CG5 kicks the bucket

celestron advanced vx mount www.celestron.com/astronomy/celestron-advancedvx-mount.html

Updated CG5 , coming out in a few weeks

nanook5 wrote: celestron advanced vx mount www.celestron.com/astronomy/celestron-advancedvx-mount.html

Updated CG5 , coming out in a few weeks

Now that's interesting. Added stiffness and permanent PEC!

There seems to be some nice new kit coming out. The new GEM from iOptron looks very intriguing as well - never seen a design quite like this and it looks like it's coming in around the same price level. Mad looking yoke. www.cloudynights.com/ubbthreads/showflat...5707877/Main/5704125 Those guys at iOptron are doing lots of good things at the moment. $799 in the US on release this April.


Waiting to hear about the motor and encoder assembly from Celestron dealers but as celestron won't ship directly but I note that that particular part has been the subject of much talk over the last couple of months due to a price increase in the US. They only show prices to US IP addresses so I had someone check the page. Went from up from $28 to $132. I wonder if it's a stock thing as they may be harder to come by now. The only other online price I could find was $160.

StephenK wrote:

TrevorDurity wrote: Pity we don't have a bunch of showrooms in Ireland to check these things out
Looks like I would probably go for the heq5 or heq6 in the long run.

Im trying :laugh:

yep, it's always good to see a great astro store open in Ireland! I see you do iOptron as well. Hear any news about the zeq25?

Some interesting new mounts coming down the track, but I hope Celestron do not abandon the large number of existing CG5 owners. That massive price hike for the dec motor assembly sounds ominous. The CG5 is an excellent mount with thousands of satisfied users; it would be a shame if they were 'forced' to migrate to newer (more expensive) alternatives.

Good luck in your search for spares Trevor. If it you can't repair it, hold on to the CG5, it will be soon worth a fortune in spare parts. : cheer:

Mike

Excellent - the guys at Ace Cameras got back to me nice and quick. Only £39 for the part so I'll go for that and see how things work out. Thanks for all the suggestions guys!

Thanks for the help guys. I received the dec motor assembly a couple of days ago and tried it out last night. Looks like Celestron changed the design of the ASGT at some stage as the new motor is slightly different and mounting plate completely different. So removed it and put it on the old plate and hey presto - all good again. TBH I was half expecting the problem to be something else so it was great that this works.

In other news it looks like the price increase didn't hit this side of the pond yet as the part was only £39 + shipping from Darren in Ace Cameras. I was expecting it to be at least £100. Great and fast service.