Equipment Update: Ioptron CEM26 EC

[@AstroCrescentDIY]

Sorry to hear about your mount. Good that you have the second one as backup. Reg Telescopes Canada, I regularly deal with Steven and his service level is exceptional. Good luck on your plans to shoot Orion...I am too waiting for an opportunity. The weather here in Toronto is not favourable and temps are very low during night time. Clear Skies!

[@keystothecosmos7527]

Thanks! Yes it's been dreadful... 😔

[@williammauney1129]

Purchased a GEM28 this time last year. It’s never guided great (paired with the ASIAIR Pro). Sent it back once to ioptron and it’s been ‘decent’ since. Except….once I cross the meridian no matter how well I balance guiding goes bad every single time. Picked up the AM5 since, I’ll be using the GEM28 as a second mount for visual and east of the meridian

[@keystothecosmos7527]

Interesting. How is the AM5?

[@ronrotunno2901]

Good luck on the Widefield side Dave! So far, so good on the Sigma Art 40. I think you’re going to love the 35.

[@keystothecosmos7527]

Thanks Ron! I'll definitely be bugging you some more once I'm out shooting with it 😃

[@ronrotunno2901]

Remember, Flats are your friend at 35mm!

[@Loopy01]

I went through mount troubleshooting hell as well with my HEQ5 back in the day. I completely understand how you're feeling. As a side note, would it be possible to boost the audio volume in your future videos? I find that i have to at least double the normal volume on my computer just to be able to hear your voice. Thanks!

[@keystothecosmos7527]

Thanks. Yeah I have to start using a mic. I think my phone has too much dust in it now because of work 😩

[@mlethbridge76]

Hopefully they get this sorted properly for you, just sucks that it took so long to get anyone to respond. 🤞

[@gsevere2073]

I feel your frustration. We spend a lot of money on our gear so we expect it to work flawlessly each and every time (yeah right, in a perfect world yada yada yads)

[@dicarlon1]

😢 I see a new mount in your future

[@Mr77pro]

Hope the mount turns out! Hope you don't mind a suggestion about your channel...good content but you seriously need to upgrade your mic/sound quality. It's really hard to hear...

[@keystothecosmos7527]

Thanks, yeah I think my phone's mic is full of dust. Gotta pull out the mic from now on 👍

[@JVRost]

Any budget equipment assumes that its owner has hands, alas, this has already become a global trend. I finished my CEM 25 mount for half a year, before it began to produce stable frames of 600 seconds

[@derekregan6926]

Did it only play up with using the air, I'd have taken the air out of the equation first and at least narrowed the problem down, from what I see you had star trailing in one direction, so you could have narrowed it down to one axis, if it was in Dec it more likely to be PA or imbalance... These mounts are really fluid so needs a true balance, even highlights the 3rd axis..... All of this could have been investigated before sending back, saving you time and learning about your mount

[@keystothecosmos7527]

Thanks for the comment. I have a CEM40 so I'm well aware about these mounts and especially how to balance them. I even have a video on third access balancing... After spending $4K on a high quality mount, I'll let them do the investigating.

[@derekregan6926]

@@keystothecosmos7527 There's a certain amount that you have to do yourself, no matter what you spent you still have to to do the basics right.. if it comes back and responds the same, then it's not the mount, it's the way you're using it... Sure you get the odd lemon in any mass produced product...but take the air out of the equation as it could also be that...

[@keystothecosmos7527]

@@derekregan6926 That's up to them to request as I asked what the procedure is and this was one of 2 options. They emailed me immediately and said they found issues right away and would do further investigation before sending it back so there was definitely problems with the mount

[@anata5127]

I have told you about IOptron. Company is total sheeit. Yes, they get sometimes right. Mounts work 2-3 years then … 😢. Most important, they aren’t going to fix it. Get proper mount. You can get used MyT for 5-6K. Used AP900 or 1200 for 8-9K. They are worth every penny. This is a nature of hobby. 30-40K (US $$$$) here we come.

[@tarang221]

Ioptron mounts are quite costly I mean I am looking for Ioptron cem 26 or hem 27....my friends say they are much better than skywatcher heq5 and eq6 r pro ...I don't know what to do now is Ioptron that bad ?

[@anata5127]

@@tarang221 Yes. It became nasty between me and them. I cannot tell details here. Overall, Sky-Watcher is most reliable Chinese-made mount. I am relatively new to this hobby (May 2022); but I have been quite while visual. So, I have seen many astrophotographers in action in club, star parties and so on. This is an expensive hobby. My opinion is that you learn on simple equipment and then quickly move up. No constant upgrades. First is mount. Nothing less than MyT. Second scope nothing less than Esprit 100. Third focuser. Minimum Moonlite. Fourth MONO camera. Minimum asi2600. Fifth filters only Astrodon or Chroma. Six OAG with 174mm. Done. This can be done for 15-17K. But you will really enjoy hobby. Think this way. You have probably already spent 10-12K. There is no reason for going on and on with inherently bad equipment.

[@tarang221]

@@anata5127 yes and I have 127/1500 maksutov cassegrain and a zwo asi 224mc planetary camera...but want a good mount so thanks for detailed reply 😊

[@anata5127]

@@tarang221 Deep sky object astrophotography with such scope will be very tough. Anything lesser than 1” image scale creates absolute demand for mount and seeing.

[@tarang221]

@@anata5127 yes that's why I want to do planetary imaging for some time but I have dobsonian mount so difficult to track planet...goto mount with good tracking will be helpful then in future I can buy redcat 51 or something similar