Orion 7827 EQ-2M Electronic Telescope Drive

This clock drive is a simple yet effective addition to the Synta/Orion EQ-2 mount, the entry-level German Equatorial Mount for the budget-conscious amateur astronomer, and the mount that ships with many of Orion's beginner scopes, especially the SpaceProbe 130EQ. The EQ-2 mount is not generally available separately, so the EQ-2M is a somewhat obscure accessory. Designed for this mount, this clock drive is well worth the effort. When using the EQ-2M, just be sure to disengage the motor with the simple clutch mechanism on the mount head before attempting to use the RA knob. Re-engage with a turn of the clutch and a pinch of the motor back onto the flywheel so the gears will mesh and you're ready to go. The EQ-2M clock drive ships with a battery pouch, but if you don't want to use a ton of D-Cells then you'll probably want to get a power tank and a 9-volt DC converter with a multiplug. I use Orion's 17Ah Power Station to run this and another clock drive simultaneously, and it lasts all night.

I got this a few days ago for my Orion Space Probe 130ST telescope. Works perfectly for direct observation or short exposure astrophotography. Easy to assemble and use. I intended to make a timelapse of the upcoming Mercury transit of the Sun and tried doing some with stars to get the hang of it but found a disappointing issue. The motor does not seem to be precise enough. See attached timelapse video showing one hour of tracking the Pleiades constellation. See how it wanders back and forth. At worst I expected some minor creeping due to minor mount misalignment but this more of a periodic variation, not a continuous creep. Tried several adjustments and the results were the same. So, for timelapses or long exposure (more than a couple of minutes) astrophotography it is out of the question. For short exposures, like the maximum 10 seconds my phone camera allows it works perfectly allowing me to get sharp stars and detailed Moon pictures in high magnification. Another thing that Orion could improve is to use a smaller right angle cable for the motor power. At the end of the attached timelapse the telescope tube was beginning to push down on the cable and eventually it would have been completely blocked by the motor. The location of the motor makes pointing to objects high on the sky to the east harder or simply impossible and you need to either look at objects earlier in the night or wait until they go to the west past the meridian. Still I am giving four stars.

Another great product by Orion. Tracks objects perfectly on my AstroView 90mm eq mount. The clutch mechanism is easily engaged and disengaged for manual operation. Easy to install and easy to use. Very happy with this purchase

I bought this as an alternative to the Celestron R/A Single Axis Motor Drive , which wouldn't work for me below 50˚F. The Orion unit is also a single axis motor, but its default sidereal rate is run by microcontroller (so there's no fine adjustment). The hand controller also provides +/- 2x and 8x speeds relative to the base rate for fine R/A control. A handy spring-loaded clutch allows for disengagement of the motor, providing coarse R/A control via the tripod control knob. The unit runs off a 4 D-cell battery pack (shown in the picture in its pleather carrying case). The unit functions as advertised—even at low temperatures—with the target object centered in the field for hours (as long as the tripod-scope system is properly polar aligned). The unit has some hysteresis in the 2x and 8x control—when you center an object by reversing the motor (i.e., -2x and -8x), the return to sidereal rate has a slight lag that results in overshoot of the target; when you approach from the +2x and +8x, there is no such issue. Several reviews have noted that the drive gear can slip. This can be mitigated by keeping the thumb screw on the mount shaft as loose as possible (while still maintaining functionality), and by not disengaging the clutch too slowly. Even when it slips (which mine has on a few occasions), simply reengaging and disengaging the clutch resolves the slip on the first try.

Bought this off Amazon for my Orion 130st. I let the return window expire, so bad on me. I've tried to get this to work reliably for several months. I even brought this along with my mount to the office to have our engineers see if they could find a solution. Other than a rubber band or a wedge, they couldn't come up with one. The design has one major flaw: the motor does not have good contact with the RA gear on the mount. It will run for a minute, sometimes longer, but the drive will start to skip and no longer track reliably. I scoured Google to try and find info that would help, but it just isn't there. There might be a mod or hack that will get this to work, but I shouldn't have to go to all this trouble - the device should work dependably on it's own. I'm very happy with all my other Orion purchases, but in the end I took this off my mount and it will collect dust. Save your money for a scope that has tracking included.

Although this device should be helpful, it is difficult to use in the dark. The engagement release is not secure and must be checked regularly.

Unit was easy to install although instructions were a little to vague. Just be sure to disengage motor before using the manual controls. I used the motor to track Saturn and worked like a champ. Now I understand why people really like this unit vs constantly using the manual guides.

I got this as a replacement for my original orion clock drive (the one with the analog dials to adjust the speed.) So far it's been great as long as I remember to use it properly. Two issues I've run into. First, the gear can slip if you don't make sure they're meshed together and the spring is tight. Second, the way the power cord sticks out can get in the way of your fine tune controls on your mount in certain positions (I kept hitting it when trying to look directly overhead.)

Excelente producto, buen precio. Envío rápido.