Franklin

He was talking about old school achromatic refractors. There are plenty of smaller ED scopes around today that are great, especially for low power, wide field viewing and imaging of course. Personally though, for visual stargazing, you can't beat a good 4" refractor. A very good all-round performer. Big enough to show you the sights but small enough to still be portable.

Sounds good to me. Probably the best 4" optic on the market. I'm jealous!

Don't do it Wes! I know the firms say the EQ5 can handle around10kg in their ads and they even sell them as outfits with 8" Newts and 6" fracs on but NO. I have tried, it does not work. Large loads like this will not break or damage the mount but your observing experience will be one of frustration. Take it from a fool like me whose has done these things. Take all the load capacity ratings with a pinch of salt. Halve them and you will allowing your scope to perform to the best of it's ability. For a big scope like yours it's an HEQ5 minimum, EQ6 ideal if you want EQ. Maybe a Dobsonian mount would be the answer. If it were me I would look for an old Fullerscopes MkIV to refurbish, they were built like steam trains.

No not at all. I think the main benefit is just to clean out all the factory sticky grease and replace with fresh lithium grease. On my mount the RA axis was stiff, the DEC was fine, after cleaning and re-greasing the stiffness was sorted. There was no need to replace any of the bearings, I just did so because that was what I had read on the internet. On the DEC axis I just cleaned the worm and gear and re-greased it all. It's quite easy once you see how it all fits together and works. The main points are to make sure you put it back together exactly how you took it apart (there are quite a few transparent nylon washers hiding in there) and the resetting of the worm meshing and tension. EQ5/CG5/SP/GP/LX70/EXOS2 all these mounts are pretty much the same and are great for visual with loads of up to around 6kg. I think the need to "Super-tune" has come about from folk wanting to image and auto-guide with them. I don't do imaging but if I did I would get a mount with much more precision than the humble EQ5.

Morning. No drilling, I found the 13mm ones ok on Ebay. I think it was a firm called RS bearings? Anyway I still have the CG5 originals, with a little added lithium grease they are fine. If yours are damaged you are welcome to these. If you PM me your address I will pop them in the post, no cost.👍

I just got the part numbers off the ones I was replacing. They were all available from the bearings suppliers on Ebay.

Definitely agree with that, I'm very pleased with this one. I've never heard any bad reports on these scopes, ED or Achro. Might even be tempted to get a webcam and have a dabble in the near future. Solar/Lunar snapshots?

Trying to improve EQ5 worm end float. This thread on SGL is very informative.

Mine is the Ascent 102ED f/11 in white. Managed a star test with a 6mm BCO and Solar Continuum filter and the extra-focal patterns were very encouraging. Inside focus was almost textbook but at outside focus the pattern was a little less defined, so there may be a hint of spherical aberration but I'm not complaining, the views are stunning when the seeing allows. I watched an Io shadow transit the other week and it all looked etched. Very nice refractors for the money. 👍

I had backlash on both axis and after playing with the mesh adjustments for ages and not really getting anywhere I was about to give up. But I realised that it's the lateral adjustment of the worm that corrects the backlash. You undo the nut at the side and tighten up the screw a bit, then replace the locking nut. It did remove the backlash without having to open up the whole mount and clean and re-grease. Not unless it's needed anyway.

Have you seen the Astronomy for Beginners video EQ5 Supertune in 3 parts. I followed this when I stripped an old CG5 a while back. Plenty of info.

Your pics are amazing. I have a Starwave 4" f/11 and although the view through the eyepiece is great, seeing permitting, it's nothing like your images. You must have nailed the planetary imaging technique. 👍

Astronomy Boy: CG-5 Mount Improvements http://www.astronomyboy.com/cg5/Astronomy_Boy_CG-5.pdf

The Bresser 5" refractor is a fine instrument. Bit of a beast size wise. It's on the limit of the Exos mount but ok for visual. Super planetary scope, not much CA. I had one years ago and really liked it but have got a 4"ED now. Smaller and lighter. Price is reasonable if in good condition and it's the newer version with the Hex focuser. If the drive is the Goto then it's a bargain.

Up-grade to the 1.75" steel tubed tripod, it will give you a much more stable foundation for your setup. There's a 2" one on Ebay atm.

The EQ5 is a clone of the world famous Vixen Great Polaris mount. It is the largest EQ mount available which can be operated manually (which is really handy if your batteries run out) but you can add an RA drive or Dual axis drives or even GOTO at a later date. I have had numerous versions of this mount and I regard it as THE benchmark medium duty EQ mount that has been the standard workhorse for visual amateur astronomers over the years. Compared to the larger, GOTO mounts that are available (HEQ5/EQ6), the price is very reasonable. It's built like a tank and will last a lifetime. I regularly see EQ5 mounts on the used market which sell for under £200 and unless you plan on getting a massive heavy scope the humble EQ5 will carry most amateur instruments with ease. Highly recommend the EQ5.

I keep my eyepieces capped until use and bulb-blower and recap when finished, same with filters. The only eyepieces i have had to clean are my short focal length, short eye-relief orthoscopics. The 6mm BCO is particularly prone to collecting eye-juice!. Like Don says, a Q-Tip with a little Baader fluid does the trick.

That's interesting. Been looking at the TS Photoline 125ED which weighs around 8kg, too much for my GP, so was looking at alternatives and the AVX is the one I'm interested in. Not had any experience with Celestron mounts before but it seems a similar spec to the HEQ5 and a bit cheaper. The T-Rex looks bomb-proof though.👍

How does the 130 ride on the HEQ5 John? Must be about 12kg on there.

AA still trading. I bought an adaptor from them last week but I didn't click on anything that says email for stock info. I think those items that prompt that message are probably out of stock.

Terrible seeing tonight over Sheffield.

Has it arrived? Any pics?

Skytee II would be perfect. I had an Evo150 f/8 and it was a bit wobbly on the EQ5 at higher powers. It weighed 8.5kg. Louis D is right about the Contrast Booster filter, works great. Much more effective than the Semi-apo filter.

Correct.