Bigwings

Advice needed. 1. Is the Starsense camera likely to be OK. No direct bang and no sign of damage. 2. Can the OTA be economically repaired and if so by who. 3 Is the diagonal likely to be scrap. 3 Will the focuser be ok No sign of damage but its slack. Im gutted

I have dropped my Skymax 150 complete with focuser and Starsense camera. Hard landing on the 2" dielectric corner Glass

Welcome, Hope you enjoy the community your part of.

I have used a Skymax 150 on an EQ5 Pro and I enjoyed it. The scope is a cracker on planets, doubles and it good on smaller DSO, s. The 180 Mak is a big beast and some would argue that the 150 hits the sweet spot. Maks have a narrow field of view so be aware of that. Think where you are going in the future. Imaging, deep sky, planets or all of these. The EQ5 Pro is a good mount but doesn't give you much headroom in max weight. I now use my Skymax 150 and my Explorer 130PDS on an AZ-EQ6 at the same time in Az mode so I can have wide and narrow high mag views available at the same time. My advice would be to think about future proofing your purchase and spend your money on the mount. Have a look at the AZ-EQ5 and don't be afraid of Newts they give tremendous bang for the buck. My little 130 is a gem and can be used well on my mount in EQ mode for imaging. Best of luck with your choices. I love Mak's but they would not be my choice for beginners.

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Bet it was fun turning the tube to get the EP and focuser in a usable position

A big Dob with a set of wheels on its own platform and 3 screw Jack's for levelling I guess

I do like Skywatcher and the rig is nicely colour balanced essential for astro The finders are Baader as are a lot of my EP's

Thanks for input so far guys. The scope responds to SynScan perfectly and skywatcher SynScan is selected in SkySafari. What ip address and port should be in SkySafari setup?

Running SynScan Pro in Az mode on my AzEQ 6 mount via the skywatcher WiFi dongle. Running SkySafari 6 on same device, a Huawei P30 Pro. SkySafari returns a message saying it cant connect to the scope. Any help appreciated. Clear Skies Bigwings

After a long think I spent my money on a mount rather than a big Dob. Mainy a visual observer I do have a a DSLR and realise I might be seduced by the photographic side. I decided on an AZ EQ mount for flexibility abd dithered between the 5 and the 6 Skywatcher offerings. I'm no spring chicken at 73 so was a bit worried about the weight. Availability was a huge issue and when I sourced an Azeq6 Pro I ordered it. Two big boxes arrived and I set about putting the mount onto the hefty tripod. BIG AND HEAVY. It sat in the dinning room as I pondered it's weight vs my age. It's a lovely well made mount and it just kept whispering to me "keep me". It made tha short journey to the garage to meet its family of tripods and astro stuff and I started building. I just love it. A planet killer and wider views available in seconds and the flexibility to rejig if the astro bug really bites. With regard to weight, with the scopes pointing streight up I can pick up the mount and move it 10 yards or so. Just make sure everything is tight before trying that. I tried the mount with the Skywatcher WiFi dongle and it was very smooth and quiet.. Looking forward to lots of use with this rig. As for appature fever..... Well if the right 12" Newt turns up I have a mount that will handle it..... Now where's my credit card.....

If nobody has a swap that suits it will be for sale.

No problem Enjoy your new mount.

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Expecting Santa to deliver an AZ-EQ6 GT Pro so my EQ5 Pro Goto will need a new home. Good used condition. Yahooo Santa's late but delivering on 29th.... Consider other swaps??? Considering a swap for a 10 " Newt.