spillage

Are you going to be using this in one location or are you looking for a portable mount as this will may be a decider on the options available? I think the idea that unguided is less complicated may be the wrong way of looking at AP. I am sure due to not guiding you will have to do more work when post processing you images to try and remove issues that have been created by not guiding. You can get hold of a cheap second hand guide cam and guide scope so I would give it a go. PHD2 is fairly straight forward to set up and if you are looking to guide in the future then why not now. I too felt the same about plate solving and put it off for months and months. What a mistake that was. Cheers,

I installed the standard belt drive into my old neq6 and have never looked back. Easy to fit, quiet and much better tracking.

When using st4 in phd do you not need to select "on camera" as the mount (or something similar)?

I think he means in the alignment as the red channel is slightly out.

sorry I should have been more specific. What is the thickness of the shim?

Are you fixing the motor the wall of the obs and have this rack running on the underneath of the roof?

what size are you looking for?

Are you running this through a usb/usb3 hub. I found mine did this but was definitely better when running it off its own dedicated usb lead to usb2 port.

I have a couple of local astronomy members nearby who purchased the eq8 and asked me for assistance in setting it all up. I was very surprised how good the mount performed in the time I had to tinker with it. I am sure you will be more than happy with it and I will continue to keep my eyes open in case one comes up on the s/h market. Unless a mesu for silly money lands on my lap. cheers,

Will be interesting to see how much it improves tracking. I generally get 0.7" on average but have seen it as low as 0.4" (on rare occasions). If it can improve on this then it would still be a cheaper solution then having to upgrade to a better mount. Still if you need a second opinion I'm just up the road ?

Not sure if anyone else has seen this but rowan astronomy has release a zero back lash neq6 worm mount. http://www.rowanastronomy.com/productsa5.htm Not too bad for the price and looks very well engineered. No heard of any testing on these..If @RowanAstronomy need any field testers then I would be more than happy to help out

Can you not use a bicycle chain/lock to wrap around the mount and attach to the pier. I guess I am making the assumption that nobody is going to arrive at your property armed with the correct spanner to remove the mount (security bolts could be used).

Many moons ago I used to just use a 1ton dumpy bag over my pier and mount with a bungee cord to hold it in place. Once on it does have the shape of a rotary washing line.

Bird table?

Sorry that was my poor editing. I own a couple of zwo cameras and SX filter wheels. One camera had to go back to China for over a month and the filter wheel got damaged (by me) and was resolved in under a week. I think the story of zwo and the 1600 is well documented and they did a good job of getting a new product on the shelves first although I think they are now on version 3. I guess SX feel there is room and profit in the market for them and their followers.

But as there are other cheaper options out there you do have a choice. I have purchased chinese gear and whilst it is good value for money if it goes wrong then you are looking at a long time without that bit of kit if it needs to go back to the manufacturer. As already mentioned Atik which seem to be cheaper than SX but a bit more then ZWO do have a good following and also provide good after sales service but as I have never used them I cannot comment personally.. I think you pay your money and take your chances. Nothing in this hobby is normally cheap and most or at least myself have had to save to buy the kit we want. Again all I can say is that SX in my experience have fallen over themselves to help and resolve any issue very quickly.

I would like to say in my experience that the extra cost of the SX kit is well worth it when things go wrong. The customer service they provide is some of the best I have come across.

This is what I used on my neq6.

Have look here.

I would just get a 10mm t2 extension and a pack of delrin as these should have three 1.0mm spacers allowing you to gain the extra 2mm with more left for fine tuning your cc.

I sure this is the set I brought along with some delrin spacers.

Well I am about the same distance from Taunton (East) as you and I can see it from my back garden.

I started out with modded dslr (550d) the was under £200 and already modded. This to me was a cheaper way into astrophotography, it helped me learn the basics and decide if this hobby was for me. After a few months I made my mind up and went for the asi1600 mono then sold the canon for near enough the original purchase price. Yes I could of just gone straight in for the asi but at nearly £2k (including filters, wheel) that would have been a leap of faith. I think if you only spend £600 on brand new ccd then the chip size will be very small. Of course it depends on what you want to photograph but if it was me I would buy a cheap pre-modded dslr and keep on saving for a larger sensor.

I can only manage bortle 4. Although being so low I do suffer from dew and mist from the moors. Zenith sky brightness information Coordinates 51° ″ N 2° W SQM 21.25 mag./arc sec2 Brightness 0.342 mcd/m2 Artif. bright. 170 μcd/m2 Ratio 0.996 Bortle class 4 Elevation 7 meters

Have you tried Aldi's own whiskey. Speyside, islay and thier black label are all really good and award winners.