Firstly by SSE I am alluding to the system whereby one affixes their cell phone to a cradle which is either attached to the mount or OTA.

I have several versions of Nexstar Mounts – GT, SLT and SE – and several Starsense Explorer scopes with their mounts.

In trying to find objects in the sky to me there is no comparison. SSE wins hands down. With the Nexstar Mounts you need a power source, the larger mounts are much heavier, and you must align the unit. Sometimes the latter takes several attempts. With SSE you just need to locate one dark object (including a planet which Nexstar does not allow for in their aligning process) and off you go. The only issue is the requirement for a dark sky. But then again this is a Nexstar requirement as well.

SSE is a time saver and truly helps newbies learn about the night skies. Celestron has now expanded the SSE product range, even having it on a 12” dob, really makes it a god-send to people first venturing into astronomy.

I even use a Celestron Sky Prodigy 6 inch SCT on my SSE DX mount.


Goto or pushto? This pushto wins in my mind.