Upgrading OTA

[Randalloverby]

I presently have the Advanced VX Mount with the 6in Newtonian. Considering the weight limitations and possibility of autoguiding in the future, what would be a good upgrade for this mount to image DSO's ?

[baggywrinkle]

I have moved up from the AVX to an EQ6 Pro from Skywatcher.

The AVX is a great mount but is payload limited to around 11 Kgs max.

[Timebandit]

Hello. Obviously with AP stability is a must to achieve quality images. So a heavy duty quality mount is required to achieve this. The two that seem to have  a strong following for AP are the skywatcher EQ5 and the EQ6(not cheap but great for stability for AP). 

I hope this helps☺ 

[Astroboy239]

I would also recommend the Neq6 of skywatcher also called the eq6. It's a really good and stable mount. It's just a bit heavy. As your topic says upgrading ota. I would recommend a reflector. They are fast, cheap, durable. But you have to colimate them and they give diffraction spikes. If you don't want to colimate if you are lazy you can go for a refractor or Schmidt cassigrane. They are slower and costlier and also heavy. Takahashi has a few good quality fast refractors along with the esprit series of skywatcher. Cassigrane will mostly be celestron for me. Skywatcher has a good range of refractors of f4 and f5. I'm not a expert but these are my suggestions. 

Thankyou 

Varad 

[ronin]

Seems a little odd, you are asking which OTA in the title and getting told to upgrade the mount.

Assuming the title is correct you want a smallish scope along the lines of an apo triplet. ES do an 80mm APO that is good and I think they have an "improved" one somewhere. The newer scope name has "100" in the name, I think this reference to "100" relates to the glass type used in it/them, Schott or Hoya if I recall. I know someone got hold of a preproduction one and gave it a very good recommendation.

There is also the WO Star 71 which has good reports from the US, I see you are in Carolina. I think there is a new variant due soon as the "old" one was ceased.

Not sure which Skywatcher mounts are easily available to you, they are increasing in the US, but if a mount them maybe the iOptron CEM60.

[Randalloverby]

Thanks for all the reply's, its all very useful information. Now that I'm learning and finding out more from the members here in the forum, the more I want to spend, LOL. The level I would like to reach means a whole new setup so trying to weigh all my options. I will check out the EQ6 and some of the Triplet refractors, thanks again for the advice.