older black eq6 or wait for something else?

[Steenamaroo]

Hi all,

I'm reasonably new around here and have been slowly getting to grips with things over the last while.
I have a 200p(f5) dob with a small set of circle-T ortho eyepieces and a Canon 500d with prime adapter + eyepiece projection adapter.

I'm interested in a bit of light astrophotography for fun, maybe DSO + planetary, and built a basic equatorial platform last year with some success.
I can get consistently good 10-15 second exposures out of the platform but am considering switching from dob/platform to an equatorial mount instead for convenience, reliability, and greater accuracy / longer exposures.

I'm not necessarily interested in bells and whistles (go-to, guiding) etc so much as just a good solid reliable eq tracking mount.
If this is misguided (pun intended), feel free to say!

 

I'm considering a used black eq6 (mount/tripod/hand controller) for approximately £400 and was wondering if anyone would recommend that as a good choice/price,
or if there is value in holding off for a more modern equivalent?

I'm looking at used market - Not really interested in brand new equipment and prices.

Many thanks in advance.

Edited July 26, 2020 by Steenamaroo

[Robindonne]

Hmm im not really an expert.  But i think the black skywatcher eq6 is non goto, and the black orion atlas (Eq6) is goto.  Same mount Different names

[Steenamaroo]

I wasn't aware of that. Thanks.

The considered mount is Skywatcher - non goto.

[John]

I had one of the non-GOTO EQ6's for a while. Very solid, very, very heavy. If you just want a dual axis driven mount they are quite good (although I don't image) but if you decide to upgrade to GOTO at some stage the motors and controller boards need to be replaced as well as the handset. Some of the old EQ6's around will have been upgraded to GOTO but the owner / seller will know that of course.

The older EQ6's are really quite old now though - 15-20 years perhaps ?.

£400 seems quite a lot to pay for one of the old, non-GOTO ones.

 

[CraigT82]

1 hour ago, Steenamaroo said:

Hi all,

I'm reasonably new around here and have been slowly getting to grips with things over the last while.
I have a 200p(f5) dob with a small set of circle-T ortho eyepieces and a Canon 500d with prime adapter + eyepiece projection adapter.

I'm interested in a bit of light astrophotography for fun, maybe DSO + planetary, and built a basic equatorial platform last year with some success.
I can get consistently good 10-15 second exposures out of the platform but am considering switching from dob/platform to an equatorial mount instead for convenience, reliability, and greater accuracy / longer exposures.

I'm not necessarily interested in bells and whistles (go-to, guiding) etc so much as just a good solid reliable eq tracking mount.
If this is misguided (pun intended), feel free to say!

 

I'm considering a used black eq6 (mount/tripod/hand controller) for approximately £400 and was wondering if anyone would recommend that as a good choice/price,
or if there is value in holding off for a more modern equivalent?

I'm looking at used market - Not really interested in brand new equipment and prices.

Many thanks in advance.

I have one of the old black EQ6s, the syntrek non goto version with the 4 button hand controller, dating from approx 2002. It's still going strong and I use it for planetary and lunar imaging. 

It will do nicely for carrying a 200p I think. Mechanically they are near identical to the more modern versions, apart from the motors which are the cheaper versions (max slew speed is only x16). You can buy the goto upgrade kit which adds better stepper motors and the synscan handset but this costs around £300.

To do your long exposure images you will need to accurately polar align, so make sure its got a polar scope fitted. You will need to manually locate your object and frame it in the FoV of course. 

I paid £200 for mine as it's cosmetically  very tatty with lots of the black paint falling off.

For £400 I would expect one in excellent condition, You will need two of the 5kg counterweight to balance the 200p so make sure it comes with those.

 

[Steenamaroo]

Thank you for the responses folks.
Polar scope is fitted and weights are included. Condition is said to be very good and I understand the need for polar alignment and manual target-finding is required.

I did wonder if £400 was approaching, or beyond, the upper pricing for this - Seems that may be the case.
Maybe you're ready to upgrade from yours, @CraigT82?

[CraigT82]

Ha no chance! I'm actually thinking about buying the synscan goto upgrade kit for mine. I've recently stripped and relubricated the mount and the internals are in surprisingly good condition so worth a bit of investment. My aim is to get firecapture to automatically guide the mount when planetary imaging. 

[Steenamaroo]

 Can't blame me for trying.

Well hearing that you got yours for half the price, even taking cosmetics into account, and knowing that you don't want to part with it,
makes me think I'm on the right track but I'll get a better deal somewhere else.

Thanks for the thoughts everyone.

[Steenamaroo]

How about an old black Vixen GP, wood pod, with dual motors and pretty old-tech controller + Astro Master (basic goto?)
Trying to push it into £250 delivered territory - @John I understand you're a vixen fan?

[John]

20 minutes ago, Steenamaroo said:

How about an old black Vixen GP, wood pod, with dual motors and pretty old-tech controller + Astro Master (basic goto?)
Trying to push it into £250 delivered territory - @John I understand you're a vixen fan?

I have one of those GP's. They are very good but not in the same league as the EQ6 in terms of capacity. More like an EQ5 plus a bit.

It would cope with the 200mm F/5 for visual observing but I have my doubts if it's up to the needs of imaging with that scope.

 

 

[Steenamaroo]

Ok, thank you very much.

Would you consider that price about right, if you don't mind me asking?
Seller originally wanted quite a bit more but I see classifieds here within the last year for around that much, or a bit less.

[John]

I don't know what the drives and controller are worth I'm afraid

I bought my mount undriven and without a tripod for £100 if that is any help.

 

[Steenamaroo]

Ok, fair enough.
I appreciate the info.