Check out my new beginner mount video for 2021 here: kzfaq.info/get/bejne/brl-d65_xK3YgnU.html

I got into Astrophotography using my literal BASIC 50mm refractor with a 300mm focal lense, and I get itty bitty dot photos, but honestly, I absolutely love it. The fact that I even HAVE photos of Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Vega, and 3 of the Seven Sisters of the Pleiades just adds to my love and interest of Astrophotography

Just came across your channel today and what a great amount of information you have. I just purchased my first ever setup and the Celestron AVX was what I went with. I know down the road I will have to upgrade, but this mount works well for now.

Meade LX85 is a shockingly good mount. It is ASCOM compatible, light weight and very stable. Purchased it as a lightweight grab and go alternative to my CGX and have been extremely happy with it. Accurate and I am consistently able to get unguided 60-90 second exposures with no star trails and have been successful up to 2 minutes with a wide field scope. Add in guiding and it's a steal at $800! Outperforms and is lighter than my Sirius mount which I decided to sell after 9 months with this mount. For what it's worth. I hope this doesn't sound like an advertisement but I am really pleasantly surprised by this mount no one talks about.

This is currently by far the most useful and clear video for beginner astrophotographers. Helps you get a perspective and estimate on pricing and what kinds of equipment one may expect to get.

0:13 your trademark hand swipe 😊. Greatly enjoy your videos

My EQM-35 has managed my F/9 100ED apo extremely well, I am very pleased at its performance and stability at super high powers. Highly recommended.

Your videos are informative and answer many questions I have. You understand the need to describe and discuss the various topics in a way a beginner might be thinking. Thank you.

Thank you for sharing this! It was really helpful! Now, I'm hoping you have a similar video for Telescopes also!

Nice video, by the way, the HEQ5 Pro has been upgraded silently, the new one has a USB socket, dual saddle to attach both vixen and losmandy, they also changed the max payload, before used to be 11kg for imaging, and 15kg for visual, now they are saying it's 13.5kg for either imaging and visual.

Thanks for creating another good video. Not many people are doing Astrophotography equipment comparisons so keep up the good work. I'm just starting out on my Astrophotography journey so find these videos are really useful. One of the mounts in this category that's caught my eye is the Explore Scientific EXOS2 GT pmc8, based upon an upgraded Bresser EXOS2 mount with better internal components (Stepper motors & belt drives) and with an open source (Open GOTO ) ASCOM driver that does away with the hand control and uses an app on a tablet for control and tracking, which also includes loads of beginner level info on the objects in the night sky. I'd welcome your thoughts on this mount compared with those you've reviewed in this video.

Great video! This will be very useful for someone picking their first Astro equipment! And thank you for the mention in the new subs list! 😊

Thanks for helping me out again! Keep up the great content

A very informative video. One thing to consider in future videos is when you have a chart up please try not to obscure some of the fields with your in video head shot (perhaps you can move the in video up when you reach the fields in question?). Other than that I find you videos well worth watching and think you are a very good presenter.

Thank you for the wonderful video! Made my life easier!!

I went in January for the iOptron CEM25p. I am very happy with it. Together with the ASIAIR it does what it suppose to do. The only tricky point with the CEM system is to get it into 3D balance. The DEC axis is a bit sensitive to being unbalanced. Nothing which can't be solved. I optimised my setup now so getting ready to photograph takes me 5-10min including polar alignment (not a fixed setup). Thanks for the video!

An excellent informative video.. Ive just about decided on the EQM35 as it's right on my budget and seems to have excellent quality for a beginner mount. Thanks and clear sky's 👍

I love it!! Right now I’m using the Orion Astroview EQ3 which has been beautiful for me when learning how to do ap. It was nice to really develop a love in the craft without having my head spin with all the different features of the mounts you’ve listed. There are lots of limitations with my mount and I will be using your video in the process of finding my next mount. Thank you!!

I got a good deal on an HEQ5 as my first mount. Works great, no issues with it. Just done the belt drive modification on it, usually get < 1" guiding accuracy. Having used it for a year now with an 80mm refractor I want to upgrade to an 8" newtonian, but these weigh just a bit too much. In hindsight an EQ6R PRO would have been better, but would have cost substantially more. As you pointed out at the beginning when you get into this hobby you don't know if you're really go to stick with it, so I think the HEQ5 was the right choice at the time.

Really very helpful video for the beginners and very nicely explained. Clear Skies..!!

Thank you for a VERY thorough organized run through. I learned a few things and you affirmed my leaning toward the Celestron AVX. I had low end telescopes in College, I bought my daughter a Meade ETX 80mm (I think) and it rekindled my interest. I'm an amateur photographer with some pretty good DSLR gear so I've pretty well talked myself out of the temptation of getting a EdgeHD 9.25 (for now. Lol) and want to see if I stick with the hobby using my DSLR gear. Investing (very deliberate word there) in a solid, reasonably priced mount seems paramount and I can always add a tube later. This video solidified my thoughts. Thanks and be safe!

Thanks for these wonderful, informative videos. Very detailed, you are awesome!

Hi, I think one of the most important factors to be considered are the accessories to be purchased..like for example, some mounts require power supply , some of them probably operate on batteries, etc. It would be nice to have them included as well.

Very informative. Just to made a bit of justice, lx85 is a excellent value for money, ascom , no problems, capacity to carrying equipment, good, solid mount, 1 arc/sec, etc, I love it.

Very informative! Thanks so much for the comparison of these mounts. Looking to get back into astronomy and This helped me with my decision. :)

Excellent video! You have a lot of knowledge in astrophotography ! Congratulations keep doinig it!.

Thank you for this very informative video! I started the hobby in September 2019. I didn't want to spend too much money at first, so I went with a Skywatcher Star Adventurer mount. It is not an EQ mount, but mobility is quite important for me. I have to walk 110 stair steps and drive 50 km before I am at a spot with a relatively dark sky (living in a big city...), so I did not want to carry dozens of kgs of equipment with me. I started out with only a DSLR on the SA mount and was able to take my first pictures of Andromeda galaxy and Orion nebulae. Exposure times of 60s with 300mm without guiding are possible when you carefully do the polar alignement. I recently upgraded my gear with an autoguiding setup (the SA mount has an ST4 connection) to get longer exposure times. Even though only the RA-axis is guided, I can reach exposure times of 180s now with 300mm. I have reached the absolute load maximum with this setup on the SA (being only 5 kg and my stuff weighing in at 5.1 kg). I am going to upgrade to an EQ mount later this year, because I am absolutely hooked into the astrophotography now and your video really helped me to decide which mount I might get!

What are your thoughts on the Explore Scientific EXOS2-GT EQ mount? I was saving money for an HEQ5, but they've recently gone up in price another $200. So I've been thinking about getting the EXOS2-GT instead. It's got about the same payload capacity as the HEQ5, and the price runs around $999 USD. It's also Wifi and Bluetooth enabled.

As a newbie, it seems to me that the quality of your home location is paramount. Dark skies, good weather, the lack of obstacles in your view must be fundamental. Buying all this stuff and hauling it to the country setting it up and breaking it down for transport is frustrating if conditions in the field turn bad.

I've been shooting the Milky Way for a few years with just a mirrorlsss camera and tripod. I have decided to step up into deep sky astrophotography.. I'm going to start with a short focal length, maybe around 275 mm, and work my way up as I progress. I really want the EQ6-R, but it's expensive, not very portable, and currently on backorder 4 to 6 months. I've done a ton of research and have decided on the Celestron AVX. It satisfies all my needs as a beginner, costs less than the EQ6-R, and is also easier to carry and move to dark sky locations.

Thank you. I needed this in my life! I'm looking to purchase soon and was looking at the LX85 due to the weight capacity, but after watching your video, I know I'll be much happier with the Celestron Advanced VX instead. Thank you so much for saving me an expensive lesson. I can't wait to see what video you come out with next. I'm now subscribed to the channel.

Meade LX-85 has two options for cabling to PC: A #07507 RS-232 to USB and a #505 Cable. It’s important to mention the AUX port is wired back to front. Using third party AUX equipment can fry the mount. I spoke to a tech at Meade directly concerning this. They told me that the LX-85 AUX port is “unnamed”. The mount is ASCOM compliant. You’re not limited to Audio Star or Sky Safari only. Additionally there is an option for Stella. It’s a Meade device for wifi control but I’ve found the app to be difficult to locate depending on the device used. For example it is unavailable on my iPhone 10. Just putting some helpful info up regarding your video. I think your lineup very closely matches my choices. I recently purchased an LX-85 and will most likely create a video highlighting all of the connectivity options as well as any hiccups I find. Great video. Keep it up. Clear skies.

Im running the star adventurer, with the MgenIII, 30mm guidescoe, a 400mm lens and apsc sensor camera. Im thinking about buying a HEQ-5 or EQ5 or EQM-35, because i would love to upgrade my gear with an apochromatic refractor of 400mm and a 2nd with ~1000mm.

Thank you Wido. I was only considering the Atlas ll due to the three months purchase plan with Orion. But I was wondering why there was so many reviews about skywatcher and almost nothing with Orion if they were the same mount. But your explanation clears that up. I will definitely reconsider my plan with the atlas ll mount and look at my options with skywatcher. Thank you.

The Meade LX85 is a really lightweight mount. It weights only 10.5kg including tripod and head. Your weight is including the counter weights. Please keep that in mind. And i can confirm it works with their standard ASCOM-Drivers.

That was the considerations that I take in account when I bought my AVX. Great video

Thanks for this comparison, really good and concise! The first mount i bought (and the one i still use) is the Ioptron SkyGuider pro. I think i'll still be using for quite some time, since it can handle my 530mm scope without guding for 2 minutes before periodic error really starts kicking in. Guiding should allow me to take longer exposures with the mount, but if i decide to buy a larger scope I'll probably have to upgrade due to the payload already being close to maximum with my current setup. I'm thinking of going after the Cem25P due to the light weight, quietness, and my previous experience with their mounts :)

Thanks man, awesome vid. Please keep up.

Great video. I did the exact same analysis couple of months ago and the HEQ6 Pro was the best one for me. Still have to buy it tho. Currently using a SkyGuider Pro from iOptron

No doubt you are a very knowledgeable dude, dude!

I picked up a EQM35 Pro last night for $683.99 delivered with 5% coupon code. My imaging rig is 7lb total so it's still 15lb under max payload

Skip to 2:20 if you don't wanna hear "without further ado" several times...

Thanks for that video I am happy to see astrophotographers from the Netherlands greetings from Maastricht

Thanks so much for sharing, very helpful information. Great channel, I’ve got plenty of questions about picking out the best gear to get into starting Astrophotography.

Great video, thanks for posting. I liked your format and your feature comparisons. Different end users will prioritize the features differently. With many users quickly moving to 3rd party software to control image acquisition/camera functions, the number of objects in the hand controller become less relevant. Also, many of these 3rd party software solutions have a built in polar alignment routine negating the need for a polar scope or even the need to see Polaris from your location. However, that said, the ability to connect to a laptop and ASCOM compatibility becomes more important.

Hi there. I'm very new to astronomy. Can I mount my Sky-watcher optical tube (a Sky-Watcher 8" Flextube 200P Collapsible) on any brand of equatorial mount (I'm considering the Meade LX85), or can it only go on a Skywatcher EQ mount?

Goed bezig, zeer informatief ;). Good job, very informative!

Great Video... Very Helpful for a beginner looking for an affordable mount.

Older HQ mounts are very good also, find them on the used market, Ebay, CloudyNights, Astromart etc... Look for used Vixen mounts, SP, GP, GP DX, etc..., they are high quality mounts, Made in Japan! I own the Vixen GP D mount /w SS2K PC goto system, rated 25 LB load. Mount's interior parts are not machined but precision ground to very close tolerances. Insane! The SS2K Goto system was famous for accuracy, it can even track satellites or find craters on the moon. It's still the KING of the mounts for the same cost as these NEW, cheap Chines mounts!

I just started and I found an ed72 skywatcher and I’m just lookin for a good mount to go with

The Ioptron CEM25p has been discontinued after a very short life on the market. Other reviews were pretty awful. I must say, I was intrigued by the lighter weight of the Ioptron, 14 pounds lighter than the Celestron AVX. I would be interested in learning what replaced the CEM25p, or what light weight Ioptrons sell in the same price range. That's hard to figure out by scanning the web.

My first smart mount was the Celestron NexStar 5SE, but no matter how careful I was with the alignment process or which alignment process I choice, whenever I told it to "go to" an object it would always point about 1 degree off in one direction or another. After two months I gave up trying and now I just set the hand unit to Speed 2 and use the directional buttons to track my target. I'm currently in the market for my second mount and I'm considering buying a clock driven mount since that's essentially what I'm using now anyway. The other members of the Facebook astrophotography groups I'm in advise me to buy a GoTo mount, but I don't even use the one I have so I really don't see the point.

Great video! Well organized. I currently have an older Orion Atlas ( non go to) and want to upgrade to autoguiding and also downsize to a lighter setup. Celestron AVX will likely be my choice.

My first real mount was a Celestron ASGT which was fussy and tempermental, but it worked well and I found I could get pretty consistent GoTo. I didn't do much imaging. My next mount was an Atlas EQ-G with GoTo and its still the mount I use today. I have owned Celestron CGEM, AVX, Of course the Atlas and also a CEM40. I still prefer the Atlas to all of these others.

I just watched your live feed and took your recommendation for upgrading mount.. Gonna watch and I’ll see which ones I can afford.

Hi again. Another stupid question possibly, I'm considering buying the equatorial wedge for my Nexstar6 as I'm very aware of the limitations caused by the mount being AltAz only, would I be better putting the money towards a complete mount or does the addition of the wedge make an acceptable mount? I'm very happy with it's goto performance and it appears to track quite accurately.

I bought an Orion GoTo Mak-Cas 127mm on a Starseeker IV two years ago. Fine for observing but I should have researched and found out about German Equatorial Mounts. I think I'll go to the Orion Sirius EQ GoTo mount to get back on track and increase the payload from 13 lbs. to 30 lbs.

Very nice video. You are very thorough and cover a lot of what I was wondering about 😊 But one question concidering this. I have a small star tracker for my DSLR, and that works well for wide angle lenses, but for deep space, it’s not accurate enough. So lately I’ve been thinking more and more about purchacing a telescope, but my budget can’t affird both a telescope mount and a telescope at the same time. Do I get the telescope first to take short time frame images, or do I get the mount first, and for now use it as a star tracker/mount for my DSLR?

Love the video and your blog about this! Super helpful and informative! Unfortunately, it looks like, in the 9 months since you did this, iOptron has discontinued both the CEM25p and the iEQ30. I’m curious if you’ve looked at their new ones and have any thoughts on them.

Thank you and very informative. My decision is between the Celestron AVX mount and the SW HEQ5 Pro. What is also very key for me, but you didn't so much cover it here, is the software side. How does Celestron's Skyportal goto app compare to SW's Skyscan app? How easy do the apps make it to do star alignment and polar alignment? And how easy is it to do software/firmware updates for both mounts and hand controllers etc? (eg have heard Celestron's equipment is a nightmare to update). Any pointers or any links you can share on this? Thanks!

You're missing the Explore Scientific EXOS2-GT with the PMC-8 open source Goto computer from your review. It fulfills all of your criteria and is only US $699 right now.

Great content but I do not go with your take on the Meade LX85. The mount works great, it is stable and the service from Meade/Bresser in Germany is also pretty good.

Thank you for the valuable information. I am getting into visual with an old 114mm newt (I plan on building a small dob mount as the tripod is very shaky) and I am considering what my next step might be. I am still considering SCT or maybe a triple - but I think in any case I will spend a fair amount on the mount. Maybe an AVX or HEQ5 or possibly a CGEM-II or HEQ6 - so I can upgrade / add a larger scope later and not have to re-invest in a mount. In any case, your videos are very informative!

I'm thinking about getting the celestron VX advanced mount for astrophotography

I've been in astrophotography discord servers for about 2.5 years and have heard a lot of opinions from people who use most of these mounts. Generally speaking people really disliked their celestron avx mounts and had a lot of issues with them. Ioptron gets mixed reviews because it seems that they use their customers to improve their mounts (there have been many iterations of the cem25p with different model names before it that had various issues). However I own a cem25p and I think it is superior to the heq5 pro because it is belt-driven and is more accurate. I can get 3 minute unguided images at 480mm with a nikon d5300 with a discard rate of 40%. I know several people who own the heq5 pro and they cannot get anywhere near this level of precision. Now, this isn't necessarily relevent because guiding should make them comparable. Heq5 pro gets a lot of positive feedback, not only because it is accurate and has a high payload, but also because it can be modified to be belt driven with the rowan upgrade. Apparently skywatcher support is also top notch and they'll help you out even if your mount was bought used. I've literally never ran across someone using a meade lx85 but general consensus is that it is more or less like an avx and they would stay away from it. It remains a bit of an unknown less tries and true option that I wouldn't go for. The tried and tested options really are the heq5 pro, eq-g and cem25p. I would say if you're mounting a short ish refractor go with cem25p for stellar performance and super portable, otherwise either heq5 pro or eq-g. I don't know about the two other ioptron mounts as I have not heard any feedback on them. Cem25p has to be well balanced otherwise the motor isn't happy at all, but this isn't really an issue, just something to pay attention to while setting up. Heq5 pro can take a bit more of an unbalanced load, but I wouldn't consider that an advantage because the load should be balanced at all times anyway.

I have a Celestron CG4, which is the equivalent to the EQ3-2 of Synta. Would you recomend to buy the RA/Dec Motor drive? Or is it better to get a AVX for a 150/750 Newtonian?

First of all thank you for you're effort and taking the time to make these videos'! The only tip I may have to adjust your sub frame to the top right or move the graph. Because your pic cuts out a lot of the information on the graph.

Great Video!

Actually, the current version of the HEQ 5 has the possibility to mount scopes with the Vixen-style dovetail and a bigger one (probably Losmandy) like the EQ6-R does.

I am considering this Celestron AVX equatorial or the SkyWatcher EQ M35 as my second choice.

You said the rule of thumb for payload was 50-60%. But then your recommendation mounts are all about 100% or advertised payload. It seems you have to sacrifice stability for price but you didn't mention this point.

Hello guys.. im torn between the eqm35 pro and the star adventurer gti.. i know this mount has more payload capacity but heard it has issues..what do you guys recommend based on experience. Thanks

I bought an Explore Scientific EXOS2_PMC8 as a lightweight alternative to my NEQ6-Pro... good mount for the money (£780 from Rother valley optics) belt driven and easily carries about 30lbs (approx 13.5kg) no handset but it is wifi and controlled from a tablet or computer

Hi Wido, I remember seeing a video of you with an upgraded Skywatcher mount.. maybe EQ6 pro? Anyhow my question is do you set up and dismantle your set up at end of each session or do you keep your mount outside? If you do keep it as a permanent set up.. how do you protect the mount and tripod?

Awesome information....can you please also review ioptron GEM 28..its a new launch and cannt find any videos on it...please compare it with orion sirius eq-g mount

Best go to computerized mount I can do everything from inside for less than $800 used ew also best website to buy gear

I love your videos. Recently I have got a Bresser EXOS-2 Goto mount. I believe it is with the same specs as Skywatcher EQ5. What is your review on it?

My setup. Im a beginner. Redcat 51, skywatcher Eq 35 mount. Canon rebel T7i dslr. My mount shows up in 3 days. gathering all info i can. Ty fur great videos.

Again another great video.

Excellent, excellent video! Thank you!

Currently I have Skywatcher Star Adventurer Pro 2i. My main subject of interest is solar imaging, but I would also like to expand into deep sky. Is there a mount which you would recommend?

Very well crafted video, worth a sub I reckon :)

Nice video, lots of info.....thanks. However, this stuff seems a bit expensive for a beginner. My gear is fully manual (although I do have a motor drive). It was very affordable (tip #5). I have been using it for a few years and I am ready to move up to a mount such as what you are describing, so again thanks for the info. But, if I were faced with these prices at the beginning, I would never have gotten into it. I wish you would give more info on beginner gear that doesn't break the bank. :-)

great video, always amazed how fresh the Dutch are, lol

The HEQ5 Pro has USB type B now on the handset. The same with the EQM35 and the new EQ6 r has it right on the mount itself. This was true going back to at least last year.

Let's hope things get more standardized. I get headaches searching for compatible mounts and those that will support the extra weight of a camera and guiding system.

Can I ask you about the lowest budget mounts? I want to start only with a camera with tele photo lens. What is your opinion about trackers like the skywatcher sky adventurer? It cost 400€, but tracks only the dec axis. Worth it to buy the Skywatcher EQ3 Pro SyncScan Goto (575€)?

Hi, thank you for your video! This is Miguel, observing from Eindhoven. I´m using an Advanced VX and I´m very happy using it for planetary tracking, but for deep sky I´m having some trouble (consider I use 2000mm focal, so a bit high magnification). Tracking overall is good, but the image keeps oscillating back and forth in the field of view. From what you say, an autoguider should help on that. Do you really get about 1 arc second of accuracy while tracking with your AVX? That is really small!

First mount celestron advance GT mount works great for years but started to have problems with the slewing had to replace the motors .but I don't really use it now I use HEQ5 Pro

I have a question: from my balcony I see only the south sky (although I am at the northern hemisphere) so I can't do polar alignment. Can I still take a mulitple-minutes exposure photos using guiding? From what I understand guiding is tracking based on my specific star and it has nothing to do with Polaris. Right?

super leuke videos!! ik wil graag starten met de evostar 80 ed maar twijfel tussen skwywatcher eq 35m en de eq5.. tips?

Hey mate... is the SKYWATCHER EQ3 PRO a good choice for mount?

I love the patina on your guide scope ;) Matches the patina on my dovetail

Great Video for Astrophotography!

Just starting, have a 114mm go-to telescope, no camera just visual/eyes

I just ordered the iEXOS-100 PMC-8 for a grab and go setup.

got an old lx200 10" from my grandpa then i started to realize that this scope isnt very beginner friendly xD i went for a used EQ6 mount that i can use the 10" OTAwhen i get better right now im imaging wit a 130 PDS which is like nothing for the EQ6

good job, very helpful, thanks !!! For me, the real question will be between the CEM26p and the EQM35, which one will provide the best tracking accuracy If you have any information on this, I would appreciate

Hi I was looking at getting the Celestron cgx mount with a Celestron 9.25 edge hd scope. This is my first telescope purchase it's maybe overkill I'm not sure but I'd appreciate your advice on the matter. I'd also like something that I won't outgrow quickly and that is a good unit in case I don't use it much it will have good resale value.

Hey @AstroForum Have you ever tried the Bresser EXO 2 GT PMC-8? And compared to HEQ5 which one would you recommend? Please if anyone does have any opinion about it please share it with me.