

[Trippelforge]

There isn't a reason to go into my hellish road with my CG-4 again around here. So I will simply say that I am giving up on it. And now looking for a budget option that can simply do what my son and I need. I don't have a lot of money, which means I don't have a lot of options obviously. Which sucks... but we can always upgrade to a more serious rig in a few years.

With that being said there are only a few go-to tracking mounts on the table under 1k. Such as the EQM-35 (880.00) & AVX (899.00). 

Anyways, so my son and I shoot DSO's primarily and our exposure times are fairly short (45sec - 1min). So I am pretty much looking for a mount that's solid enough to keep up those numbers tracking wise. Equipment wise I will simply be using an 80ED triplet & DSLR, which equal around 10lbs. 

I know people often recommend the HEQ5 (1,335.00), but an extra 435.00 is hard to swallow right now.

So as the title asks, would an AVX do well enough for what my son and I need?

Side note, prices are in USD. I forgot most on this site aren't in the US. Also another side note; I have scoured some classifieds, and found a few OK deals (cloudynights), but I really want a warranty and a way to simply send it back if its horrible. And I have bought used equipment before anyhow and it didn't turn out as great as I thought it would.

Thanks for any help!

 

 

[apaulo]

i have had an avx for quite a while now, im using a starfield 102 on it. So far ive had no issues with it. The mount tracks well and is man enough to do anything i needed it to do so far. No complaints. go for it.

[8472]

Yes, it should be fine with your intended setup.

[Shimrod]

2 hours ago, Trippelforge said:

There isn't a reason to go into my hellish road with my CG-4 again around here. So I will simply say that I am giving up on it. And now looking for a budget option that can simply do what my son and I need. I don't have a lot of money, which means I don't have a lot of options obviously. Which sucks... but we can always upgrade to a more serious rig in a few years.

With that being said there are only a few go-to tracking mounts on the table under 1k. Such as the EQM-35 (880.00) & AVX (899.00). 

Anyways, so my son and I shoot DSO's primarily and our exposure times are fairly short (45sec - 1min). So I am pretty much looking for a mount that's solid enough to keep up those numbers tracking wise. Equipment wise I will simply be using an 80ED triplet & DSLR, which equal around 10lbs. 

I know people often recommend the HEQ5 (1,335.00), but an extra 435.00 is hard to swallow right now.

So as the title asks, would an AVX do well enough for what my son and I need?

Side note, prices are in USD. I forgot most on this site aren't in the US. Also another side note; I have scoured some classifieds, and found a few OK deals (cloudynights), but I really want a warranty and a way to simply send it back if its horrible. And I have bought used equipment before anyhow and it didn't turn out as great as I thought it would.

Thanks for any help!

 

 

It works fine for me, I use mine with an 80ed for imaging and an Edge 8" for visual. I think the issue with the AVX came from some of the early mounts, and there was a revision of the mount several years ago. However its early reputation has stuck throughout its life. Interestingly the price gap between the AVX and HEQ-5 here is a lot smaller - the HEQ5 does have the advantage of having the rowan belt upgrade which can be added at a later point to improve tracking (and reduce mount noise).

[Trippelforge]

15 hours ago, apaulo said:

i have had an avx for quite a while now, im using a starfield 102 on it. So far ive had no issues with it. The mount tracks well and is man enough to do anything i needed it to do so far. No complaints. go for it.

Thank you, I went ahead and ordered one last night. I got it through Amazon (899usd) as I figured it I got a lemon I could simply return it. 

A few questions if you don't mind; First of all what's with the supplied power supply? I also ordered an adapter for it so I could use it, as "supposedly" if you don't use Celestrons 80usd supply it voids warranty. For one thing... How do they even know? Anyhow what power supply are you using? Secondly what type of USB cable needs to be used for the connection from the hand controller / PC. I noticed it was update a few years back from a serial connection. I appreciate the help!

 

13 hours ago, Shimrod said:

It works fine for me, I use mine with an 80ed for imaging and an Edge 8" for visual. I think the issue with the AVX came from some of the early mounts, and there was a revision of the mount several years ago. However its early reputation has stuck throughout its life. Interestingly the price gap between the AVX and HEQ-5 here is a lot smaller - the HEQ5 does have the advantage of having the rowan belt upgrade which can be added at a later point to improve tracking (and reduce mount noise).

 

It's been out almost a decade hasn't it? I do know they updated the serial port interface to USB. Although I am not sure what type of cable I need. I don't understand why Wifi wasn't built in though, or why the power connecter is the type it is (lol).

[Shimrod]

8 minutes ago, Trippelforge said:

Thank you, I went ahead and ordered one last night. I got it through Amazon (899usd) as I figured it I got a lemon I could simply return it. 

A few questions if you don't mind; First of all what's with the supplied power supply? I also ordered an adapter for it so I could use it, as "supposedly" if you don't use Celestrons 80usd supply it voids warranty. For one thing... How do they even know? Anyhow what power supply are you using? Secondly what type of USB cable needs to be used for the connection from the hand controller / PC. I noticed it was update a few years back from a serial connection. I appreciate the help!

 

 

It's been out almost a decade hasn't it? I do know they updated the serial port interface to USB. Although I am not sure what type of cable I need. I don't understand why Wifi wasn't built in though, or why the power connecter is the type it is (lol).

There's a review of the AVX here which mentions some of the improvements including motors and base castings: https://www.skyatnightmagazine.com/reviews/telescopes/celestron-advanced-vx-9-25-inch-schmidt-cassegrain-telescope-review. The saddle was also changed to a dual vixen/CG saddle.

 

The USB cable is mini-usb at the handset end - I can't remember if one came with the mount. I use the skyportal dongle for wi-fi on mine to reduce the number of cables.

I am not sure what you mean by the power connector type - it seems pretty standard and is a screw-in design to avoid sudden power loss if it falls out. Unless you are concerned about tripping over the cable and pulling the mount over. I power my mount with a celestron powertank pro but any reliable 12v supply will do. When I bought mine the power cable came with a cigar lighter socket at the other end.

[Trippelforge]

2 minutes ago, Shimrod said:

There's a review of the AVX here which mentions some of the improvements including motors and base castings: https://www.skyatnightmagazine.com/reviews/telescopes/celestron-advanced-vx-9-25-inch-schmidt-cassegrain-telescope-review. The saddle was also changed to a dual vixen/CG saddle.

 

The USB cable is mini-usb at the handset end - I can't remember if one came with the mount. I use the skyportal dongle for wi-fi on mine to reduce the number of cables.

I am not sure what you mean by the power connector type - it seems pretty standard and is a screw-in design to avoid sudden power loss if it falls out. Unless you are concerned about tripping over the cable and pulling the mount over. I power my mount with a celestron powertank pro but any reliable 12v supply will do. When I bought mine the power cable came with a cigar lighter socket at the other end.

Thanks for the article! So it seems it has been around 4 years or so when the upgrades were made. I assume then I don't have to worry about getting the older model. Is simply possible to know via the saddle photos? It's probably dumb to even question but ya never know. I noticed the Skyportal, so obviously the connection is decent, any idea on the range you are getting? 

So any 12v supply will work, you don't need the 80 dollar Celestron version? It's noted that IF you don't use their branded one that the warranty would be voided. However you said it screws on, so I guess it's special? As mentioned I simply bought an adapter to go from cigar to a standard plug.

 

 

[Shimrod]

4 hours ago, Trippelforge said:

Thanks for the article! So it seems it has been around 4 years or so when the upgrades were made. I assume then I don't have to worry about getting the older model. Is simply possible to know via the saddle photos? It's probably dumb to even question but ya never know. I noticed the Skyportal, so obviously the connection is decent, any idea on the range you are getting? 

So any 12v supply will work, you don't need the 80 dollar Celestron version? It's noted that IF you don't use their branded one that the warranty would be voided. However you said it screws on, so I guess it's special? As mentioned I simply bought an adapter to go from cigar to a standard plug.

 

 

I bought my AVX in 2019 and it had the upgraded saddle - the article is from 2019 but I think the mount updates were a couple of years earlier - you won't have to worry about getting the older model.

I don't know what the range of the skyportal is as I've never tested it - I have my laptop around 10 ft away from the telescope and use an xbox controller (with CPWI) to control the mount when doing visual. This saves me tripping over cables (which I've done in the past!). 

I have not seen anything mentioned about voiding the warranty in the UK if  you don't use a Celestron power supply - I used to use a no name powertank with a lead acid battery but bought the Celestron Powertank Pro as it was much smaller and lighter. There are plenty of people powering their Celestron mounts with something other than Celestron power supply. The key thing if using a mains supply is to make sure the positive/negative pinout is correct for the  mount.

Edited October 24, 2023 by Shimrod

[Trippelforge]

57 minutes ago, Shimrod said:

I bought my AVX in 2019 and it had the upgraded saddle - the article is from 2019 but I think the mount updates were a couple of years earlier - you won't have to worry about getting the older model.

I don't know what the range of the skyportal is as I've never tested it - I have my laptop around 10 ft away from the telescope and use an xbox controller (with CPWI) to control the mount when doing visual. This saves me tripping over cables (which I've done in the past!). 

I have not seen anything mentioned about voiding the warranty in the UK if  you don't use a Celestron power supply - I used to use a no name powertank with a lead acid battery but bought the Celestron Powertank Pro as it was much smaller and lighter. There are plenty of people powering their Celestron mounts with something other than Celestron power supply. The key thing if using a mains supply is to make sure the positive/negative pinout is correct for the  mount.

Awesome. Ya I didn't get the power supply situation at all, I forgot where I saw it at. But regardless I imagine it has to do with the fact that they sell their own. I ended up buying an AC adapter that the cigarette plug could go into as I didn't really know what was going on. Luckily it wasn't expensive.