Upgrading the Celestron AVX Mount — Loran Hughes Astrophotography

My Celestron Advanced VX mount is about 4 years old now. It’s been gathering dust in the garage as I moved on to the Celestron CGX a couple of years ago. Since I now have more optical tubes than mounts, I can run two rigs at once this year. It’s time to make some modifications to the AVX.

Saddle Up!

The AVX saddle resembles a medieval torture device. The mounting screws make not-so-nice divots in your optical tube dovetails and it never really feels secure.

Enter ADM Accessories. They make a drop in replacement for the AVX saddle that handles both Vixen and Losmandy style dovetails. ADM provides great instructions and the whole process took about 10 minutes.

Original AVX Saddle on the Left, ADM Saddle on the Right

If you’re more of a visual person, Slyman put together a great video tutorial on installing the ADM saddle.

Can I Level With You?

Another issue with the AVX? It’s damned hard to level. I used to set a small level on the tripod, then turn it every which-way while I adjusted the legs. My CGX has a built-in bubble level that makes the process easy. Fortunately, Starizona sells a 3D printed bubble level for the AVX.

The level comes with double-stick tape and sits on the front of the mount.

Now that my AVX is up to the task, I’ll mate my William Optics GT-81 to it this season. The CGX will have something else going on it. But more on that in my next article.