Celestron Dual Axis Motor Drive (Advanced CG4)

I originally bought these motors to allow hands-free tracking of the planets with my CG-4. What I didn't expect was the excellent planetary images it was capable of aiding in. If you're looking for an entry into AP with the planets and the Moon, look no further. The motors are a breeze to install, allowing more time outside tracking your favorite objects. I bought 4 Tenergy Centura rechargeable D batteries to power the setup which last many days before needing charged. The Dec and RA motors are placed on the brass shafts that the slow-motion knobs are attached to on your mount. On the CG-4, this prevents you from using the slow-motion controls to starhop. The Dec motor has a clutch which can be loosened so you can manually track in Dec (up and down). The RA has no such clutch, so the coupling will need to be loosened with an allen wrench if you hope to manually track in RA (left and right). Also, be aware that this setup cannot slew. It only tracks, and even at the fastest setting (8x, which I use when imaging), you can barely tell it's moving. For quickly pointing at an object, you will need to hold the telescope tube with both hands and aim it at the desired target. These motors also open the door to beginner astrophotography of the various solar system objects. With accurate polar alignment, i've been able to take upwards of 3 minute subs. I'm sure it's capable of more, but this is as far as i've gone. Whether you're looking to keep Saturn centered in the eyepiece, or you want to try your hand at planetary imaging; there's no doubt these motors are more than capable. At $100, they have already more than paid for themselves. UPDATE: 2/25/14 - I've since upgraded to the Advanced VX mount, but have returned to update this review. First, do not buy the batteries I recommended. They only provide 4.5V of power when the motors require 6V; even when fully charged, it still isn't enough. Instead, I bought a cheap 6V power adapter (6V 1A AC Adapter to dc Power Adapter 5.5/2.1mm) which worked like a charm. Even though i've moved on to a bigger mount, I would still recommend this product in a heartbeat.

I have an Orion EQ-3 mount to which, several years ago, I added a dual-axis drive motor kit - bought from Orion. In a hurry one day, I mistakenly plugged a 12VDC power source into the hand controller (it's designed for _6_VDC!). This fried the electronics in the hand controller. Orion no longer sells their dual-axis motor drive add-on kit. This kit looked identical (and it IS) to my original, but the price was a bit steep (if I recall about $200 all said). But, I needed a replacement - as having drives on both axis is very handy for what I do (asteroid occultations). In short, it seems to be identical in every way (except for the lettering on the hand controller). Normal RA tracking speed is spot-on. I took a chance on this as I've read some version of the EQ-3 mount have different worm/gear ratios for RA. But this seems to work -- perfectly.

I was very excited about this Celestron CG4 mount drive because I had seen some nice YouTube reviews of it. After I received it, I tested it out using fresh new batteries from Home Depot, At 8X speed the motors moved very slowly and at 2X speed the Right Ascension only moved in one direction. In addition the plastic battery holder was so tight around the 4 D cells that I had to push them against the positive contact to get the drive to work at all. Considering the high price I paid for this product and the cheaply made components, I do not recommend it. I cannot believe that an old and established company like Celestron would sell such a poor item for this price. Now I will have to return the Celestron CG4 mount and polar finder scope that I also purchased.

Very easy to install. Clutch on Dec. is really handy. Takes a little time to learn the remote control but I don't learn as fast as I used to. You'll like this kit because it will keep tracking while you change eyepieces. I bought a zoom eyepiece just because I would lose my target while changing. No longer a problem. A lot less money than a go-to mount and I don't need a computer to run it.

This is a great upgrade gets you between a manual mount and a goto which is a perfect setup for alot of us only thing I wish it had but may not need is a variable speed control on the right assention motor I'll be able to find out with the next clear sky very easy to install and setup and only issue I had so far the wires connection at the battery box was bad had to repair but was easy fix and now I'm excited to get this out and actually put it through the paces

I got this motor drive for my first equatorial tripod. I got it a few weeks back to get the annular solar eclipse, and after I figured out a few important basics, I was easily able to capture the eclipse on my video camera. I am excited today, because it is the only transit of Venus that will occur in our life times. I have the camera trained on the sun mounted to this tripod outside my window. It looks beautiful. I have the drives mounted on the Celestron CG-4 and I have the CG5 universal mounting plate to attach my camera. On the camera itself I have a telephoto lens, and a 3.0 neutral density 1000x filter, and I'm shooting at 1/8000s with f/9.6. You can easily see sun spots in fair detail and if the eclipse is any indication, the final video will come out very nice. The motor mounts are a necessity for an equatorially mounted tripod, and once all the said and done, this setup is a fraction of the cost of many other equatorial mounts, and it is very well built. Next, I intend to get a nice telescope to mount on it and get some star gazing done. Back to check on the transit... Here is the video taken with this equipment: [...]

I purchased these dual axis drives for my newly arrived Celestron Omni which rides a CG4 mount and tripod. They are quality brass and chrome pieces with no difficult requirements for attaching to the mount gears. Once in place and the batteries are turned on the RA drive tracks precisely even at a rough north alignment. Both drives respond quickly with minimal backlash and smooth movement when viewing through the eyepiece. The control box is the standard Celestron model provided with the older G5 and C5 series but it's a fine unit with N/S directional switch, 2x, 4x, 8x tracking speeds and with a bit of velcro sits nicely on the side of the tripod. Watch wrapping the phone cables when re-orienting from north to south, it would be great to have coiled cables with these but everything is quite functional. Good Viewing!

The price of this thing is way over what one would expect for the capabilities represented. The RA motor does have a clutch that will disengage the motor from the mount control so that you can fine tune the position. However, the DEC motor locks the DEC position and prevents any use of that slow motion control. The DEC motor mounted and attached to the DEC is absolutely worthless! I did figure out a way to disengage the motor from the control so I could adjust it, but there's absolutely no reason to have to do that. The flexible connector between the motor and the mount also tells me that the design is strictly AMATEUR! I need the RA movement, so I will have to keep this piece of junk until I can figure out a better solution. Whatever I do, it certainly will NOT be related to CELESTRON!