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Pop quiz: Best and worst mounts you ever used


iPeace

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On 24/02/2016 at 21:21, L8-Nite said:

 

I totally agree with Stu, with one rare exception, the Zeiss T-Mount, which functions as " both" an equatorial and a superb Alt-Az mount.

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Zeiss T-Mount.JPG

O my this is a thing of beauty! Not sure why I like it but I do.

Worst...easily celestron travel scope tripod. Seriously why even bother supplying one of this caliber.

Best...ioptron skytracker v2 I hummed and harred but this is just so simple it really took the frustration out of dslr astrophotography.

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Derek,  indeed, it's like the universe always has a way of reeling you back in.   I'm looking forward to reaching my own steady-state system, no more inflation or expansion.:happy9:

 

Jim

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We are just Astro Addicts. Maybe we should start up the Astro equivalent of Alchohol Addicts. Start of  each meeting with a mantra stating that we acknowledge our addiction. Confusing AA or AA?

Errr Nope! Quite happy with my addiction hobby. :help2:

Derek

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Best: AZ EQ6. Accurate, guides well, sounds fantastic, duel encoders, az mode impresses the in-laws and it is actually easier to set up than my old EQ5.

Worst: The alt-az mount that came with my old National Geographic telescope years ago. It was stiff and could not be moved smoothly, the tripod was also useless and wobbly. Plastic just isn't a good material for this sort of thing!

SS :-)

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Best: discmount DM-6.  Solid and oh-so-smooooth.

worst: alt-az on my first scope, a tasco frac I think late 80's/ early 90's vintage.  I remember trying to look at Saturn in Capricornus above the roof of the house opposite us.  The scope had a tendency to flop down after I'd pointed it at the planet.  An exercise in frustration but all that dissolved when I finally found it.  Even when I'd only glimpse it before the mount moved again it was enough to keep me persevering with that scope and mount.  

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Best: Fullerscopes Mark IV - I wanted one as a child and it will always be my image of a proper mount. Good load capability and tough too

Worst: Losmandy GM8 - never got the hang of using this one

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4 hours ago, spaceman_spiff said:

:shocked: 

I'd love one of those!

I am sure that they are a lot better than it sounds from my experience; I just couldn't manage the delicate balancing required of my GM8.  Also, I don't think much of the tripod.  Given that I tend to use dobsonians I am not the best guide to equatorial mounts.

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Best: my Tele-Optic Giro GR-DXll & Vixen GP.

Worst: the fork mount that came with my Tasco 4ETE. It could only get to about 60(if I wanted to reach the zenith then I had to mount it on one side) + any clone of an EQ1.

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Worst - had 3 EQ-6's replaced under warranty, first was unguidable, second blew all the caps on circuit board, 3rd unguidable. After 3 years of trying everything to get the last one working, sold it with full disclosure to a visual only user. Interestingly at this time there were a heap of "as new" EQ-6's available for purchase secondhand. I suspect a dud batch were made...

 

Best bought a secondhand Losmandy G11 G1 with Mclennan gearboxes and an Ovision worm, 4.5 secs total PE !!

Also Skywatcher AZEQ6, 10 secs total pe (very slow and even)

Also Celestron CPC1100, 16 secs total PE

Feel like I must have had some good Karma to get these 3, after suffering through all the bad Karma of the EQ-6's

 

Gary

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  • 11 months later...

I need to update this. Worse - iOptron iEQ30 pro for lightweight imaging -  had three before throwing in the towel,  PEs of 65, 80 and 110" pk-pk and refused to guide and do PEC at the same time. Also went haywire with low level RFI and had to use with DC dew heaters rather than PWM.  Real shame.

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I can judge a mount better since when I started autoguiding. My 18-years old Losmandy G11 (manual) proved to be better than my new SkyWatcher AZ EQ6. I still regret buying the latter instead of the upgrade kit from Losmandy to transform the G11 into a GoTo system. Nonetheless, I must admit that after a bothering and long training, now I can manage the SkyWatcher so to push guiding up to 15-min exposures (rare), usually 5-10 minutes.

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Update to my first post:

Although I enjoyed the versatility of the SkyTee and the fact that it is much lighter than my current mount, my new best ever mount is my Takahashi 90S. It's just so smooth and well made. It's about the same size as an EQ6, maybe a touch smaller. Here it is with my Skylight.

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