Need help with choosing an Equatorial mount

[danindu001]

Hi all,

I am new to stargazerslounge, and also for stargazing. Recently I put together a refractor telescope (because buying a telescope with good optics seemed very costly from where I'm from) using the objective and focuser of a Celestron 70mm and Seben Plossl eyepieces from eBay which I thought would provide reasonably better optics than a cheap telescope. I have completed making the OTA but now the mount has become a headache. I used an old camera tripod and a head but it is extremely hard to point at and follow anything. So what would you suggest?

Also, if I am going to get a mount I'd want a good equatorial mount which would be good for long-term use (to be used even with a telescopes such as 4"-6" reflectors) which I am hoping to get in the future. So I need some advice on buying one too(preferably on eBay).

Thanks a lot! :laugh:

[Geordie mc]

It really depends on your budget. I have the Skywatcher Heq5Pro and the AZ eq6GT but these are both expensive and perhaps a bit overkill for your needs. I would look at the eq3 pro for around £430 or the eq5 pro for around £580. Both are goto mounts and will work with the excellent and free EQMOD software to allow computer control. Cheaper mounts are available, but they will struggle with bigger scopes and astrophotography applications. If you don't need goto or have no intantion of imaging, the eq3-2 at £189 will take a 6inch reflector or the eq5 at £259 which will cope with an 8inch reflector. Good luck

[ronin]

The obvious one from the UK aspect is the Skywatcher EQ5, a 6" reflector should be fine on it as they supply the 200P on the EQ5 so a 6" is smaller.

Next Skywatcher is the HEQ5 but be warned that is bigger by a fair amount. The EQ5 is a sort of "nice" size and at this time fits your requirements.

THe other one around is the iOptron ZEQ25, the iOptron SmartEQ is too lightweight and they do not produce something between the 2 at say 18-20 pounds capacity.

Not sure of the Celestron or Orion mounts, but also take into consideration spares and extras.

There are ES or Meade mounts - think they are one and the same - it may be worth looking at those as an option, they are EXOS-2 mounts.

[danindu001]

Thank you very much for the sugestions, but those mounts (200, 400 pounds) are way over my budget. Also, where would I buy mounts (spare part sellers) online? I swept through eBay, but did not find any Eq mounts worth the money. Even cheap ones will be okay, just to get a rough idea :laugh:

[almcl]

If you don't need goto, there are EQ5s on ebay http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Sky-Watcher-EQ5-Equatorial-Mount-Tripod-Brand-new-look-/231620498971?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_3&hash=item35eda8561bfor less than £200.

You can always add the drive motors later and the handset mod will allow guiding with a suitable interface.

[brantuk]

+1 for an EQ5 or a CG5 mount. (the CG5 is discontinued so you'll need to look for used items)

[spaceman_spiff]

An unmotorised EQ5 mount costs about £240 in the UK (FLO) but you may find better prices on ebay. I would avoid buying a smaller mount because it not provide a sturdy support for refractors (with long tubes) beyond 4" aperture. Also a good thing about the EQ5 is that it is easily upgradable to goto and auto guiding so you can spread your costs out over time.  

Another option is to build your own equatorial wedge but you will still need to find an affordable and study alt-az mount to attach to it. 

Hope that helps! 

[danindu001]

Thanks for the info, guys!!

I have a question about magnification of this (fl = 700mm f/10) telescope. I know that the max useful magnification is around 140x, but if I use an 8mm 70degree aFOV eyepiece with a 2X Barlow, I can get  175 magnification power. But, would that be a completely useless combination? I haven't seen through it at a magnification higher than 140x, but I was hoping to get that eyepiece for the 'scope, so I was just wondering whether it would it be a good choice.

[djpaul]

I picked up an almost new EQ5 fir £140 earlier this year on Ebay

Its a sturdy mount amd will serve you well for many years 

Paul

[jonathan]

I prefer the Celestron CG mounts over the Skywatcher EQ for the thicker tripod legs.  The Omni CG-4 is very nice, suitable for a 6" reflector or 4" refractor, CG5 should be suitable for astrophotography if you wanted to go down that route but I'm guessing due to budget constraints that it won't really be an option (astrophotography gets very expensive very quickly, unless you are just doing DSLR wide field or webcam eyepiece stuff).