Celestron AVX review! 

The AVX was my first mount and I admit I had problems at first. Mine is very capable of great guiding. It wasn't always the case though. I now use a mini PC with CPWI, N.I.N.A., and the star sense auto guider. With that setup I get just as good of guiding as my EQ6r pro. Main thing I've found is don't overload it. Mine came with an 8" Newtonian that, in my opinion, was way to heavy for photography, even though it was marketed as such. With my Redcat 71/QHY183 setup it does great at 5min exposures. One issue I still have is you have to remember the combination to plug in and turn on everything or CPWI will give you issues connecting to it. I wasted quite a bit of time to figure that out...........

I’m a beginner and purchased a C8 with AVX bundle on sale last June. Now I want to try some imaging so I purchased an ASIAir Plus. I’ve been having Go To issues with ASIAir but don’t know if it’s due to AVX but have a new start up procedure I’m testing. First night with this procedure was successful but need more sessions to verify. ASIAir has been more of a problem than the AVX. Next step is to add guiding and I’m going to use a Celestron OAG and ASI174MM Mini. I’ve only got a Nikon D5100 for DSO, but purchased a ASI585MC for planets but I’ve taken a few shots with it objects like M27, M33. I’ll stick with the AVX until I out grow it and it proves unable to handle more complex projects. I’m retired so I’ve got the time to tinker. Thanks for the review.

Hi James, I am so pleased to see this post. As I watched it I thought am I seeing myself here? I took up the hobby about 3 years ago and the AVX was the first EQ mount I purchased along with a Sharpstar 76EDPH scope and have had exactly the same experience as you and basically arrived at the same conclusions as you do, for the same reasons. I now use an AM5 and ASIAIR Plus for deep sky imaging (2 actually). I am keeping the AVX for Lunar and planetary Congratulations on a very thoughtful contribution

In total agreement. A lot of hair pulling with this one. I almost quit the hobby a few times because of it. The EQ6R has been terrific.

Thanks for the post I really appreciate the verification of what I have experienced. My AVX has been okay but I agree that it is subject to odd wanderings once and a while. It does take a long time to recover from dithers and at least 15 minutes after a Meridian Flip. All that said I love it, I have learned a ton using it and I gotten some very good results in spite of it's quirks. I am ready to spend some more $$$ on a better mount to host my C8 and my AT72EDII will continue to ride on the AVX.

Tysm, you’ve saved months of frustration, was about to get one!

Got mine in 2014. Had multiple issues and sent to Celestron three times. One of the most frustrating pieces of equipment I have ever owned. Threw it in a closet and replaced it with an EQ6R-Pro and added a ZWO AM5. This was the best move I ever made.

Good honest review James! Still some decent images there! As you said, my HEQ5 is consistant and no trouble! And as you also know, the EQ6 is very good, staright out of the box, ive been getting 0.3 - 0.4 guiding! This mount may be better for visual, although I'm sure some have had good results! Clear skies!

I gave up on mine. Keeping it for planetary and moon but bought AM5. After 2 dismantles and addition of an extra bearing (see Jason Burn's excellent video AVX build tutorial) still poor guiding. On the plus side I am now more than comfortable with the ins and outs of guiding thanks to much reading and adjusting every setting on ASIair for the AVX. The AM5 just does it and when time is precious with few opportunities for imaging I feel it was worth the expense.

Interesting review James I gave away an AVX & the new owner tinkered with it for hours but never managed to get it to work properly, the handset control setting up & used for visual it's a great mount but other than that for astrophotography it was poor. The old CGE pro I have in the observatory was Celestron's flagship mount & while mechanically it's pretty good the electronics have always failed on these. Mine was dead when I got it with the RASA & I nearly threw it as it just got in the way but after fitting the ONstep kit it's totally transformed the mount. Although if I could have afforded an EQ8 that would be in the observatory.

It’s a shame that’s the mount has had so many frustrations, but despite those, you have managed to produce some stunning images with it. It’s a good review video for anyone contemplating buying that mount for astrophotography.

I bought my AVX as a package with the C8 in December of 2022 along with the Hyperstar 8, 533MC Pro and the ASIair Plus and EAF. Back then the AM5 was making its debut. So far I have been pleased with the AVX. I just started guiding with the Askar guide scope and ASI 174 mm. My guiding has improved and I find that if I have a good Polar alignment and the rig is balanced that the guiding is more consistent although I have noticed that the RMS is not consistent. My next step is to move the image train to the back with an OAG and SCT reducer. Once I master that I will look at upgrading my mount to an AM5 or 3. I figure that when ZWO comes with revised models of the AM series the AM3 and AM5 will go down in price.

great mount for the price! I bought mine in 2015 and still have and use it. Learned how to do a little maintanence on it and works just as good as it did when I bought it and maybe a little better.

thanks for this. I am just setting out in astrophotography and I'm still in two minds. It is very frustrating I agree but then it has forced me to make the effort to spend hours on the internet and reading learning how to hopefully rectify it's shortcomings. Clear nights are few and far between here so I do forget some of what I've learned or my enthusiasm wanes between opportunities. At the moment I am still at the stage of trying different settings (I use ASIair rather than PHD2) and just recently learnt that AVX requires short exposure times for guiding. Although I promised myself and my wife I wasn't going to continue to throw money at the problem (ie buy an AM3) if I am happy I can do no more tinkering with the mount (already dismantled, re greased and adjusted gears) then I just might.

yup my AS-GT does all of that ... sometimes resetting is the only option I found that after a consistent tune-up it became flawless for about a quarter of the sky... I'm consistently getting 0.4 RMS for about three hours with 0.5 secs guiding which is why I haven't sold it yet... and I'm using that quarter of the sky (no obstructions ) I have my C11 up on it at the moment for planetary work and it handles it ok ... as far as using a C11 on it for long exposure... not without a further 2k investment in the hyperstar... oh ... focusing the C11 is frustrating on the AS-GT mount... every 3-4 minutes it does go into a spike but I only take 60-90 secs exposures ... Bortle 8-9 here ... 17.9 sqm my 115/800 triplet likes it ... my Samyang 135 loves it I have no choice but to like it for now 😂 ... I'd rather have the AM5 too 😅

My AVX lasted about 5 months and then lost a DEC motor. Replaced with a CGEM II which was a bit better and now an AM5 for my small rig and a CGX-L for my C8. Like you said it just fades away and just works.

My first mount. Actually, my first Astro equipment. I sold every originally bought equipment, but not this one. I totally changed mechanics of mount as Jason Burns showed in RU-vid video. It cannot compete with my current mount (10 um), but it blown away IOptron CEM70 and EQ5, which are long gone. Bottom line, superb mount if properly tuned.

I’ve had a CGX for about three years now and have had the same experience of inconsistent guiding. I wish I would have went with an EQ6. I will be replacing it eventually.

I get great dso images with my Avx. Handles my c8 just fine.

I got mine 4-5 years ago, and being my first and only mount so far, its been a frustrating experience. I am looking forward to having a new mount one day because the AVX just feels like a very dated and compromised product. A good intro...maybe an intro into doing things the hard way so we appreciate the better mounts? The main question I have is, do i sell it, or keep it for planetary or something

I have a totally different experience and do not agree with your conclussions. I have an AVX that I purchased last year (2023). I have an Edge HD 8 mounted on it. I use a HyperStar, an ASI183MM'pro with a filter drawer, an ASAIR Plus 256 GB, an ASI220mm guide camera, the Celestton GPS SkyAlign, along with the PLL Alto and Giotto, and the StarSense. I have had no issues with it tracking. It does a maervelous job. I ran into some of the issues you mentioned, and it was the ASAIR Plus. The problem was that whenever I entered into the ASAIR from my tablet, it was getting the wrong location coordinates, even when I manually entered the correct ones before connecting. Now I enteer frm my phone, which has the right coordinates, and since, it works beautifully and at the end, it parks my mount at the home position. There is a video from Astrobender on the process to get it right with ASAIR, and he is gott it right. When I use it with the Eagle5 and using NINA and CPI, I use the StarSense Autoguider and have zero issues. It guides and moves smoothly. I take exposures anywhere from 30 to 120 seconds long, depending on the target, and rarely have to discard shots (most of the time, it is because shooting stars or the police chopper just getting in the way). Lastly, you can set RA limits in the mount via the hand controller or via CPWI.

I can get 10 minute exposures with the AVX and an 80mm refractor with no real issues using the ASIair plus. Such an easy mount to use!

I dont know why this mount is being Mostly hated in the comments. I havent used it yet and bought mines in august. I have tested it and Everything Works just fine and Hopefully I get good images with it. I will always be careful with it and Will do everything possible to prevent issues.