Recommendation for sub £4k mount for imaging

[buzz]

I have an EQ6 Synscan mount, which is used in a portable setup for DSO imaging. It's good value but I can see and feel how it was made down to a price and I would like something better.

By better - it has to be portable (about 16Kg or less for the mount), good s/w compatibility for Mac and PC, low inherent PE and cope with my current refractors and maybe a C11 in the future. I'd like to keep it under £4000.

I'm looking at EM200, AP Mach1, Losmandy G11 and Avalon Linear for starters. I think the Gemini is out of my band.

The Avalon is interesting but I have seen no real user reviews, the others considerably more popular using conventional gearing.

I'm counting on my fellow forum members to add their views to help me out!

[ollypenrice]

I'm one of the few people to have been initially dissatisfied with my EM200. I was even more dissatisfied by the dealer, not in the UK, from whom I bought it. After adjusting the end float on the Dec bearing (easy) and finding a bad contact on the autoguiding board I now have what I had hoped for, a very logical, accurate mount.

Plus points are; high build quality. High accuracy. The best polar alignment routine in

the world, fast, easy and non-electronic. Highly portable and quick to set up.

Negatives are; price, price of spares, bad communication with Japan (not just the customers but the European importer), slow slew, abysmal planetarium and no GoTo handset so PC will play you up when it feels like it. (Many people prefer PC control but I don't.) I run mine in TheSky.

I also have a regularly visiting AP Mach One GoTo. Very nice, fantastic cable management, seems to work well.

A recent G11 also visits and seems to work well, including doing so at long FL. The mount is a bit rustic and the handset very much so. This mount was not on my list after reading of variable QC but maybe that's behind it.

I will say this; I know of no make of mount, based on all the ones that visit, which is not capable of misbehaviour! I've seen bad behaviour from 10 Micron, AP, Takahshi, Losmandy, Skywatcher, iOptron, Vixen, Celestron and Meade. Although I've only seen three, I have never, in fact, seen a Celestron EQ mount that did work. This paragraph is entirely anecdotal but factually correct.

Typical guide plot for my EM200, using SW ST80 guidescope (400mm FL) and Atik 16ic in Bin 2;

I've seen two hand tuned EQ sixes deliver similar plots.

Yves' Mesu Mount 200 is brilliant but I wouldn't call it portable. In terms of value for money it sends a big wake-up call to the other manufacturers, though.

Olly

[buzz]

Thank you for taking the time for such a detailed account. It is really helpful to have someone who has hands on with several mounts. I'll look more closely at the EM 200 and the support for my preferred software. I don't mind losing the handset if it can be replaced by an iPhone or iPad etc.

With the current weather, plenty of time to mull it over!

Regards Chris

[buzz]

Hi Olly - Checking up on the EM200 - I have found some other reports that suggest that it is very good up to loads of 10Kg and to look elsewhere above - I have a WO FLT132, which when I add the bits, is over 13Kg. Since you have one - and I have found your earlier reports of your initial woes - would you still go for it?

[ollypenrice]

Mine has no problem at all with a TEC 140 and autoguider. The weight obsession with mounts is a constant confusion. It is weight, focal length and length of OTA combined that matters.

Would I buy again? For mobile, yes. For an observatory I'd buy a Mesu Mount 200.

Olly