A new hope ! , sorry I meant scope !

[Stu1smartcookie]

So , today , despite the general gloom around at the moment I went to buy a skywatcher 150p newt ( brand new .. still had the white tissue paper wrapped around ) .. a guy was selling this and a few other scopes , all without mounts .. my scope cost me £125 .. which I thought was a bargain . Er , well actually it turned out to be more of a bargain , as the scope is actually a 200p !! So a new 8”scope for £125 . Despite my euphoria it has presented me with a little issue .. I was set to buy an eq3 to put my supposed 150p on , but I don’t think it will take the weight of this 200p. I will be using the scope for visual although I will inevitably stick a dslr  on there at some point ! So are there any recommendations regarding alt az mounts and could I possibly use an EQ5 ? 
I really don’t have masses of money to spend so spare me the heq5 + mounts please . ( maybe in a year or so for one of those ) . 
I look forward to your comments .. oh , the only thing wrong with my purchase was one of the nylon adjuster screws on the finder scope was missing .. can you buy them separately? 
cheers 

Stu 

[banjaxed]

You could probably get an AZ mount as you are only using for visual and they tend to be a bit cheaper.

[M40]

Wow, bargain 👍 According to the info I found, the 200P OTA weighs about 8.8Kgs plus a couple for the camera and another couple for any other bits and bobs plus another couple for a bit of wriggle room and that tells me your starting point for mounts. Even if it collects dust for a while, it's still a bargain 😎

[Stu1smartcookie]

Yes its now safely packed away in my wardrobe . I am normally the type who loses a fiver but finds a pound so i am really happy about this . A little less happy that stock is really short at the moment , but ces la vie . As for the az mount ... i was maybe lookng at an az5 . Scouring the second hand ads now .. lol .

I still have my little starquest 102r to use ... but as its raining , on conjunction day not much chance to see anything 

[lenscap]

I use a 200p F/5 on an EQ5.

It's great for visual and you could take snapshots, but I'm sure that imagers would recommend a HEQ5 or better if you intend to do long exposure AP.

An Alt/Az would be more convenient in terms of eyepiece position (without rotating the tube).

However it is easy & cheap to add an RA motor to an EQ to convert it to a tracking mount which I find more relaxing.

In fact I built a diy Onstep Goto system for my EQ5 for less than £100.

[Stu1smartcookie]

Lenscap , this is what i thought ... ie an EQ5 ( wish me luck finding one lol) with aftermarket motors ... or even an EQ5 with goto although to be honest im not too concerned about that side of it . 

[John]

Nice scopes - I've owned a couple in the past

The EQ5 is OK for visual observing (steel tripod though). A Skytee II would hold it OK if you go alt-azimuth. Need to upgrade the dovetail clamp though, for a heavy scope like that.

 

[Stu1smartcookie]

Hi John , the scope has a long black dovetail . Not sure if thats what they used to put on them .

[John]

4 minutes ago, Stu1smartcookie said:

Hi John , the scope has a long black dovetail . Not sure if thats what they used to put on them .

The scope will have a longish dovetail bar. The mounts use dovetail clamps but the stock clamps on the Skytee II are not very well made which is why most folks upgrade them. 

 

 

[Stu1smartcookie]

1 minute ago, John said:

The mounts use dovetail clamps but the stock clamps on the Skytee II are not very well made which is why most folks upgrade them. 

ahhh yes i see

[bomberbaz]

2 hours ago, Stu1smartcookie said:

Hi John , the scope has a long black dovetail . Not sure if thats what they used to put on them .

As per what john said. I am still using the stock clamps but I have relatively small OTA's on them, a 127 mak being the heaviest. If I were using something like a 200P then maybe a clamp upgrade to something akin to this would be needed.

Primaluce Lab PLUS Big Dovetail Clamp for Vixen & Losmandy | First Light Optics

[Stu1smartcookie]

Thanks for the advice.. the next issue is to actually find a mount lol ... I think I might have to wait a month or two