new gear

[Davie]

I'll apologise before i start as its late and ive had a long day so from now on i might make no sense what so ever

I only began looking at the night sky about a year ago with a borrowed telescope from the brother in law. On the rare occasion i do manage to get a late night with something to look at i really enjoy it and it also helps that the eldest (only 5) loves looking up and pointing things out.

What I'm looking for advice on is what i plan for the future and what i might get past SWMBO

I'm looking for an imaging setup but with decent visual capabilities and i was thinking along the lines of a EQ6 and either a skywatcher 200p or 250p ( i take it the DS version only stands for the dual speed focuser which i can change later or get a DS to start with) I'm not looking for goto as EQmod will do fine and the 5 YO knows his way around Stellarium better than i do

anyhoo before i pass out from lack of sleep and a busy day and if you can make head or tail of that lot does anybody have any advice?

Oh yes I'll be looking for a second hand mount as I'd never get a new EQ6 past the boss :

[malc-c]

My only comments are that whilst EQ5 and (as recently) HEQ5 mounts often appear on the secondhand market, EQ6's are less frequent so you could be waiting some time before a set up becomes available that's within your budget.

If you are into imaging and visual a 200P would be very sturdy on an EQ6. My recently acquired HEQ5 handles my 200P plus ST80 guide scope combo satisfactory, so an EQ6 would easily. There is currently a 200P / HEQ5 combo up for grabs on the forsale section for £650 ( http://stargazerslounge.com/sale/152844-heq5-syntrek-sw200p.html ) includes a blutooth EQDIR connection for EQMOD - the only drawback is the distance for collection.

[Davie]

Thanks for the reply,

I was looking at a HEQ5 and a 200 to begin with but thought that getting a 6 would mean that I wouldn't have to upgrade later if needed.

I'm in no rush so can easily wait for the right mount and scope to come along although being nowhere near central I'd have to find somebody willing to let a courier pick the items up or be willing to send them.