Choose My Mount? Nexstar SLT vs NexStar 4/5SE vs Skywatcher SysScan AZ

[hobbesy]

Hello. Having given up on the idea of getting my knackered SupaTrak repaired, I need a new Goto mount.

Budget is £300 +- a few quid.

It needs to be light, portable but most of all extraordinarily easy to use for a dimwit. (Me.)

It needs to be easy to transport, easy to set up etc. as I live in central London so need to go outside town to get a view.

I don't need to do photography apart from the odd pic of Jupiter etc, so until I get the money together for an EQ6 Pro, I need something reasonably good but cheap.

All three of these seem to be able to carry the weight of either of my scopes.

The Celestrons don't have stupid external battery cases, but are more expensive. The Skywatcher is apparently quieter, but having seen the build quality of my SupaTrak, I'm reticent to give them any more money.

What do you reckon? Thanks all.

[Cornelius Varley]

The SLT would be the one to go for. The alignment routine of the SLT/SE is better than Synscan (choose your star/moon/planet, press enter, choose the next object, press etc. The handset then tells you what objects you chose). The SE mount would be unsuitable for your telescopes (SW130P, ED81) because they require a certain amount of overhang to clear the base of the mount. Or you could get an AZ4.

Peter

Peter

[hobbesy]

That's good advice, thanks. I'd assumed they were all much of a muchness regarding overhang.

I'll stop being so needy soon, I promise!