SW EQ Mount Query

[feilimb]

Hi all, I am pretty much starting off with AP (I did do some almost 20 years ago with SLR but the landscape has changed greatly).  I currently own an old late 90's C8 SCT with a simple Celestron wedge style EQ mount.  After reading much about AP over the past 8 weeks and picking up one or two items in the meantime, I have decided to go back to square one and start off with a (as yet unpurchased) 80mm F/6 refractor (carbon fibre to keep weight down and help preserve focus), and ultimately hopefully bring that to a 102mm refractor in a year or two.  I am most interested in wider field Deep Sky targets at this point.

Mount-wise: I had assumed all along I would be investing in a HEQ5 Synscan Pro, but now that I have settled on an 80ED (moving up to 102ED eventually) carbon fibre OTA I'm starting to wonder whether an EQ5 Synscan Pro will suffice.  I added up the weight of a carbon fibre 102 OTA, Orion 50mm guide scope & rings, QHY5L-II M (my guiding cam) and my Canon 450D yesterday and it all comes to a total of around the 4.4kg mark (a field flattener reducer would also add a little more).  This makes it equals to the 9kg payload of EQ5 Synscan Pro halved for astrophotography.

So payload capacity wise, the EQ5 Pro seems up to the task.  What I am wondering about however is does the (latest versions) of EQ5 Synscan Pro have lower quality stepper motors / stability issues as compared to the HEQ5 Synscan Pro.  If the quality of the drive motors / software is effectively the same for both mounts is there any other drawback I am missing which might be a big enough motivation to go for the HEQ5 SynScan Pro?

[Thalestris24]

Hi

I can't really comment on a comparison but I suspect the heq5 motors and gearing are better quality to cope with its larger payload. The heq5 is a workhorse and I've always been pleased with mine. You probably do have to budget for upgrade bolts but they are a relatively minor expense. You may even be able to mount your sct on it - certainly for visual, possibly for imaging of more distant/smaller objects. Of course, the eq6 syntrek is only a little more with a bigger payload capacity if you can do without the hand controller  When I bought my heq5 it was the cheaper syntrek version and I've happily used it with computer control only.

Louise

[Spikey]

HEQ5 carries nearly double the AP load as the EQ5 Pro. The result is a far more stable platform for AP. It's not something you want to be working at the margins on. 

Personally, as a previous owner of one I'd go for the HEQ5 as a minimum or even a NEQ6 to future proof myself. In AP the mount is king.

[cosmojaydee]

+1 for the EQ6 , for the difference in price between the HEQ5 and EQ6 then it would have to be the latter, If you have genuine intentions to enter the dark realm of AP then the mount is the foundation, if you overload your foundations the structure  (your AP rig) becomes very problematic 

[feilimb]

Thanks all, sounds kind of like I suspected that the EQ5 might be sacrificing that bit of stability. I guess in the AP game every edge counts so maybe I'll stick with original plan of going with the HEQ5 Pro.