neq6 vs modded heq5

[Joeistotalycool]

Hi all,

I am currently looking at getting a new mount for an esprit 80mm because my cg-5 ASGT has just died. I am considering a heq5 pro with a rowan belt mod, but I don't know if i should make the jump to the neq6 pro. Any ideas

Joe

[michaelmorris]

I guest it depends on

• The mass of the set up you're trying to put on top of the mount
• How portable you want the set up to be

The EQ6 has greater carrying capacity, but the HEQ5PRO is a bit lighter and, some say, has slightly more accurate tracking

I have an HEQ5 Pro which I uses with a Skywatcher 80ED + guider finder and Mono CCD + electronic filter wheel or with a dual bar and 66 mm guide scope with DSLR for imaging and either set up works great.  However, from my experience this is probably as heavy as I feel happy with before weight risks becoming a (minor) issue.

 

 

[Joeistotalycool]

1 minute ago, michaelmorris said:

I guest it depends on

• The mass of the set up you're trying to put on top of the mount
• How portable you want the set up to be

The EQ6 has greater carrying capacity, but the HE5PRO is a bit lighter and, some say, has slightly more accurate tracking

I have an HEQ5 Pro which I uses with a guider finder and Mono CCD + electronic filter wheel or with a dual bar and 66 mm guide scope with DSLR for imaging and either set up works great.  However, from my experience this is probably as heavy as I feel happy with before weight risks becoming a (minor) issue.

 

 

thanks for the reply  

[michaelmorris]

Sorry, omited to say main scope used with HEQ5Pro is Skywatcher 80ED (original post now amended)

[Tomatobro]

I installed a Rowan belt mod on my HEQ5 about a year ago and its run well. One unexpected benefit was that the next doors dogs no longer barked when the scope was slewed from one object to another. 

[Skipper Billy]

An 80mm scope on a HEQ5 seems to be a match made in heaven.

If you think you might want something heavier in the future then getting the EQ6 now would save an upgrade.

You can never be over mounted !!

If portability is important the HEQ5 is easily manageable - the EQ6 seems a LOT heavier!!

[Joeistotalycool]

2 hours ago, Skipper Billy said:

An 80mm scope on a HEQ5 seems to be a match made in heaven.

If you think you might want something heavier in the future then getting the EQ6 now would save an upgrade.

You can never be over mounted !!

If portability is important the HEQ5 is easily manageable - the EQ6 seems a LOT heavier!!

Do you think that a rowan belt mod on the neq6 is worth it? its just pushing my budget a little bit!

[Skipper Billy]

22 minutes ago, Joeistotalycool said:

Do you think that a rowan belt mod on the neq6 is worth it? its just pushing my budget a little bit!

TBH I dont know.

I fitted the Rowan belt kit to my HEQ5 and it was definitely worth it - much quieter, smoother slews, better guiding - I would expect the same to be true for other mounts but I dont have first hand knowledge.

[kirkster501]

The NEQ6 is *much* heavier and bigger in size.

HEQ5 and ED80 is a superb combination, one used by many.  

[sloz1664]

13 hours ago, Joeistotalycool said:

Do you think that a rowan belt mod on the neq6 is worth it? its just pushing my budget a little bit!

Yes it is, but if it's pushing your budget, you can always complete the Rowan belt mod at a later date and. For a small outlay and a few hours of your time, it will make a noticeable difference.

Steve

[carastro]

If you are confident you are not going to put a huge load on the mount in the future, an HEQ5 will be perfectly acceptable for your ED80.  I use a dual rig on my HEQ5 =  ED80 + WOZS71 plus the heavyish SWGuide scope mount to mount them together, plus an Atik camera and filter wheel and it works fine.

I was a few years ago talked into getting an NEQ6 to future proof myself.  I found it very heavy to take to astro camps, and got fed up with having to re-polar align it every time I came back from camp, so bought myself the HEQ5 just for camps and the NEQ6 stayed in the obsy.  

Now I have polemaster, I decided that the NEQ6 sitting in my home obsy was never going to be overloaded, and therefore there was no longer any point in having both, so have sold the NEQ6 and am using just the HEQ5.

HTH

Carole 

[Joeistotalycool]

3 hours ago, sloz1664 said:

Yes it is, but if it's pushing your budget, you can always complete the Rowan belt mod at a later date and. For a small outlay and a few hours of your time, it will make a noticeable difference.

Steve

How much of a difference would Regreasing the mount do? 

[sloz1664]

The hardest part of any EQ6 mod is stripping it down and re-assembling it. Re-greasing won't make it much better unless you find anything untoward in the mount workings. Have a look at the following web page to get an understanding of strip down & re-assemble:-

http://www.astro-baby.com/EQ6 rebuild guide/EQ6 Strip Down Home.htm

Steve

[KemalOz]

On 19.03.2018 at 16:34, Joeistotalycool said:

How much of a difference would Regreasing the mount do? 

I think changing the grease used to make a difference with old Synta mounts that used the famous black tar as grease. The new mounts don't have that, so changing it with superlube or something like that won't make that much of a difference. Same is also true for polishing certain metal-to-metal surfaces. They are all pretty good nowadays out of the box. Don't bother with any of it unless there is something seriously wrong with the mount. 

The major performance difference comes from adjusting the gears and the worm end play to reduce backlash. And maybe if some of the bearings are rough to turn you can also change them.

But don't forget the major source of PE in a geared mount is coming from worm and the worm gear. So the only way of improving that in a significant way is to either lap the gears or change them with custom made ones. But at that point upgrading to a better mount could be a better option.