My new HEQ5

[Sam]

Well, finally got my HEQ5 mount from FLO - thanks Steve - and it's brilliant! I managed to get it together quite easily and certainly the posts in this forum have helped! Balancing is a bit tricky as my telescope is quite heavy - might have to buy a longer counter balance pole. I wasn't quite sure what power is used to drive the motors - so after seeing I would need eight batteries I decided to get a little power pack that puts out 12V. True to form now that I have the power sorted and the scope on the mount its raining and it doesn't look like it's clearing anytime soon - not to worry the power pack is supposed to take 36 hours for it's first charge.

The telescope and the mount are very heavy to try and move - so any ideas on how to move and set things up would be hugely appreciated. Notwithstanding the lack of power I took it out last night for a wee play and was very impressed by the stability and smooth motion. I even had a rough go at lining it up - still not really sure what I'm doing. The things I found tricky was getting my head around moving the scope in Dec and RA and what that actually means.

Overall - very impressed and very happy - one step further along the road to get into imaging.

Sam

[Stardust]

I've got a heavy scope on mine 11 or 13 kgs can't remember now and bought an extra weight before I realised you could get a longer bar which would probably have been the better option. Less to lug around if nothing else. It does make for one solid rig .

DAve

[proflight2000]

yes get that longer bar, it is an excellent idea and allows much better weight distribution. I can now balance the skywatcher 200, with a skywatcher 102 and a canon 350D balanced on it, all with the bar and yes 1 yes 1 weight.