[Review&QnA] Celestron Wedge with HD Pro for CPC 8/9/11, Black (93664)


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[Review&QnA] Celestron Wedge with HD Pro for CPC 8/9/11, Black (93664)
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About this item
  • Celestron's HD Pro Wedge is designed to support our fork mounted Schmidt Cassegrain Telescopes up to 11"
  • The HD Pro Wedge provides a heavy duty, stable platform that is perfect for astroimaging and s minimal vibration
  • Country of Origin:China
  • Package weight:38.0 lb

Review

Put simply this is quality at its finest. Very heavy duty and will have no difficulty ...
Verified Purchase
Put simply this is quality at its finest. Very heavy duty and will have no difficulty handling a heavy CPC series telescope. I have mine supporting an eleven inch scope with no strain. Rock solid mount with plenty of room to adjust your scope to excellent alignment. It weighs in at about twenty five pounds. I find the added weight the only drawback. Of course if like me you have a son who is a big man and can easily lift the whole tripod/wedge/scope in one shot (125 pounds) All I need to do is watch as he moves it. If you want to get into astrophotography this wedge is absolutely necessary to have the scope track dead on. Get it!!
 
Installing and using the CPC HD Heavy Duty Wedge
Verified Purchase
Received the wedge in great shape two days after order placed. It requires minimal assembly with no problems and is ready for use in about 20 minutes. The wedgle is very well built and engineered to do exactly what it is supposed to do and that is, convert an Alt-Azimuth mounted telescope into a an equatorial mounted scope. The whole idea is to eliminate field rotation when doing long exposure imaging.

The wedge is placed on the tripod head and attached by 3 cap screws and holds it securely. There are two possible orientations on the tripod head during install, one better than the other. The top of the Celestron tripod has a triangular face. You will want to place the wedge with one of the points of the triangle oriented toward the rear of the wedge. In that way, during the install on the tripod, the wedge will NOT fall off prior to inserting the 3 cap screws. The other orientation (with a flat side of the triangle oriented to the back of the wedge) will allow the wedge to fall off the head prior to seating it with the screws.

Putting the C-11 scope on the wedge has different ergonomics than the placement of the scope in alt/azimuth mode, for sure. Initially somewhat difficult, you will quickly develop the right technique to do it and it becomes a non issue.

The adjustments for alignment on the Pole star absolutely solid. Very good!

Performance in equatorial mode is perfect! Love it. My first effort so far was a series of video images of Jupiter. The planet was low in the sky so resolutions were not optimal. In spite of that a series of decent 20 second video clips and a bit of massaging in Registax, yielded some detail. See attached.
The wedgle works great. Fine product, heavy duty and solid, nicely engineered.
 
Heavy, heavy-duty
Verified Purchase
This wedge puts the "heavy" into heavy-duty. The construction is different than the Meade design, but better, in that there are a little more fine adjustments that can be made, and while the scope is set-up. Having the ability to change azimuth while being totally set-up with the scope is a huge plus. This wedge does require a heavy-duty tripod to use. I rigged my Meade tripod to use this wedge by changing the center screw. It can be done for about a $0.50 nut and 10 minutes of time. If you need a wedge, you'll pay for this one, but it'll be a great investment.
 
Celestron quality as usual
Verified Purchase
I purchased this wedge because I believe in the quality of Celestron Telescopes and Accesories. This wedge is a great photographic asset if your a seasoned night sky photographer or beginner "like me" astrophotographer..this wedge is heavy and as the last reviewer said, you had better have a heavy weight tripod to handle it and your scope..I watched videos prior to the delivery and was able to put it together and mount with very little effort and also having a 8" Nexstar on a CPC tripod the weght wasnt an issue trying to mount the optics sideways to the tilted plate..This is a well made product and easy to set the Dec. and RA. seetings, I appreciated the hand-control hooks on each side of the wedge, and the bubble level in the baseplate..It arrived earlier than expected, and as usual, my cudoz to Amazon for a pleasent buying experienc..
 
Excellen
Verified Purchase
buy this accessory for use with a hd cpc 11. but I use it also with the nexstar 8. this is very well made with heavy duty and very easy and fun to use. is very heavy and sturdy.if you are interested in astrophotography it is the best that is in the remarketing. is made for last. is for professional use. is very Presis. placed on the tripod is very easy to useserves as support for remote control of the camera and telescope control. by weight gives stability to the tripod.
 
Product delivered on time and was easy to assemble
Verified Purchase
Product delivered on time and was easy to assemble. This replaces an older Celestron wedge that I have used for 15-years and is a real advancement.
 
This wedge is heavy, really heavy and robust. ...
Verified Purchase
This wedge is heavy, really heavy and robust. I'll not move once you set it up. I have not polar aligned my telescope yet, but I tested it with the complete telescope on it. I only had to adjust it for my latitude!
 
Came triple boxed and in great shape. Allows for easy
Verified Purchase
Large heavy and stable wedge. Came triple boxed and in great shape. Allows for easy adjustment
 
Comments on the Celestron CPC Heavy Duty Wedge 93664
Verified Purchase
Just as ordered. Very good and solid (read heavy as well).

My only comment on setup of this item is that if this is your first time using a wedge take your time. It took me a little bit of time to fully comprehend the assembly and set up steps as the author of the instructions is more technically sophisticated than I. I visualize things a bit differently. A drawn step by step assembly pictorial would have been useful for this "ole boy". In reality, it shouldn't take more than 30 minutes to set up on your tripod.
 
Five Stars
Verified Purchase
Solid piece of equipment... and heavy.
 
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Custom Questions & answers

Question:Will this work/fit an older celestron nexstar gps 11” ?
Answer:Celestron has used the same hole pattern going back pasted the 1980's. So yes there should be no problem. BTW I use it for a CPC 11 edge, EVO 8 HD, NexStar SE and an old C5+.
 
Question:Using this wedge is there anything to change set on the Go-To system? Will it recognize the new angle?
Answer:I was going to say the NexStar Evolution would not work in equatorial mode with the wedge but it does. It just requires a different kind of alignment. Here is from the NexStar manual "When the telescope has been aligned to both stars the display will read Alignment Success . You are now ready to find your first object . Tracking will now occur equatorially, moving in just one direction to keep the object centered in the telescope's field of view without rotating . This tracking is suitable for astroimaging". So it appears to work.
 
Question:Is there a more practical and portable wedge for the celestron next star 6se and maby less expencive?
Answer:There used to be a smaller wedge for the 6SE but I don't know if they still make it. I would check Celestron.com to find out.
 
Question:Is this a worthwhile addition to my cpc 800xlt if i use only a dslr for photography?
Answer:Yes, if you want exposures longer than 45 seconds or so. Most people shoot with DSLRs (I use a venerable Canon T2i myself) Coupled with capture software like Backyard EOS and PixInsight for processing, this wedges makes a fine addition to your setup.
 
Question:Why would you use a wedge when you have a Telescope with a go-to, star following system?
Answer:The wedge is to align the mount with your latitude, so you can do long exposure astrophotography. In an alt-az mount without the wedge and with Go-to, the stars will rotate in your photo.
 
Question:Is it compatible with Nexstar 6SE?
Answer:Celestron sells a lighter model, Celestron EQ Wedge for NexStar 6/8SE Evolution Telescopes, which costs about $100 less than the Celestron EQ HD Wedge.
 
Question:Will the tripod that comes with the Nexstar 8SE be sturdy enought to handle this wedge?
Answer:That should not be a problem. I think the wedge HD works well with 8SE tripod. I ran into an issue Celestron 8 Evolution tripod. The screws on the tripod would not align with the holes on the wedge. But that is solvable by drilling additional holes. The sturdiness of the tripod itself is not an issue. Please look for a discussion I started when I bought this wedge.
 
Question:Is the tripod that comes with the Nexstar 8SE adequate or will there be balance issues?
Answer:This would work but very over kill. You should look at the Celestron Wedge for NexStar Evolution/SE (93665)
I own both and this would be better for your SE. It's built like a tank and much better then the older wedges. The HD wedge is huge and very heavy it could add to much weight to your tripod.
 
Question:Is the celestron wedge compatible with the celestron starsense auto telescope alignment? will it still align automatically?
Answer:Yes. Two different things. Wedge is for equatorial mount and starsense simply helps in autoalignment. Starsense comes with its own hand controller. Set it at Eq mount and it will work like a charm. You cannot use the hand controller that comes with your telescope. Enjoy !!!
 
Question:Will this work on the 8se or 6se telescopes, is it better than the other celestron for 6/8 that has mixed reviews?
Answer:I’m using with a Nexstar 11. I think Celestron has a smaller version for the 6” or 8” that would be a better fit.
 
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