AZ EQ6-GT

[Ewan]

Last Monday i called Ian (Ian King Imaging) & ordered the AZ EQ6-GT, picked the beauty up on Wednesday.........................WOW!!!

I have read countless reviews on this mount, others as well, i always knew it would be an 'upgrade' but blimey what a step up from the CG5.

The finish on the mount is very clean, precise & very pro looking, from the Alt/ Az bolts to the very nice dials, everything is much beefier & looks like it means business.

As i don't go to dark sites i am only a back garden imager, i needed a mains psu that was upto the task & Ian ordered me this in :-

  at 4A output it should serve me well.

As you can see in the photo i have only set the mount up indoors for a quick look / listen, the mount at full slew 9 is very very nice, if, when you were younger, you played with the old electric motor's from broken toys etc it sounded a little like that, not offensive at all, slewing all night long would not be a problem with this mount, you won't disturb anyone.

Anyway as you can probably guess i am still grinning ear to ear & really pleased i chose this over the iOptron range (the 45 is good but can it beat this mount.............i doubt it).

Gotta box it up now as until i have sorted some things out in the garden i wont be using it for now :-(

Next years project is maybe a small obsy so i can pier mount this thing.

Thanks to advice from SGL members, you know who you are, i think my astrophotography should improve this year even further.

Clear skies all.

[Dave_D]

nice, that's what i'm planning on upgrading to... i was hoping for one of these for my birthday today but y'know... didn't even get socks...

[oldpink]

thats a brute of a mount, very nice

[Marki]

Good mount indeed. I went for this over the i45 as well and have no regrets. Solid, durable, reliable, well built, great clutch design.  Its pretty quiet too, so I don't worry about annoying my neighbours if I'm out for a long session.

I hope it lives up to your expectations

[Dubhar]

I just got the AZ EQ6-GT the other day as well. Its almost double the size of my older mount. I had considered the iOprton 45 but decided against it because of the problems people mentioned with larger telescopes.

I think i made the right choice, the build quality seams very high, and the improvement from my older (HEQ5) mount so far is night and day. I'm also going to be running mine of a mains DC PSU (the maplin one) 13.8~V 5~A

[rob0971]

Had mine a couple of months now & although I have only used it a couple of times, I love it. Quiet, good build quality & all of the neq6 problems or niggles ironed out.

[Owmuchonomy]

Last Monday i called Ian (Ian King Imaging) & ordered the AZ EQ6-GT, picked the beauty up on Wednesday.........................WOW!!!

I have read countless reviews on this mount, others as well, i always knew it would be an 'upgrade' but blimey what a step up from the CG5.

AZ EQ6-GT.jpg

The finish on the mount is very clean, precise & very pro looking, from the Alt/ Az bolts to the very nice dials, everything is much beefier & looks like it means business.

As i don't go to dark sites i am only a back garden imager, i needed a mains psu that was upto the task & Ian ordered me this in :-

PSU.jpg at 4A output it should serve me well.

As you can see in the photo i have only set the mount up indoors for a quick look / listen, the mount at full slew 9 is very very nice, if, when you were younger, you played with the old electric motor's from broken toys etc it sounded a little like that, not offensive at all, slewing all night long would not be a problem with this mount, you won't disturb anyone.

Anyway as you can probably guess i am still grinning ear to ear & really pleased i chose this over the iOptron range (the 45 is good but can it beat this mount.............i doubt it).

Gotta box it up now as until i have sorted some things out in the garden i wont be using it for now :-(

Next years project is maybe a small obsy so i can pier mount this thing.

Thanks to advice from SGL members, you know who you are, i think my astrophotography should improve this year even further.

Clear skies all.

Oooo... Same power supply as mine! Very nice. Had mine for 5 years and it's worked perfectly.

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[Ewan]

Thanks for all the feedback, i hope to get out with the new kit in the next 2-3 weeks, weather / work permitting.

I am hoping i may at last be able to get my 80mm Triplet mounted on top of the C8 & use one for guiding / one for imaging, i think i will need that setup on a pier though as that will be quite a bit of weight to carry in & out each night i image.

[trazor]

thats a brute of a mount, very nice

But still lighter than the NEQ6..........

[ollypenrice]

We host one of these in our robotic shed. It isn't in service yet and isn't mine but I do think it has addressed what needed addressing on the NEQ6 (of which I have two doing well.) Improved PA hardware, a proper power input socket and the belt primary drive. It would be my choice in this price range and some way beyond.

Olly

[lensman57]

I think that this is the GEM in the SWs mount line up. Very well engineered and built. Enjoy the new mount.

Regards,

A.G

[Ewan]

I do have some questions though someone may help me with.

1) Can i use the Permanent Periodic Error Correction even though i will be setting the scope up each time i use it ? (i understand PA has to be the same each time)

2) If PA has to be the same each time to use PPEC how 'the same' or accurate has it got to be, what i mean is PPEC best suited to pier mounted for best results ?

3) If PPEC is not ideal for a nightly setup what is the best way of insuring the best tracking / guiding that this mount can deliver ?

thanks for taking the time to read these queries.

[jambouk]

Yes i love mine too.

I did PEC training the other night for the first time, more out of boredom whilst waiting for the clouds to properly clear rather than a desire to get 30 minute unguided subs I started a thread about the topic; i'm unclear how clever the system is at knowing which of your corrections are due to poor polar alignment, and which are due to periodic error.

I'd guess (and this is a total uneducated and non-scientific guess) if you are not guiding, and not drift aligning each time you set up, then PEC is unlikely to add much benefit to unguided subs, as your polar alignment error will be much more problematic for your tracking than the PE. If you are guiding, it will probably guide out the PE. If you are on a pier, and can do the PEC training with a guide camera, and you have drift aligned, then maybe that would offer benefit to your unguided subs (but why do unguided subs if you have a guide scope and camera and ability).

Enjoy, and report back any results with your tinkering.

Jd

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[Ewan]

Yes i love mine too.

I did PEC training the other night for the first time, more out of boredom whilst waiting for the clouds to properly clear rather than a desire to get 30 minute unguided subs I started a thread about the topic; i'm unclear how clever the system is at knowing which of your corrections are due to poor polar alignment, and which are due to periodic error.

I'd guess (and this is a total uneducated and non-scientific guess) if you are not guiding, and not drift aligning each time you set up, then PEC is unlikely to add much benefit to unguided subs, as your polar alignment error will be much more problematic for your tracking than the PE. If you are guiding, it will probably guide out the PE. If you are on a pier, and can do the PEC training with a guide camera, and you have drift aligned, then maybe that would offer benefit to your unguided subs (but why do unguided subs if you have a guide scope and camera and ability).

Enjoy, and report back any results with your tinkering.

Jd

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I will be doing guided subs as normal but as i understand it the mount can do PPEC & i would like to use it, my question i guess is once the PEC is trained & stored will it still remove the 'correct' errors even though i have to take the mount out & setup each time.

Or does the Permanent PEC only work properly if the mount is only pier mounted ie not moved in orientation or PA ?

Maybe i have to re train on each setup then ?

Ive never used PEC so its sll new to me.

[jambouk]

I have no idea, but again my gut feeling is that many people successfully guide with "cheaper" mounts which may have worse periodic error and no option for permenant periodic error correction, and manage to achieve long exposures, and there is a risk that if the play back of any periodic error training is out of sync with the real periodic error (or actually wasn't PE in the first place), that this will make life even harder for your guiding set up, not easier.

But that still doesn't answer your question. Sorry.

Jd

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[Ewan]

Thanks Jambouk, cant wait to try it out soon enough & see what happens in the long run.

[Ewan]

So after reading some other posts, inc yours Jambouk, i train the mount using PEC then PHD or other should remove any remaing errors (hopefully)

[jambouk]

I'd start a thread in the imaging section, asking "is it beneficial to run permanent periodic error correction on my azeq6 if i am going to be doing guided subs using PHD?" I think you'll get more meaningful and educated responses than mine

If you do, post the link here too so i can watch it.

Regards

Jd

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[toxic]

just ordered the AZ EQ6-GT and eqdir adapter and  psu with female cigarette to m8 ring-tongues from flo can't wait for it to come woohoo christmas came early this year.

[jambouk]

Yes, i got my christmas present for myself this year in january... Oops.

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[Ewan]

Just thought of something else, with the cg5-gt i was guiding using a serial to usb adapter which then connected to my handset, this would also allow me to use Stellarium to move my scope, i used the serial to usb for guiding through the handset.

I also have the HITEC UsbGuider adapter which went from the PC to the cg5-gt's ST4 port for guiding as well, now does it sound like i have all the bits required to use with the AZEQ6 ?

So i can do a direct to PC connection, guiding & or use EQmod or do i have to buy the EQDir as well ?

[toxic]

Ewan i think you need to use the eqdir i asked more or less the same question at flo and steveb told me i would need the eqdir to use eqmod and your cg5-gt rs232 lead to handset wont work with the skywatcher handset as they are wired differently.thats why i got the eqdir .grrr i still havent got my az eq6-gt and i ordered it last night  .

[Ewan]

I am still not sure, you get a serial to handset cable with the AZEQ6 with the mount, all that should be needed is a serial - usb adapter, here's a pic of the white cable that came with the mount & my adapter.

I am not even sure what the EQDir adapter does, is it JUST to allow your mount to connect to the PC or Laptop ?

Here's a link of a similar discussion on SGL, there is a picture on the 7th comment down which looks interesting.

http://stargazerslounge.com/topic/168998-skywatcher-alt-az-eq6-geq-first-thoughts/page-3

Let me know what your thoughts are, hopefully if it's clear i may try this tonight.

[rob0971]

You need a eqdir cable. They have a usb connection for the computer end so you dont need a serial/usb adaptor. You can then use eqmod, stellarium or cdc to control the mount. I sold my celestron serial/usb adaptor when i got my az eq6. The eqdir cable has a little box of tricks in line to allow it to take the place of the handset.

[Ewan]

I assume i need this cable only if i want to use EQMod ?

I will have a look at the benefits of using the mod as i never bothered with using anything other than the handset on the CG5.