Celestron CG-5 Computerized Telescope Mount

Incredible value for the money!!!

I bought this mount to use for astrophotography. I was looking for something that wasn't as heavy as my other EQ mount and easier to transport. After doing an extensive amount of reasearch on ...Read complete review

I bought this mount to use for astrophotography. I was looking for something that wasn't as heavy as my other EQ mount and easier to transport. After doing an extensive amount of reasearch on mounts in this range I settled on the Celestron Advanced Series CG-5GT. Not only after using a discount code did Telescopes.com have the best price for the mount[...] I don't use this mount for anything other than Astrophotography so this review will be focused more on using it for A.P. I am using this mount with about 20lbs of equipment and it seems to track very well with that amount of weight. For visual use it can be used with about 35lbs - 40lbs of equipment not counting counterweights. You really don't want to exceed 20lbs worth of equipment on this mount if your imaging though, anymore and it will affect the quality of your guiding and tracking. I love how easy the goto alighnment procedure is. If you spend a little time making sure that the stars are centered in the eyepiece and you use the optional calibration stars your goto's will be dead on every time. I haven't had any issue's with centering faint galaxies and nebula that I want to image when doing the alignment right. The alignment procedure is very easy, even someone that has never used an EQ mount with goto technology shouldn't have a hard time learning how any of the features in this mount work. One of my favorate things about this mount is the All-star Polar Alignment feature. The fact that you dont need to see Polaris and if done correctly your mount can track unguided for 30 to 120 seconds is great for a beginner. You can take some amazing images without an autoguider in those times even more so if you stack your images. Accurate Polar Alignment is crucial to taking long exposure images and instead of doing the ever so time comsuming and boring task of drift alighnment you can perform a polar alignment that if done correctly will get you extremely close to the North Celestrial Pole, just as close as drift alignment which you need to see stars that are close to the horizon and not all of us have that kind of view from our backyards. I highly recommend that you do your research before using this feature to get the best results. There are tricks to getting this mount to have a perfect polar alighnment and goto's that aren't explained in the manual. Another great feature I love is the fact that this mount has an autoguiding port. A lot of other mounts in this price range do not. I have noticed that with doing an accurate All-Star polar alignment and having an autoguider running you can take those long exposures of those little faint fuzzies that end up not being so faint and fuzzy anymore! The only issue with this mount that might bother people is the fact that it sounds like a coffee grinder. It doesn't bother me at all but some people aren't to happy with it. It's also not a heavy duty high class mount so don't expect miracles, but for the price and after using those high class mounts It really doesn't dissapoint for what it is. The mount is sensitive to balancing and weight issues when it comes to using it for astrophotography so keep that in mind if you plan on imaging with more than 20lbs of equipment "not counting the counterweights." All in all I have had great results with this mount. It is very important that after making the purchase you hop on the internet and soak in all the hints that people have posted about getting the most out of the features it comes with. Once you know all the little extra tips this mount won't fail to please. It's a great performer for the price tag and it's proof that you don't need to spend thousands on a mount to get your feet wet in astrophotography. I would without a doubt make this purchase again, Thanks Telescope.com!!!!