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Mount upgrade

Brit9er

By Brit9er
in Discussions - Mounts

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Brit9er

Brit9er

Posted
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I have a Skywatcher Explorer 150P on a EQ3-2 mount. Id like to have PC controlled tracking and go to type options. Longer term Id like to upgrade to a better scope.

For now Im looking to upgrade my mount. First light do a motor kit for the EQ3-2 for £91. But I wonder if this will really do what I want it to do. I understand the motor kit wont have PC tracking capability, so would I be better saving up some extra cash and buying a bigger better mount with the capability Im looking for or is there something available that would work with my scope now?

Ive seen the SynScan GOTO mount for around £180, would this be a sideways step or would this put me into a better solution for an astophotography beginer?

TIA for any advice :D

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Bizibilder

Bizibilder

Posted
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If you are thinking of astrophotography at all seriously, then you need an HEQ5 (minimum) or EQ6 (better) mount. Sorry for the bad news but it would really be wasting money to try and use anything else as you would enevitably need to upgrade.

The EQ3 and EQ5 mounts are fine for visual and the occasional "webcam" of Sun, Moon and planets - but for long exposure DSO work the better mounts are a must.

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Bizibilder

Bizibilder

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If you have the webcam the go for it! You can probably get a reasonable length of .avi with a non-motorised mount to get you going - its just tricky to keep an object on the cameras chip!. It may be worth considering the motors for the mount while you are learning - you could always sell them on afterwards.

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Parus major

Parus major

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A year ago I was pretty much in the same boat.

My thinking was that the resale value of the EQ3-2 plus the cost of the motors was a significant amount towards the cost of an HEQ5 and sticking with the EQ3-2 would offer absolutely no upgrade options in the future.

I perhaps overgunned by getting the NEQ6 but it has made my life so much easierv in terms of stability. Nothing moves when I fiddle with the focus which is very often given my focuser.

My advice would be to work out the max mount you can afford and then try for the next one up.

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brantuk

brantuk

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The Celestron CG5 GT is also worth considering. It's a bit noisy slewing but otherwise it's very quiet tracking. It's a bit heavier with 2" dia legs, has heavier duty motors and gearing, more sophisticated software and larger database.

I'd rate it somewhere in between the EQ5 and HEQ5 and you can get them second hand for between £300-£400 depending on age, condition, and add-ons. Great starter mount/tripod for a budding astro imager :D

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Brit9er

Brit9er

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A year ago I was pretty much in the same boat.

My thinking was that the resale value of the EQ3-2 plus the cost of the motors was a significant amount towards the cost of an HEQ5 and sticking with the EQ3-2 would offer absolutely no upgrade options in the future.

I perhaps overgunned by getting the NEQ6 but it has made my life so much easierv in terms of stability. Nothing moves when I fiddle with the focus which is very often given my focuser.

My advice would be to work out the max mount you can afford and then try for the next one up.

This is pretty much my thinking too. Maybe I should save up for the EQ6 too then. At least then I (assume) Id be sorted for a mount for good. It pretty much looks like it will handle almost anything that I may buy scopewise.

Good info and advice on this thread. Many thanks to everyone. Much appreciated. :D

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arbacia

arbacia

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I'd rate it somewhere in between the EQ5 and HEQ5

I rate the CG5-GT as a HEQ5 equivalent.

Of course the bare mount body looks delicate when compared with the bulky HEQ5. However both are equally robust and able to use the same efective load.

A CG5-GT is not an EQ5 or a former CG5. They have much stronger bearings, solid axis and muchs stronger tripod (in fact, the same used for the EQ6) than the HEQ5.

Moreover, I found the Nexstar hand control more powerful than the Synscan. For example: a celestron mount doesn't need polar finder for polar aligment.

Patricio

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Carl M

Carl M

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This is pretty much my thinking too. Maybe I should save up for the EQ6 too then. At least then I (assume) Id be sorted for a mount for good. It pretty much looks like it will handle almost anything that I may buy scopewise.

Good info and advice on this thread. Many thanks to everyone. Much appreciated. :D

It's exactly what I did and I hope I will never look back. EQ6 will be very future proof if you decide to upgrade your scope in the future and add a guidescope etc. for imaging, which I intend to do in the future. I have to say, the EQ6 is on a complete different level to the EQ5 and CG5, the quality is much better, along with the payload of the mount compared to EQ5/CG5 and is well worth the extra pennies!

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Brit9er

Brit9er

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Thanks for the advice everyone. Having read carefully and done some other research, I mnagaed to aquire an HEQ5 Pro this afternoon. This will more than handle my Skywatcher 150p.

Now I need to decide if I should sell the 150p and the Eq3-2 mount together as a package to fund a better scoipe, or just sell the mount and recoup some funds towars a better eyepiece! :D

My Mrs was right, Im becoming obsessed! :)

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JKB

JKB

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Hi

I started as you with the 150p on a EQ3-2

Look at my link as most pics were taken on that setup. I too upgraded to the HEQ5 Pro and It is fantastic although cloud since upgrading has spoilt my fun!!!

I wouldn't ever sell the 150 P as it is a great fast scope. For £90 or so get a coma corrector and enjoy the views/photos

HTH

Cheers

Jamie

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