Mount for Skymax 180 Pro?

[Philk_80]

Hi

Im looking at purchasing a Skymax 180 pretty soon but need to save money whereb i can to buy some decent lens.

I would love a EQ5 or 6 but may have to settle of an EQ3 - would this suffice??

Any help greatly appreciated

[jambouk]

Think it will be a struggle. It's a pretty heavy scope.

What are you planning to do with the 180 Mak?

James

[Philk_80]

Bit of everything really. More planetary than DSOs.

Dob is a bit cumbersome now and ready to move on.

[Stu]

Do you need an EQ mount? How about a steel legged AZ4?

Review here suggests it copes with the scope...although high power maybe not the best. Better than an EQ3 still I should think

[jambouk]

Others will disagree, but I think you'll find it hard work on any unmotorised mount to keep something in the FoV in the 180 Mak, but if you are a pro woth a Dob, then you are used to this, it's just a case of doubling the focal length and adding a bit more...

James

[Stu]

Others will disagree, but I think you'll find it hard work on any unmotorised mount to keep something in the FoV in the 180 Mak, but if you are a pro woth a Dob, then you are used to this, it's just a case of doubling the focal length and adding a bit more...

James

Quite possibly right James. I guess the issue is trying to find the best compromise.

I do wonder if the OP might be better off with a 150 Mak which would save some cash for a stronger mount, perhaps an EQ5?

[John]

I tried a Celestron C8 on the AZ4 mount (steel legged type). The mount held the weight OK but manually finding and tracking with a 2 metre focal length was a very different story to the dobs and fast refractors that I'm used to. Especially when the dew shield was in place, the C8 became quite a handful for the mount.

I think you would be just about OK with the scope on a Celestron CG5 which is effectively an EQ5 with 2" steel tubed tripod legs. The HEQ5 mount seemed a much more comfortable mount for both the C8 and the 180mm mak-cassegrain that I owned for a short while. I didn't try the latter scope on the AZ4 because of the experiences I'd had with the C8. The 180mm mak-cass has a focal length of nearly 3 metres.

A Skytee II on a 2" steel tripod might be a possible alt-az option for the 180mm mak-cassegrain because it does have slow motion controls.