The Vixen Sphinx SXD Equatorial Mount is a Japanese-made refinement of a classic equatorial mount, and is a beefed-up version of the regular Sphinx. Big optical tubes with heavy eyepieces and cameras are child's play for the SXD. It is a truly beautiful design which has quickly proven itself to be extremely popular with customers and well-revered by enthusiast sites and commercial publications.
In creating the Sphinx, Vixen decided that the majority of users want equatorial mounts which are motorized and feature "GO TO" intelligence so they spend their time at the eyepiece instead of hunting around with a red flashlight and star map. You can get these capacities by using a Vixen Great Polaris, GP2, or GPD2 mount and adding the Star Book controller for them, but by making a mount from its inception with this in mind Vixen was able to greatly improve it. They put the movement motors inside the declination shaft, so that there's no cables milling about to tangle and also that the weight of the motor itself acts as a counterweight, improving balance. The Sphinx's counterweight shaft collapses in to the body of the mount for transport.
Beyond elegance and ease of transport, the evolutions within Sphinx made the declination shaft considerably shorter, allowing it to be a better tracker than GP2 and also allowing Sphinx to align to the polar axis for Northern Hemisphere observers at latitudes of up to 70° (instead of 62° max. latitude for GP2/GPD2): the Sphinx is a Canadian, Icelandic, and Scandinavian friend indeed.
But the best feature of all is the 4.7" color LCD controller that's only available with Sphinx-series mounts (optional Star Book on GP2/GPD2 is smaller monochrome). STAR BOOK's displayed star map controls the telescope's slewing speed-push a button to 'zoom in' on an area on the star map, and the mount accordingly slows down its movements. Select anything you like on the map and the telescope immediately centers upon that object. The 22,000-object dropdown menu only lists objects available to be viewed at that time you're viewing, eliminating the frustration of other systems that don't tell you the object is below the horizon until after you've selected it. Sphinx with STAR BOOK lets you spend your time viewing or imaging.
The is the SXD version of the Sphinx, which has single-piece hardened steel construction for its movement axes, as well as brass 180-tooth worm wheels and needle bearings. These physical upgrades significantly help the payload; though mounts are actually qualified for a 'moment load' instead of a specified weight (identical-weight scopes of varied dimensions deliver varied loads upon a mount), Vixen Japan claims very conservatively that the SXD supports loads of up to 33 lbs (15 kg), and in particular cases of well-balanced scopes it can of course be much more than that. A polar axis finderscope comes standard with the SXD, while it is an optional accessory on the regular Sphinx.
This is the mount itself with counterweight shaft and two counterweights; it does not include a tripod or pillar, which are listed here as accessories. Vixen's Sphinx mounts aren't supplied dovetail plates because every Vixen optical tube assembly includes one; if you wish to mount a third-party telescope, use the Accessory Plate DX. The SX Half Pillar accessory is highly recommended for use with longer focal length refractors to facilitate more comfortable viewing.
It should be noted that Sphinx's Star Book luxury comes in something that's a bit of a battery hog; when operated upon the standard "D" batteries, you'll only likely have enough juice for one night of observing. Unless using rechargeable "D" batteries, most take advantage of Vixen's #3599 AC adapter or their #8644 Cigarette Lighter Adapter combined with a Celestron Power Tank.
Note! Dovetail plate not included.
