How much can the Celestron CGX carry?

Celestron rates the CGX for 25 kg (55 lb) of instrument, not counting the counterweights. It is a German equatorial, so it never runs without them.

How heavy is the CGX to set up?

The head is 20 kg and the steel tripod 8.7 kg. With the two 5 kg counterweights the whole kit comes to 38.6 kg.

At a similar price the CGX takes a little more, 25 kg against the AM5N's 20 kg with a counterweight, but the legs of the CGX alone weigh more than the whole AM5N, and the AM5N's strain-wave drive has zero backlash.

Can the CGX be guided and run remotely?

Yes: it has an autoguide port, USB, two AUX ports, internal cabling and home and limit sensors, and Celestron offers WiFi and StarSense as options.

What comes in the box?

The CGX head, the steel tripod, an accessory tray, two 5 kg (11 lb) counterweights, the NexStar+ hand control and holster, an 8 mm Allen wrench and a 12 V DC power cable.

Where can I buy the Celestron CGX?

The prices I recorded: £2,469 at First Light Optics (UK), in stock; $2,699 at Agena Astro (US), in stock; $2,699 at Celestron (Global), out of stock.

Celestron CGX review: 25 kg payload, 38.6 kg to carry

Where does it rank on our leaderboard

Nine of the 18 mounts on my board, against price
Rank	Mount	Stars for Your Buck	Recorded UK price
1	TeSeek NanoTracker	100 out of 100	£52
2	ClearSky ST25	94 out of 100	£1,259
3	TeSeek 11	93 out of 100	£252
8	ZWO AM5N	71 out of 100	£2,099
9	ZWO AM5	58 out of 100	£2,099
15	Celestron CGX	38 out of 100	£2,469
16	ZWO AM3	34 out of 100	£1,599
17	Sky-Watcher GTi Mount	33 out of 100	£435
18	Celestron CG5	24 out of 100	£299

Contents

01 Where does it rank on our leaderboard
02 Specifications and features
03 In the hand
04 From the review video
05 What would you put on it?
06 What is it for? In my words
07 Watch the review
08 Should you buy it?
09 Questions and more about this review

In 30 seconds

Stars for Your Buck 38/100

Reviewed 31 Dec 2023 Updated 24 Sep 2026

Rank: #15 of 18 mounts
Verdict: With reservations

Written by Damon Scotting 5 min read

Buy it if

You need one mount to carry a big tube, up to 25 kg, such as an 11-inch SCT.
Your mount lives in one place, so its weight only has to be lifted once.
You want a traditional German equatorial with a NexStar+ handset, USB and an autoguide port.

Skip it if

You carry your rig out every night or travel with it: the whole kit weighs 38.6 kg.
You want strain-wave tracking with no backlash for the same money.
You would rather not handle two 5 kg counterweights.

“The CGX can take payloads up to 25 kg, which is slightly more than the AM5N, but here's the obvious elephant in the room: the legs of the CGX alone weigh more than the entirety of the AM5N.”

Specifications and features

Against the mounts I have reviewed

Compare with

Celestron CGX reviewed #15 of 18	ClearSky ST25 #2 of 18	ZWO AM5N #8 of 18	ZWO AM7 #10 of 18	MLAstro SAL-33 #4 of 18	JUWEI-17 #7 of 18
Recorded UK price	£2,469	£1,259	£2,099	£2,599	£937	£669
Stars for Your Buck	38/100	94/100	71/100	58/100	91/100	85/100
Average guiding RMS	Unknown	0.66 arcsec	0.99 and 1.10 arcsec	0.85 arcsec	0.7 to 0.8 arcsec	0.40 to 0.61 arcsec on M 31, 1.52 to 1.57 on M 45
Type	German equatorial, DC servo motors	Harmonic drive	Harmonic drive	Harmonic drive	Harmonic drive	Harmonic drive
No-counterweight payload	None: it needs counterweights	20 kg	15 kg	20 kg	15 kg	13 kg
Counterweight payload	25 kg (55 lb)	30 kg	20 kg	30 kg	20 kg	18 kg
Mount weight	20 kg head; 38.6 kg kit	8.5 kg	5.5 kg	6.75 kg head	5.3 kg	5.15 kg head
Periodic error	not recorded	not recorded	Under 10 arcsec	±10 arcsec	not recorded	Approximately 25 arcsec peak-to-peak in one owner's unguided, drift-corrected RA test; not a factory limit
Gearing	Belt drive; spring-loaded brass worm wheel, stainless steel worm; PEC	Harmonic reducers with timing belts, 300:1 on both axes	Strain-wave, zero backlash	Harmonic drive and synchronous belt, 300:1	Low periodic error 17:100 harmonic drives on both axes	Two size-17 harmonic reducers, 400:1
Control	NexStar+ hand control, 40,000+ objects; USB, 2 AUX, autoguide port	OnStep over USB, Bluetooth, WiFi or ST-4; works with the ASIAIR	ZWO app over Wi-Fi and Bluetooth, USB, ASIAIR; hand controller in the box	ZWO app over Wi-Fi and Bluetooth, USB, ASIAIR; handset in the box	OnStep X	OnStep
Power	12 V DC, 4 A	12 to 15 V, 2 to 5 A in; four 12 V 3 A DC outlets and four USB ports on the saddle	12 V DC, 3 A minimum (5 A recommended); DC out and USB-C on the saddle	12 V DC, 5 A minimum, supply not included; DC and USB-C on the saddle	12 V DC, 3 A minimum, 5 A recommended	12 V DC; no power output port
Tripod or pier	Steel tripod, 2 in (50.8 mm) legs, 1,200 to 1,969 mm, 8.7 kg	3/8 inch, M6 or TC40 connection	Not included; ZWO's TC40 carbon fibre tripod is sold with it as a set	Not included; ZWO's TC40 carbon fibre tripod is sold with it as a set	3/8 inch thread and three M6 holes, as the ZWO AM5	GEM4 base; 125 mm diameter; 12 mm centre column
In the box	Head, tripod, accessory tray, two 5 kg counterweights, NexStar+ hand control and holster, Allen wrench, 12 V cable	Mount, polar camera sticker, 1 m DC power cable, USB-C data cable, storage bag, manual	Head, hand controller with 2 m cable, travel case, 2 m USB-B and 1 m USB-C cables, performance sheet, quick guide, M6 Allen key; no counterweight bar	Head, foam carry case, handset with 2 m cable, 2 m USB-B and 1 m USB-C cables, counterweight bar (25 x 250 mm), periodic error test report, quick start guide, M6 hex key	The mount head only; no power supply	Head, data cable, counterweight bar, adjustment column, Allen key; no counterweight

In the hand

Six frames from my videos

The head and its ports

The head from the side

The base on the tripod

Under the stars

On its steel tripod

The steel legs and tray

From the review video

Three frames from my videos

Beside the CGX

The verdict

Against the AM5N

What would you put on it?

The CGX's 25 kg rating with counterweight under a rig you can change part by part, then the same rig on six other mounts

What is it for? In my words

Two things it is for

Fine polar alignment

There are a lot of fine-tune settings on the CGX: I can adjust the polar alignment much more easily with these knobs.

Head to tripod

The head goes on with three separate screws that mount into the tripod itself, and then I tighten it up with an Allen key.

Watch the review

Celestron CGX Mount Review! · published 31 December 2023 · 8:23 · Watch on YouTube · 10,070 views, 442 likes on 2 Oct 2026

Jump to

3:05 Fine polar alignment knobs
3:30 Cables that snag
5:30 The steel legs
6:41 Bolting the head to the tripod
7:05 Judging the stars in the images

Check out more videos on the Celestron CGX

Why it is BETTER than most Mounts? | AM5N Review.

7 Nov 2024

Should you buy it?

38/100 Stars for Your Buck

Pros

“At a similar price to the AM5N, it is capable of many of the same things.”
Internal cabling: the power input and accessory ports stay still while the mount slews, so nothing snags.
A belt drive to a spring-loaded brass worm wheel and stainless steel worm, with periodic error correction.
USB, two AUX ports and an autoguide port, with home and limit sensors for running it remotely.
A dual saddle that takes both CG-5 and CGE dovetail plates.

Cons

“Don't forget the addition of multiple essential 5 kg counterweights.”
The legs and the counterweights all come out before the head, the actually important part.
A conventional worm-gear equatorial on DC servo motors: strain-wave mounts such as the AM5N have zero backlash.

By the end of it the CGX weighs a total of 38.6 kg, which means if you wanted to travel with it you'd need two suitcases to safely package it within the airline's guidelines.

Who the CGX is for

Observatory owner with a big SCT

Buy

It carries 25 kg on a steel tripod, and in a fixed setup its weight is lifted once.

Celestron owner with CGE or CG-5 dovetails

Buy

The dual saddle takes both dovetail plates, so a big Celestron tube drops straight on.

Travelling imager

Skip

The kit is 38.6 kg before the telescope; my recommendation is the ZWO AM5N, 20 kg with a counterweight from a 5.5 kg head.

Garden imager who sets up every night

Skip

A 20 kg head, 8.7 kg of legs and two 5 kg counterweights go out and come back in each time; my recommendation is the TeSeek 17 or the JUWEI-17.

Imager chasing the tightest guiding

Skip

My recommendation is the ClearSky ST25: 20 kg without a counterweight and the best average in my guiding showdown.

First mount on a budget

Skip

My recommendation is the TeSeek 11 for a small refractor, or the JUWEI-14 for up to 8 kg without a counterweight.

Three alternatives I have reviewed

Questions and more about this review

Reviewed by

Damon Scotting

The Telescope Man Verified

BSc (Hons) Physics with Astrophysics and Cosmology, Loughborough University PGCE / QTS, University of Nottingham

About Damon About Damon Damon Scotting is The Telescope Man. He holds a BSc (Hons) in Physics with Astrophysics and Cosmology from Loughborough University and a PGCE with QTS from the University of Nottingham, and taught physics in secondary schools before becoming an astronomy creator. He is a contributing writer for BBC Sky at Night Magazine and the author of 42 Wonders of Our Night Sky, and his photograph of the galaxy M100 with the dwarf planet Ceres was Highly Commended in the Astronomy Photographer of the Year 2024 competition run by Royal Observatory Greenwich. He has appeared on the BBC's Blue Peter. More than 750,000 people follow his astronomy channels on YouTube, Instagram and TikTok, and he has reviewed more than 140 telescopes, mounts, cameras, filters and accessories hands-on for this site. More about Damon · How I test · Damon's book

I review all kinds of gear: most of it I buy, some is gifted and some is loaned, and all of it is reviewed the same way. How this site is funded

Six questions, answered

Questions about the Celestron CGX

Reviewed 31 December 2023 ·Updated 24 September 2026

I review all kinds of gear. Most of it I buy, some is gifted and some is loaned, and all of it is reviewed the same way: no company sees or approves a review before it is published. Some shop links are affiliate links: I earn a commission when you buy through them, at no extra cost to you. How this site is funded

How much can the Celestron CGX carry? Celestron rates the CGX for 25 kg (55 lb) of instrument, not counting the counterweights. It is a German equatorial, so it never runs without them. The specifications and the comparison table ↓
How heavy is the CGX to set up? The head is 20 kg and the steel tripod 8.7 kg. With the two 5 kg counterweights the whole kit comes to 38.6 kg. The specifications and the comparison table ↓
CGX or ZWO AM5N? At a similar price the CGX takes a little more, 25 kg against the AM5N's 20 kg with a counterweight, but the legs of the CGX alone weigh more than the whole AM5N, and the AM5N's strain-wave drive has zero backlash. The specifications and the comparison table ↓
Can the CGX be guided and run remotely? Yes: it has an autoguide port, USB, two AUX ports, internal cabling and home and limit sensors, and Celestron offers WiFi and StarSense as options. In the hand ↓
What comes in the box? The CGX head, the steel tripod, an accessory tray, two 5 kg (11 lb) counterweights, the NexStar+ hand control and holster, an 8 mm Allen wrench and a 12 V DC power cable. The specifications and the comparison table ↓
Where can I buy the Celestron CGX? The prices I recorded: £2,469 at First Light Optics (UK), in stock; $2,699 at Agena Astro (US), in stock; $2,699 at Celestron (Global), out of stock. A record, not a live price The verdict, the readers and the sellers ↓