Mounting question

[Anthonyexmouth]

What are the pro's and con's of piggyback vs side by side mounting? ive got my HEQ5 and to mount i have a little 90mm mak, my dslr and within the next few days if i can make my mind up some flavour of refractor . the dslr isnt important as ive got my star adventurer for that if needed. 

[Peter Drew]

The pro's of side by side mounting are that the weight can be shared each side of the azimuth or ra axis and balanced better in dec. The con's of piggybacking are usually the opposite and require extra counterweighting.