Telescope Mounts

While a little lighter than most competing mounts in its class, the iOptron GEM28 boasts an excellent set of features and remains quite portable.

The iOptron CEM26 is a compact and lightweight equatorial mount designed primarily with astrophotography in mind and features a number of unique features that make it a pretty good buy.

The Sky-Watcher Star Adventurer GTi is one of the most advanced small equatorial mounts/star trackers in the market, offering features and capabilities that make it an attractive option for beginners and experienced astrophotographers alike.

The iOptron SkyGuider Pro is a compact and portable equatorial mount designed for wide-field astrophotography with lightweight cameras and lenses. It is one of the most popular star trackers on the market, offering a range of features and capabilities that make it an attractive option for beginners and experienced astrophotographers alike.

The iOptron AZ Mount Pro is a versatile and user-friendly alt-azimuth mount that can be used for both visual observation and some astrophotography with a variety of telescopes without the need for counterweights or balancing.

The Losmandy GM8 is a top-tier German equatorial mount for smaller and medium scopes - a premium competitor to mounts like the Celestron Advanced VX. However, you might be better served by just getting a bigger mount, such as Losmandy’s own G11, right off the bat.

The Meade LX85 might be worth considering if it were priced half-off, but as it is, it is hundreds of dollars more expensive than its competitors, all for a relatively mediocre mount.

The Sky-Watcher AZ-EQ5i mirrors the features found in its larger counterpart, the AZ-EQ6i, but in a more compact and easily portable package, ideal for lightweight visual and imaging payloads.

The Sky-Watcher AZ-EQ6i further improves on the excellent EQ6Ri Pro with the addition of built-in FreedomFind encoders and an alt-azimuth mode for even more versatile uses and telescope payload options.

In the realm of alt-azimuth mounts, the AZ-GTi confidently stakes its claim as one of the most capable and cost-effective currently available, particularly when considering one equipped with GoTo and tracking functionality.

The Explore Scientific Twilight I mount is an excellent manual mount for smaller telescopes and is a huge improvement over a photo tripod head or the partly-plastic alt-azimuth mounts supplied with many cheaper scopes.

The Orion Atlas EQ-G is one of the best equatorial mounts for imaging or carrying heavy telescopes for visual observation out there - though it isn’t quite as jam-packed with features as newer offerings.

The Sky-Watcher EQM-35i is a great entry-level astrophotography mount, though you’ll quickly outgrow it if you enjoy the hobby.

The Celestron CG-4 is an excellent manual equatorial mount for those who might benefit from using one, such as owners of smaller refractor or Maksutov-Cassegrain telescopes.

The Celestron Advanced VX is a versatile mount that sounds great on paper and is ideal for visual use and planetary imaging, but has limitations for deep-sky astrophotography compared to better-designed mounts from other brands.

The Celestron CGX is an excellent quality heavy-duty mount for visual observation and astrophotography use.

The Sky-Watcher HEQ5i Pro Mount is a well-made machine that can serve you for quite a while.