Sky-Watcher Sky-Watcher AZ-GTI – Portable Computerized GoTo Alt-Az Mount for On-The-Go Astronomy – WiFi Enabled App Controlled – Time-Lapse and Panorama Photography Capable (S21110)

Originally bought this mount to make visual astronomy easier. It works well with its' app; it connects to a smartphone or tablet via its' built in WiFi hotspot, and you can point it at a lot of objects in the sky. As long as you do your part to make sure it's correctly leveled (it comes with built-in bubble levels to help with this,) and aimed north (just get a compass app and make sure the telescope is pointed north when the mount is powered on,) this mount will track and point very accurately. It comes with a port for a hand controller, which you can plug in a USB converter cable and control it with the scope control program of your choice. It can run off of AA batteries, and battery life seems to be quite good. Best of all, if you mount a DSLR capable of shooting lots of 20-30 second exposure, you basically get a smart telescope! I tried that by shooting the Pleiades while there was a moon out; and the results speak for themselves.

For its size and weight, this mount does a very good job with my 127 Maksutov, which is at the upper end of its weight-bearing capacity. I find the tracking to be a big help visually. For photography, you would want to do a very careful alignment and keep exposures short, because I doubt it's smooth and accurate enough for serious work. You cannot leave the mount tracking for long periods and expect an object to stay centered, but it usually gets within 1° when finding targets. There are clicking noises in certain orientations that probably mean there's some internal slop in the gearing, but overall I don't find the noise from mine objectionable. High-speed slewing is naturally noisier than fine adjustment. The iOS application works, but has a few limitations. It insists on remembering the previous alignment, even when you are trying to set a new one, which sometimes requires the "reset alignment" utility function and quitting the app. I had to update the mount firmware immediately, in order to fix bugs, but also to mount my scope on the right side (it defaults to the left). Skywatcher support was helpful in finding the right version. I have not had disconnection problems since the update. I think a mobile app has some advantages over a hand controller when searching for objects by their common name, providing information, and for portability. You'll want a battery that can keep your phone or tablet display on continuously, because constantly unlocking your phone to make an adjustment or pick a new target gets annoying. (You may want to purchase a power bank and/or AC adapter in preference to the internal AA batteries, which can also recharge your phone/tablet.) Now that there's an equatorial mode in the app, it would be nice if there were a matching EQ wedge/base, but most people seem to use the Star Adventurer Latitude base. I've heard of people using this mount with a C6 tube, but I think that's overloading it. It's ideal for a 72–90mm short-tube refractor, or the 100 and 127mm Maksutovs. I think some very light 102mm refractors and the C5 will work, too. I'm curious about adding a counterweight shaft (which is needed for EQ mode) since it's not clear what the weight limits are with one attached. I will probably also add a camera adapter to try some wide-field astrophotography. Overall, it's easy to recommend this mount at it's normal price (below 400) so long as you are patient with the app and aren't expecting it to replace a german equatorial or massive fork mount. I think it hits a sweet spot for amateurs who want more than a toy while keeping their investment modest, and portable enough to take along without thinking twice.

Amazing piece of kit - has opened many doors in my astrophotography capabilities. I thought it was easy to set up, is a quick grab-and-go piece of equipment I can just put into my Jeep with everything else when I go out in the wilderness. I love that I can attach a stand-alone telescope or even my DSLR to it. It's portable, great quality and stability, and the firmware update to add EQ mode is a great benefit!

I picked this up as a light go-to mount to track space objects, for nights when I don't want to drag out the other heavy equipment I have. Most times, I put it out with a small telescope on it, use the phone app, align to three stars, and tell it what object I want to look at for the night. With it being battery powered and on my wifi, I can go from wanting to look at planets or deep space objects to having it set up and able to find anything in less than five minutes. If you want to use it for EAA (electronically assisted astronomy), you can use it as is because the rotation doesn't matter with the shorter exposures and the live stacking adjusts well. If you want to use it for full on astrophotography, you can easily get a wedge and polar align it like the other mounts and it works just as well. Out of the box, the tracking is pretty accurate, but if you want it even tighter, it does work with PHD. The only downside at all is that it doesn't have much of a max load, but that's to be expected with a small go-to mount. I have been able to successfully track on a wedge, holding my mirrorless with a 135mm lens and the stars all come out round without any streaks. Another thing that isn't a big deal but needs to be noted: if you get the eq wedge for this, there isn't an easy way to mount a polar scope to it so getting it polar aligned is a little trickier than for other mounts. This is great for users who want a more accurate goto mount for visual astronomy than the ones that come with the cheaper telescopes or more experienced astronomy/astrophotography users who just want something lighter to travel with or need to set up quickly. Battery life is great, along with connections with phones/tablets and the wifi.

This a good, sturdy AltAz GoTo mount but without the optional hand controller, it is so-so. The problem I had both with iPhone8 and Samsung Galaxy S6 was the frequent disconnection from the builtin WiFi. I am using this Mount with the Sky-Max 127mm Mak-Cass telescope which comes with a 2-inch diagonal and a 2 inch 28mm eyepiece which is fairly heavy but still below the 11-pound max rating for the mount. It is hard to get the Sky-Watcher hand controller for this mount anymore but it is a SynScan and I bought the Orion SynScan V5 Computerized GoTo Hand Controller for Altaz. It works well with the mount.

This mount has done wonders for my planetary and lunar images even though it is only AZ. With an easy 2 star north alignment this scope does well to track objects across the sky. I’ve have had it be off a little when going to an object but after centering the object it’ll keep it there. Probably user error when off. While tracking comet C/2020 NEOWISE i was able to take 5sec exposures with my phone without blurring. Even my Jupiter images have improved. The SynScan app can be finicky and crashes sometimes. I’m not sure of that is due to me switching back and forth to it while I image with my phone. I’ve paired this mount with an Evostar 80ED and an ES 127 mak and it has performed admirably with both while having a iPhone 11 Pro and NeXYZ adapter attached. Just make sure you compensate for weight/balance. It’s a lightweight mount but definitely handles what it says it will. I may try to attach it to a heavier tripod. I’ll attach images taken while using this mount. Jupiter with a 3x barlow, ZWO asi120mc-s and NEOWISE with an iPhone 11 Pro through an Evostar 80ED and 25mm ep Edit 7/21/20: I do have a gripe with the leg locks. I do not like the twist locks and would rather have T bolts like on other tripods I own. Also one of my legs is loose and twists freely in its mount. This is especially annoying when tightening or loosening the twist locks

This mount as accompanied my 90mm achromat (my 6” newt also performed well on it) on virtually every trip I’ve taken, its ease of use is unparalleled at this price point. Once you’ve done a proper alignment, the go to system works without issue. The tripod is strong and stable yet lightweight. My only complaint is the design of the battery compartment. I wish the plastic material was a little more resistant as I feel a drop could break it and render it unusable

Very happy with the mount. So lightweight and easy to carry and setup. I use it mostly for tracking a small solar scope but also an 80mm and have even dual mounted with 5” Mak and it keeps going with good accuracy. I bought a cheap tiny Android cellphone and use it as the remote. No regrets.