TheSkySearchers

Hello All,
I am interested in these mounts. Surprisingly there is not alot of info about them. I see in the members profiles some have these mounts. The draw for me is of course the Starbook Ten controller it appears well thought out. I have heard some say mostly on CN that the SB 10 is now outdated tech in with respect to ASI air, eagle and the like.

However, when you add up the cost of say a HEQ5 , and ASI air, guider you are not far off the price of a Vixen mount. I would be interested in the current owners perspective. Is the SB 10 still worth the price, would you buy the mount again? Why are Vixen mounts not more popular in North America, they certainly seem top notch to my eyes.

Thanks
Mike

Hi Mike!

Fellow co-admin Lady Fraktor (Gabrielle) is a huge fan of these mounts. She has spoken quite highly of these to me. Hopefully, she will be online soon and can offer some useful advice for you.

Hello Mike, I have had my SXP with SB10 for about 3 years now, it replaced the Celestron AS-GT that I used for years.
Personally I love the system, it is feature rich and once you have spent some time using it you will wonder why you used the primitive offerings of other companies.

Vixen has been quite good about keeping the mounts updated and I have had no issues with mine so far, out of the box it has worked perfectly.
I regularly use it with a 13.6kg refractor and it handles it very well.
If you can afford the difference I would go with the SXP2, more bearings and belt drive.
I would have purchased the SXP2 myself but it was released 6 months after I purchased my SXP.

Some of the reasons for them not being as popular in North America is that years ago they could not be serviced in NA and everything had to be shipped back to Japan to be serviced.
The Sphinx mount with the original Starbook (some) had a issue with it jumping occasionally on one axis which could ruin the image but did not affect visual at all.
Vixen did not correct this and NA online forums (one in particular) seemed to go out of their way to degrade Vixen products entirely.

Vixen offered the first commercially available goto system in 2000 which was more or less copied by others and has changed little since 2004 so I really do not understand why they would call the SB10 outdated when they are using Synta/ JOC based electronics from almost 2 decades ago.
I am not seeing built in viewable/ expandable star charts in their hand controls....

The new mounts have no issues like this and there is NA support for the products now.
I am currently saving for a new retirement/ forever package and it will likely be a AXJ or a AXD2.

If you go on that other site into the mount section, type Vixen SXP into the forum search bar (top right corner) and it will bring up some reviews and discussion of the Vixen mount.
I have commented in a few of those (Gabby76) as well as the refractor forum about my Vixen ED115s.

If you have any other questions feel free to PM me so I do not miss your posting.

Gabrielle

Thanks so much for all of the information re: the vixen mounts. I agree the SB 10 is a very advanced unit which appears to me to make star hoping so easy. I like the SXP2 and the difference is about $1000 CDN. However, having said all of the that my local vendor has made me an offer on a SW EQAZ6 which is about half the coast of the SXP2. The synscan handset is not in the same league as the SB10, but the idea of having a mount that could hold both my scopes at the same time and that I could use in ALT/AZ is very appealing.

I would like to start my AP journey with EAA/Video Astronomy and taking 15 to 30 sec subs in ALT/AZ seems very appealing to me. Tonight is the first clear night we have had in Ontario in a long time. I am currently imaging M45 on my Ioptron Skyguider Pro and my Pentax K1 mkii with a 135mm f4 lens.

Mike

I've just ordered an SXD2 after much deliberation (and waiting for stock)

I was tempted by the SXP2 but the SXD2 better suits my game plan.

I travel to dark sites so the lighter weight is a plus, at the focal lengths and image scales I use I doubt if there is any appreciable difference (guided, ZWO 533MC, longest focal length 500mm), and should do me for the foreseeable future. I'm happy with the Vixen clamp head so no issues there.

Now just waiting for UPS..

And after 15 days voila. It arrived. The U in UPS stands for Useless, I'm sure.

First impressions, well made, smooth RA and Dec, counterbalance only needs small weights due to the offset head, SB10 is intuitive, a good interface and fun.

I think I'm going to enjoy this mount..

I love my Vixen and if/ when I purchase another it will also be a Vixen.
They are so much better than the regular Chinese built mounts.

By the way, Motto Guzzi are nice motocycles

You have excellent taste, Madam

Well I do have a couple of Ducati

Nice bikes, and I liked working on them..

I gathered you are a motorcyclist from the ankle shot

Couple of mine.. should have kept the 900FE

Very nice, I have a stock 2020 821 Stealth (the sunday cruiser), a modified 2019 821 Monster that I race and a 2022 Panigale V4s on loan.
The Monster series has been a favourite as a all-rounder.

At work currently so no images at the moment but have posted a few on forum in the past.