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Celestron SkySync GPS module


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Thought I would give a quick review of this item Celestron SkySync GPS for anyone thinking of getting one

My friend who bought my 8SE from me was getting a little frustrated with having to keep imputing time/date etc every time on set up although it is quite simple enough to do he would often make a simple mistake and have to keep going through it to find out what he had done wrong usually he would get the date format wrong or the time would not be accurate enough for perfect gotos and got to the point where he would not use as much as he would like because of this so I suggested this item would make things easier for him

Although quite expensive just for a GPS module like anything astro related you pay a bit more

Once unpacked the module is very light and about the size of a small pc mouse and comes with 2 various sizes of adjustable Velcro strip which hold it tight and secure to your tripod leg once secured you just plug the supplied lead into the Aux port on your mount there is a small dim discreet red light on module to indicate it has power

Now we are ready to try it out you just have to go through menu to utilities and enable GPS and we are ready to go so we select skyAlign at this point it would usually ask for time/date location etc but now the words GPS LINKING flash and within 15 seconds it has a link and we are ready to do our alignment process all very simple and easy to use and he is very very happy with it

Kevin

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  • 1 month later...

I am hoping to buy a Celestron CGEM in the near future and have seriously considered one of these units. I know it would be very useful for trips out to dark sky sites but I reckon even night to night it could pay for itself in time saved setting up (I have to drag my scopes out of the garage and into the backyard every time I want to use them and they don't always end up in the same place!)

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  • 9 months later...

i love the idea, and its got to be a handy time saver, especially for those who travel around wit htheir scope.. but the price is shocking for a gps unit when you think you can get one for a car with a nice touch screen etc for around a third of the price

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i love the idea, and its got to be a handy time saver, especially for those who travel around wit their scope.. but the price is shocking for a gps unit when you think you can get one for a car with a nice touch screen etc for around a third of the price

That is true, but this downloads the data straight to the hand controller. Get a cheaper one and you are still left with the problem of typing in all the details and with the spongy NexStar button that is always a bit of a trial.

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i understand that and wasnt suggesting we buy car ones to get our location etc, our smartphones will do that for us already, what im trying to say is if they can make and sell them for cars which i have no doubt have a higher hardware cost, which is one of the bigest costs then how can they justify charging that much more for these.. im not knocking them, far from it i quite fancy one myself i just cant justify spending that much on one. if they where half the price they would still be more than some car sat navs and still in my eyes overpriced but i'd jump at one then :blob10:

its not just astronomy but in many things, people know they have you where they want you as you cant go elsewhere so bump the price up.... sometimes its better toi make less profit per unit then sell five times as many which in the end makes more profit

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i understand that and wasnt suggesting we buy car ones to get our location etc, our smartphones will do that for us already, what im trying to say is if they can make and sell them for cars which i have no doubt have a higher hardware cost, which is one of the bigest costs then how can they justify charging that much more for these.. im not knocking them, far from it i quite fancy one myself i just cant justify spending that much on one. if they where half the price they would still be more than some car sat navs and still in my eyes overpriced but i'd jump at one then :blob10:

its not just astronomy but in many things, people know they have you where they want you as you cant go elsewhere so bump the price up.... sometimes its better toi make less profit per unit then sell five times as many which in the end makes more profit

Couldn't agree more, it is the same with photography as well ..... however I think I may well take the plunge and get one of these has Telescope Plant UK as them for £169.

There is another version in the US called 'Star GPS Nx' which is cheaper, but cannot find a UK stockist.

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Only problem for me is that the CG5-GT doesn't have an AUX port - can it plug into the handset?

I have the older discontinued version of this GPS unit called a CN16, and it fits both my celestron scope setups including the CG5-GT - i believe this unit is pretty much the same as the CN16. In which case you plug this unit into the 'handset' port then the handset plugs into the bottom of this unit.

This particular one does seem expensive, but shop around - i picked mine up from ebay for less than £50 a year or so ago, and as a previous poster says its saved me countless time and its brilliant.

I plonk the cg5 down in the garden, turn on the power supply and by the time i've done a rough level and polar align, the handset is full of gps data and ready to go - well worth it.

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