Please help me choose a mount

[Astro Noodles]

Hi guys,

Can I have you opinion on which mount to buy ?

I am interested in DSO imaging. Currently I am using the eq mount which came with my Sky-Watcher 130p with an RA motor. Using a DSLR and lens I can get up to 20 sec subs but there is no realistic way of properly polar aligning. I would like to get into the 3-5 minute range. In the future I am considering a refractor in the 70-80mm range. Not thinking of travelling with it.

I have narrowed the choice down to Sky-Watcher Star Adventurer, Ioptron Sky Guider, or Sky-Watcher EQ3 Pro Go-to.

Any opinion or suggestions would be very welcome because I just can't decide which would best suit.

I

[Pompey Monkey]

This may not be the answer you were looking for, but for the price of a new EQ3 Pro, you could pick up a second-hand HEQ5 with Go-to.

This has twice the capacity of the EQ3 and will give you much more future-proofing.

Edit - Second-hand prices are stupid at the moment due to shortages of new kit.

Edited April 18, 2021 by Pompey Monkey

[MarsG76]

I'm more than happy with my Celestron CGEM.. but there are great reviews of the Advanced VX which is smaller and should go well on focal lengths upto 1000mm.

[Astro Noodles]

9 minutes ago, Pompey Monkey said:

Edit - Second-hand prices are stupid at the moment due to shortages of new kit.

Thank Paul but second-hand mounts are as rare as rocking-horse manure at the moment.

 

8 minutes ago, MarsG76 said:

I'm more than happy with my Celestron CGEM.. but there are great reviews of the Advanced VX which is smaller and should go well on focal lengths upto 1000mm.

 I forgot to say that my upper limit is about £550 atm.

I am not considering this as the last mount I'll ever get but one which will allow me to progress this year.

[Shimrod]

2 hours ago, Astro Noodles said:

Hi guys,

Can I have you opinion on which mount to buy ?

I am interested in DSO imaging. Currently I am using the eq mount which came with my Sky-Watcher 130p with an RA motor. Using a DSLR and lens I can get up to 20 sec subs but there is no realistic way of properly polar aligning. I would like to get into the 3-5 minute range. In the future I am considering a refractor in the 70-80mm range. Not thinking of travelling with it.

I have narrowed the choice down to Sky-Watcher Star Adventurer, Ioptron Sky Guider, or Sky-Watcher EQ3 Pro Go-to.

Any opinion or suggestions would be very welcome because I just can't decide which would best suit.

I

If you have a laptop you could try Sharpcap for polar alignment - you will need to pay the £10 subscription to access the alignment process, but I believe you should be able to do that using images from your DSLR. The free option lets you check alignment so you could try that first. It would buy you a bit of time to save up a bit more or wait for your chosen option to come into stock!

edit: I have also found this thread here which is software for polar alignment software specifically for DSLRS - might be worth a read.

Edited April 18, 2021 by Shimrod

[Astro Noodles]

27 minutes ago, Shimrod said:

If you have a laptop you could try Sharpcap for polar alignment - you will need to pay the £10 subscription to access the alignment process, but I believe you should be able to do that using images from your DSLR. The free option lets you check alignment so you could try that first. It would buy you a bit of time to save up a bit more or wait for your chosen option to come into stock!

edit: I have also found this thread here which is software for polar alignment software specifically for DSLRS - might be worth a read.

Thanks for that Shimrod.  I dropped my camera and broke the USB port. 

[Shimrod]

40 minutes ago, Astro Noodles said:

Thanks for that Shimrod.  I dropped my camera and broke the USB port. 

They are less common than they used to be, but have you considered a wifi capable SD card to enable transfer to your laptop? Some brands are EZ-Share or Toshiba Flashair. The original company, Eye-Fi went out of business in 2016 but there are still a few out there. You probably want to check connectivity to a laptop before you buy.

[Astro Noodles]

That's a good idea.

 

[KP82]

You will be pushing the limit of any of these three mounts you listed with an 80mm refractor. So either stick to 70mm or step up to EQ5 for the 80mm.

My advice would be to get an HEQ5 and stick to your 130p for now. You will need a coma corrector for it. Then save up for a wide field refractor in the future.