Which mount?

[Portech7]

Hi all

£800 max budget, which go to mount? 

1) I-optron cem25p

2) Sky watcher HEQ5 pro (without Rowan mod) 

3) Celestron advance vx

Any other's worth considering? 

 

 

[gilesco]

9 minutes ago, Portech7 said:

Hi all

£800 max budget, which go to mount? 

1) I-optron cem25p

2) Sky watcher HEQ5 pro (without Rowan mod) 

3) Celestron advance vx

Any other's worth considering? 

 

 

I have a CGX, so can't really give you any real experience on the above. However, I did some browsing for an earlier forum thread that looked at the iOptiron CEM40, and the iOptron range does look very appealing in general so after seeing your thread I looked at your options.

If I was in your budget I would probably go for the iOptron CEM25P

If you're purchasing from FLO and want to see the mount in action by the end  of next week, then the iOptron is probably your only option. Both the Celestron and Skywatcher's have pretty long lead times.

[jambouk]

What do you want to put on the mount and what do you want to do with it? I would seriously consider buying second hand as you’ll get more for your buck. 

[newbie alert]

 You really need to think what are you currently using on top,  and what youre likely to do in the future..What are you imaging deepsky ,planets or just visual?

I really enjoyed my AVX,  I've never owned a skywatcher but they kind of don't do it for me unless it's a eq8.. I've now changed to ioptron, certainly a different class of mount

[Portech7]

I've just noticed the Skywatcher AZ EQ5-gt go to mount. Little more expensive than I wanted but it looks like a great all in one go to unit with a fair payload. 

 

[discardedastro]

1 hour ago, Portech7 said:

I've just noticed the Skywatcher AZ EQ5-gt go to mount. Little more expensive than I wanted but it looks like a great all in one go to unit with a fair payload. 

 

As others have said, hard to advise without knowing what telescope/camera/eyepieces you intend to mount on it, and the usage. AP has very different requirements to visual use. Any of those options might be wildly over-specified or wholly inadequate depending on what the use is!

[Portech7]

It'll be used for both visual and imaging with either a 150p F5 Newt, Omni XLT 120 refractor and  a maksutov and with a DSLR and Astro Cam, so it needs to be a really sturdy allrounder. 

I kind of like the idea of the AZ gt as it has a good payload and is very adaptable. 

 

Edited September 5, 2020 by Portech7

[discardedastro]

2 minutes ago, Portech7 said:

It'll be used for both visual and imaging with either a 150p F5 Newt, Omni XLT 120 refractor and  a maksutov, so it needs to be a really sturdy allrounder. 

OK, for imaging you should be OK with the HEQ5 or AZ EQ5-GT, but might be worth stepping up to an EQ6-R if you're going to do much imaging for the performance. You'll need to consider guiding whichever way you go for DSO AP with those scopes, which will add weight beyond the imaging camera (potentially guidescope plus camera), so do think that through - you could easily be up to ~15-18kg all told.

Not familiar with the iOptrons but the CEM25 is borderline too small to handle the Omni and is going to be marginal for the 150p. Don't forget that with bigger scopes you'll also be fighting wind loading, so being a little bit clear of the max capacity limit is a good plan. I'd probably be looking at the EQ6-R or CEM40. If you're exclusively doing planetary imaging then you'll probably be OK with the smaller mounts.

From a purchasing perspective alone, I would strongly argue in favour of saving up for the right mount with some headroom - it's definitely worth getting right!

[Portech7]

Sound advice and it's really appreciated. 

[Portech7]

I've ordered the AZ EQ5-GT 😁