Pre emptive questions

[Stephen]

I'm about to put the finishing touches to my new set up, and could do with some pointers on the last remaining bits.

I'm going to have an ST80 as a guidescope on a 200P (HEQ5 mounted.)

Are the 105mm guide rings ($22 on Amazon US) sufficient for the ST80?

Do I need a medium or long Skywatcher dovetail to finish mounting it?

Thanks in advance!

[Veracocha]

My first thought is that this set up is pretty close to maxing out the HEQ5. Adding the ST80 and mounting system is pushing things but if you then add the guiding camera and I assume a DSLR camera then I think it's a bit much. As for the ST80, I was able to modify the rings that came with it so that they could be attached to a dovetail bar that then sat on top of the main scope rings. Don't want to rain on your parade but imo that's close to max or more.

[Stephen]

Thanks for the input - I believe the set up is usable on the HEQ5 though. Funds do not permit an EQ6

Do you recall the length of dovetail you used?

[Veracocha]

The dovetail plate I used was for a William Optics and was around 12" long. You can get relatively cheap dovetail bars for the Skywatcher. I had your setup on a HEQ5 Pro and if I went down that route again I would consider using a finderscope as a guider and save some weight/bulk. That's how mines set up now and can be seen in my gallery.

Here's a bar from RVO

SkyWatcher Long Dovetail Bar 33.5cm | Telescope Accessories | Rother Valley Optics

[Stephen]

Thanks for the link - love the EP collection!!!