Orion Atlas EQ-G Computerized GoTo Telescope Mount

Pratiquant l'astrophotographie et ayant consulté au préalable les documentations techniques et forums, mon choix s'est porté sur cette monture répondant pleinement à mes besoins. Il s'agit d'un excellent produit qui va me permettre de poursuivre ma passion plus sérieusement. J'attends avec impatience les prochaines nuits étoilées !

I've had the mount for 3 weeks and have been fortunate enough to use it quite a few times. I mounted an ED80T 80mm refractor with a Canon DSLR, autoguider camera on a 50mm guide scope, and plenty other lenses and filters. Everything works great and I am getting great pictures. Just beware, this is an advanced equatorial mount. You will need a clear view of Polaris to polar align this mount. Once you have Polaris aligned through the polar scope, you need to tell it your longitude, latitude, elevation, time and date. All this info can be found by using free cell phone apps so it's not that hard. Once you have that info, the scope will ask for 1, 2, or 3 star alignment. That's easy as long as you've told it the previous info. After that, it's a matter of selecting what you want to look at and boom. Done. For long exposure photos you will need an autoguider scope and camera, but this mount has an autoguider port. With an autoguider camera I've been able to take 5-6 minute exposures with no problem. These make for great photos.The Good:1) Seriously heavy duty construction. This mount is heavy, which is great. Once planted in the ground, nothing is going to shake your camera. It can hold 40lbs but I wouldn't load it up that much. It will handle astrophotography equipment of at least 25-30lbs.2) It's smart. Tell it where you are, and it knows what you can see. The GoTo function works great. I'm still learning about where to find things but I can tell it to point to M31 and it will move and track it through the sky. Amazing.3) It looks great. Nice setup.The Bad:1) I ordered the mount along with a few thousand dollars worth of telescope equipment. I received everything except for the Atlas mount. This mount ships in 2 separate boxes. One box contains the tripod, the other contains the EQ-G computerized mount. I only received the tripod box and signed for the shipment. I waited 5-6 days for Amazon to bring me the EQ-G mount before realizing they never actually sent it. BEWARE. This ships in 2 (two) separate boxes. Amazon has a bad reputation of only sending 1 box when it comes to telescope mounts. When you track your package, it should be in 2 boxes. After waiting 5 days, I contacted Amazon and they sent the missing box. It took over two weeks to get this mount when Amazon Prime told me it should have taken 3-5 days. Track your packages carefully or you may also be in the possession of $3000 worth of equipment that cant be put together.2) Small steps. It's very, very heavy, even with a small scope attached. 100lbs. Fully assembled, use small steps carrying it to the back yard. Ouch.3) No power supply cord included. You will not be able to run an extension cord out to the backyard to power the mount. That is sold separately. Not the extension cord, but the cord to plug it into a standard outlet. Sold separately.Conclusion: Excellent mount, heavy duty, sturdy, smart. Hard to setup for beginners, but great once it's polar aligned. I recommend it if you have the money and are looking to get started doing astrophotography. 5/5.

This mount is wonderful, however it is complicated.If you decide to really take the leap into astrophotography, and are making the investment in a great scope, this is the mount to go for.The rub with this mount is really the rub with ALL mounts of its type.They are VERY complicated.Fortunately there is a myriad of online resources, tricks and tips to make your experience as hassle free as can be!If I were forced to give a negative about this item (other than its not free) it would be the manual. Its not very descriptive and lacking in clear illustrations. Fortunately Orion seem to understand that and have put out How To videos for just about every aspect of this mount.One other, very minor thing is that the build in level is WAY off. I never use it to level my tripod as Its best to use a bubble level on all 3 axis before putting on the heavy motor section. Once I noticed, i put a sticker on where the true level was and all was good.With a clear sky and a bit of determination you can make your front yard into the best observation point around!

Amazing device, can take a lot of weight... and tracks very well. Better than expected.A few gripes:The controller buttons are mushy, so it's easy to typo the info needed to setup.It really ought to have a battery backup for the clock.The polar scope had specs in it when I got it... Had to disassemble, carefully clean and re-assemble... I think my scope on cheapo $300 iOpteron camera motor is a much easier design to line up accurately.The rear ( scope eyepiece side ) latitude adjustment on mine is very hard to turn ( i'll probably grease it ).Some simple additions would make the experience much better... Like simple labels indicating what direction is lock on the clutches, what direction is the default aperture side, clearer marks for the home positions and the like.Its mechanically great, but they really ought to update and refine the design.

Well, its been awhile now and I still can not get this goto work, just will not a line to a planet/star I just can not get it too "see" what is there. so,,, GOTO is pretty much useless with my scope. The mount is very heavy and hard to move around. would NOT buy again...