EQ5 starter setup, OTA selection... Guiding?

[John78]

Hi all, 

 

I've been a long term lurker on the forum and look in from time to time.   Now I'm more settled in life and back full time in the UK after work assignments I'm interested in getting started. 

 

Every guide says mount mount mount having some long slr lenses on tripods I can appreciate why! 

 

So I've decided on an EQ5 deluxe, so no motors but has a polar scope for £239.  I've already put AstroEQ onto a mega2650 installed EQmod, installed stellarium scope and configured it all to play together, I already have drv8825 drivers in my bits box - so tomorrow motors will be spinning.  So would I be right in understanding once I order the mount for £239 I have the same or more functionality than the £519 goto version?  Happy days if so, if it's a terrible choice I can change plan,  it's not ordered yet

 

So my next question is what scope to go for, I need portability via a car as I live in Hertfordshire so the dark is light polluted but my parents live in deepest darkest Norfolk so I'll be in both locations.  I like the idea of astroimaging and refractors however one of the must haves is getting a view of the planets, in particular Saturn's rings is one of a few astronomical things on my mum's bucket list. 

 

Personally I'm torn between the Evostar 80ED DS-Pro, as it's ED thus good for imaging and comes with a 'guide' scope or the ST120 which is much better for aperture but suffers CA - maybe I'll buy a 2nd had 120 and upgrade to an ED at a later date?  ~£500 is the budget for the OTA trying to acquire a complete working solution for sub £1k and I'm certainly not adverse to second hand, I've been looking at astrobuysell daily. 

As for guiding is there any good diy guides as what to use or buy?  Webcam etc....  I have access to a full machine shop and electronics lab at work (mechanical automation industry)  so I like DIY to save my £££.

 

Appreciate any advice or pointers, trying to get my decisions made by next week as have some time off work to tinker

 

J.

[bottletopburly]

Personally i would go for a good second hand eq5pro goto ,have a look on astro buy and sell  ,i have the eq5 deluxe with motors not go-to and looking to upgrade to a heq5 though im using a sw200p so more heavier ota than your looking at  eqmod will be no good unless your mount has motors and st4 so i would say go for the eq5 pro goto if you dont you will regret it and end up  upgrading ,Ota wise im sure other peeps on here will direct you, i only use a sw200p good all rounder but on the  bit heavy side.

[triton1]

I don,t image but I'm sure people will advise getting the heq5 to go with the ed80

[Tinker1947]

You typed it in your list of bit, its the mount that counts, a HEQ5 is whats required will save upgrading when the imagine bug bites,,,,,

[Helite]

As an EQ5 pro owner all I would say is really think before you spend. I was in your position and went out and bought the EQ5 at a cost of 500 odd quid, a few months later I was buying a heavier mount, I saved a couple of hundred on my initial buy but it cost me more in the long run. If you are toying with the 80 ED I would give serious consideration to the HEQ5 and 80 ED package from FLO. More money to spend up front certainly but if you get serious about AP you will probably end up with one anyway.  

[JemC]

1 hour ago, John78 said:

I like the idea of astroimaging

As good as the Eq5 deluxe is, based on your above comment you really need to be looking at the Heq5 goto as the mount to purchase,

Regards
James

 

[John78]

So where I got to EQ5 was looking at this website ...

http://astro.neutral.org/homemade-diy-gem-telescope-mount.shtml

It appears to be an achievable challenge to build a good quality GEM given the tools I have access to at work - along the lines of that link, however where I stumbled with that plan was hobbing high quality worm wheels even with a full machine shop is a significant challenge and investment in time.  Our local gear supplier are asking £130 for suitable worm wheels and matching gears and you need 2 so that then got me up to more than EQ5 money - hence I decided (wrongly it seems  ) that an EQ5 was good enough.

Is there any details of the mechanics of an EQ5 vs an HEQ5?  Is it better quality worms, or ball bearings?  Effectively its £230 more expensive head than an EQ5 goto, my personal stumbling block is it doesn't seem available as a basic mount, only as already GOTO'd and I'm 100% sure the motors and belts I will use will be vastly superior to the Chinese ones it will be fitted with.

I guess the conflict is I want an imaging quality mount that isn't imaging capable out of the box - which isn't what 99% of customers are going to want.

I'll think some more  Thanks for the advice.