Vixen SXP2 Equatorial Mount Telescope Mount with Star Book Ten

The summit of the SX series of equatorial mounts, with excellent accuracy, high rigidity and quick response.

The summit of the SX series of equatorial mounts has been redesigned for increased performance.

• Enhanced rigid euqatorial mount body.

  

  A pair of ball bearings used for bearing stands of the R.A. axis of the SXP has changed to larger tapered bearings to increase strength. A distance between the bearing stands is widen to have the loading capacity increased. A wall thickness of the R.A. body housing is increased. The R.A. body is caught tightly in fork arms of the same that are used for the upper-class AXJ equatorial mount. This ensures lightweight but strong enough to hold the equatorial body.

• Accurate Celestial Tracking with P-PEC Function

  The SXP2 equatorial mount comes equipped with the STAR BOOK TEN controller, which offers a wide range of advanced functions. One of the most significant features for astrophotography is P-PEC (Permanent Periodic Error Correction).

  PEC (Periodic Error Correction) is a system that compensates for the small, repeating tracking errors that naturally occur in gear-driven mounts due to imperfections in the gears. These periodic errors can affect long-exposure astrophotography by causing stars to drift or blur.

  The P-PEC function in STAR BOOK TEN is an enhanced version of PEC. It not only corrects these errors electronically, but also retains your correction data even after the mount is powered off. This means you don’t have to retrain the system each time you use it — accurate tracking is available right away.

  
  

• The belt drive system achieves minimum backlash and noiselessness.

  

  In traditional equatorial mount designs, the motor’s power is transmitted to the worm gears through a series of gear trains. These gears require a small amount of play (or "backlash") to function properly — and as more gears are added, both backlash and mechanical noise tend to increase.

  To solve this, the SXP2 mount replaces the conventional gear-based transmission with a belt drive system. This significantly reduces both backlash and gear noise, resulting in smoother, quieter operation. Additionally, the belt drive allows for faster and more responsive movements, improving both tracking accuracy and slewing performance.

• 16 pieces of bearings.

  The SXP2 equatorial mount features a total of 16 high-quality bearings installed throughout key mechanical components, including the right ascension (R.A.) axis, declination (DEC) axis, and worm gears. This configuration ensures exceptionally smooth, precise movement with minimal friction or mechanical stress.

• Adoption of fork arms to hold the main body.

  

  The SXP2 mount uses the same robust fork arms found on Vixen’s higher-end AXJ equatorial mount. These heavy-duty arms provide strong support for the main body, resulting in excellent overall stability during operation.

• Simple polar alignment scope.

  

  The SXP2 mount features a built-in polar alignment scope that allows you to align the mount precisely with the North Celestial Pole (N.C.P.) or South Celestial Pole (S.C.P.) using simple manual adjustments.

  The scope includes engraved scales and a reticle that display the positions of stars near the celestial poles. In the Northern Hemisphere, accurate alignment — within approximately 3 arc minutes — can be easily achieved by aligning Polaris and two reference stars to their designated positions on the reticle.

  For added convenience, the reticle is illuminated with a red LED, making it easy to see the alignment stars against a dark background. The illumination is activated with the push of a button and features 8 adjustable brightness levels to suit your preference.

  To conserve power and protect your night vision, the red light automatically dims and shuts off after 1–2 minutes of inactivity.

  This system allows for quick, accurate polar alignment without leaving the eyepiece, even in dark observing conditions.

• The mount head available for a variety of optical tubes and accessories.

  

  The mount head has a 35mm diameter platform with eight M8 threaded holes spaced at 45-degree intervals. This design allows for flexible attachment of various components.

  You can mount an optional accessory plate directly, or use it in combination with a dovetail-plate mounting block. The threaded holes are also compatible with tube plates from other manufacturers, offering broad versatility for different optical setups.

• Comfortable operation using the STAR BOOK TEN with celestial navigation system.

  

  With the STAR BOOK TEN controller, simply select a celestial object of interest on the screen, and the mount will automatically slew to bring the object into your telescope’s field of view. Once centered, the system will begin continuous tracking to keep the object in view.

  The controller features a bright, 5-inch full-color TFT LCD, which beautifully displays various celestial navigation tools and menus. Its intuitive controls and red backlit buttons make operation easy and comfortable, even in dark observing conditions.

• A fusion of innovative, elegant design and user-friendly operation that are useful to every level of star gazers.

  The marriage of the strong, rigid equatorial mount body with high accurate tracking by P-PEC and the STAR BOOK TEN with versatile fuctions as an excellent interface have created the most user-friendly platform for both visual observation and astrophotography.

• Advanced motor layout for less weight.

  

  The heavy R.A. and DEC motor units are placed in the lower part of the declination body so that the center of balance of the equatorial mount shifts to below the crossing point of the R.A. and DEC axes. This makes the declination body act as a counterweight. Also, the low-profile mount head allows the equatorial mount to balance with less weight.

• Retractable counterweight bar.

  

  The counterweight bar is a durable stainless steel of 20mm thick and it allows for using all the counterweights for the SX series of the equatorial mounts. The counterweight bar is stored inside the declination body. This aids in quick set up.

• Accessory shoe on the R.A. body.

  

  There is an accessory shoe for an optional Polar Meter which is a compass with a bubble level and an altitude scale used for locating Polaris with ease. It allows for simple set up in daytime.

SXP2 Equatorial Mount Specifications