Ghyslain Létourneau
Reviewed in Canada on January 14, 2025
Comme plusieurs autres clients je n'ai reçu qu'une seule boîte, le trépied et les contrepoids sont manquants, heureusement que le livreur d'Intelcom a laissé une photo lors de la livraison, celà prouve que je n'ai pas tout reçu.
Bruce D'Ambrosio
Reviewed in the United States on August 22, 2024
Tl;dr: This is a fantastic, solid, stable, highly capable, mount. The tripod alone is almost worth the price, it makes most tripods for mounts in this category look like they were made out of fly-fishing poles. The 'modular' design is a bit weird, but the mount controller has a usb-b port, making computer control straightforward - if you have a phd in computer science (luckily, I do - nothing is 'straightforward' in astrophotography!).It is heavy though, probably not one for a camping trip or frequent 'dark site' trips unless you are much younger than me (78).Now for the rant: This mount has bushings, rather than ball or roller bearings, on both RA and DEC axis. (Minor peeve - 'bushings' ARE 'bearings'. They aren't ball or roller bearings, but beware of any online advice saying this mount doesn't have 'bearings'. The writer has already revealed how little s/he knows.)The bushings often come from the factory extremely tight and stiff. Perhaps the factory assumes they will loosen as they 'work in'. In any case, this can result in poor, erratic (jerky) tracking. Ok for visual use, maybe, horrible for astrophotography. There are simple fixes for this. See esp 'Sky-Watcher EQM-35 - making it work properly (BELOW 1" RMS GUIDING) in 3 simple steps!' by Kamil Pekala on YT. 'Simple' - well, maybe. I bought mine from Amazon resale for a nice discount. Perfect condition, except the previous buyer obviously attempted an overhaul similar to what Kamil describes, and failed. The DEC locking collar was extremely stiff, and the previous owner was unable to loosen it, creating minor damage in the process. Luckily, nothing I couldn't work around.So. Do I recommend this mount: ABSOLUTELY, if you are comfortable around mechanicals and parts that can bind and be a bear to get to release. HOWEVER, If you just want something plug-and-play, and have never played with engines, axles, grease, and that sort of stuff, well, maybe this isn't the mount for you.
Eduardo FM
Reviewed in Mexico on July 14, 2024
La montura es realmente robusta , fue fácil el ensamblarla , venia muy bien empacada y protegida, trae dos manuales uno de ellos para la Guía automática, estoy muy satisfecho con la compra .
jl n.
Reviewed in Mexico on February 17, 2024
implementacion y entrega correcta con un contratiempo menor por entrega diferida en dos dias, kit consiste en tripie y cabezal, standar de la industria con un potencial elevadisimo.contento con su desempeño, rebaso expectativas
0L1V31R4
Reviewed in the United States on December 13, 2024
This mount is very good for "beginners", but not really easy to work with if you don't know what you're doing. I'm going to start with my setup:- Mount: EQM-35- Telescope: Celestron Nexstar 6SE- Control: Laptop connected via software- Software: Stellarium & Starry Night 8 (got if free with my 6SE)So basically this is a very sturdy mount for my telescope, if you go with a similar or smaller scope go for it. Set up was a little complicated as I was reading the wrong part of the manual (user error). But after I figured it out it was pretty straight foward. One small issue is that the aligning scope came 270° shifted to the side, which I had to manually correct by disassembling it; something that should come perfect from factory as the mount simply won't align properly especially if you get the manual version. But that was it.Now for software setup. The best way to get this working properly as I've read in forums and found out myself through trial and error is to have the following softwares installed. First you're going to need ASCOM as well as the ASCOM EQMOD (both are needed to work properly) connected via an USB type B directly on the controller of the mount. Second you'll need a stargazing app, I recommend Stellarium for first timers as it is the easiest to learn and there are plenty of tutorials on YouTube on how to use it and it is also a great base for any future apps you might want to get later on. Just make sure you get the Qt5 version of Stellarium as the Qt6 does not support ASCOM and won't work connect to the mount. For connecting to the mount and alignment, just go with a tutorial on YT, it's very simple and works wonders; it just takes a little bit of time and some getting used to. The manual also has some instructions if you decide to use the hand controller instead, which is actually a lot simpler and easier to use but won't have as many stargazing and deep sky options compared to a specialized software. If you do all of this correctly it should all work fine. Good luck and have fun with your new toy :)
Zaleena Chellappah
Reviewed in Canada on August 14, 2021
Works well with a DSLR or a Celestron 8SE M CASS telescope. Excellent performance. Arrived from supplier in NJ in record time.
Pongo
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on October 19, 2021
Items delivered in good time from US with all custom clearance sorted by Amazon hassle free. The tripods are strong and sturdy with no wobbles. Once learnt to set up, very easy to use. Even with 1 star alignment after pilot scope polar alignment with Polaris, it goes to target accurately and tracks well. Use with a Sony A7 mirrorless camera and a Alkar AClL 200mm lens, balanced with just one counter weight, 5 mins exposed picture show round and sharp stars. Without guiding scope, the target object stays at the centre of the frame after 2 hrs of shooting. Very happy for my equipment setting.
Mental_Gravity
Reviewed in the United States on March 10, 2020
Aside form the great performance and smooth tracking there are a few things that could be considered as cons. The polar alignment reticle light is over powering. I cannot see a single star. The trick is to align with the mount off and point a dim red light through anterior finder scope hole-it works. I have read that it can be adjusted with hand controller and if this is true I will come back and update this. After trying to learn polar alignment I am considering it to be some esoteric art form. You seriously need someone to show you how to do it and every You tuber have different ways of doing it-which seems to be one of those things that doesn't add up but works. The instructions might as well be in a different language. I have not yet mastered polar alignment-I have already determined a local astronomical society and hope they will help me more on this. I still managed to get some really good images when somehow I luckily managed to polar align it. If your really considering on buy this mount-do it. I have zero regrets. Well built and beautifully made.Update. Once you get polar alignment handled, it gets easier. Once you hit 50% payload weight coma starts to appear in the images. I am trying to get a good auto-guiding setup, but I had issues with ZWO product so that will have to wait. I bought a 120mm refractor and already I can tell that the mount moves a tiny bit slower. I am hoping that auto-guiding setup will correct it.