Recommendation for second mount

[tooth_dr]

What is the entry standard mount for AP these days?  Is the HEQ6 or EQ6 still it or are there better options?  I'm looking a second mount for my Tak Epsilon (I hate looking at it sitting on the shelf) and looking something as low budget as possible.

 

Cheers!

[tomato]

I would have gone for the HEQ 5 with the belt mod, although that brings it into price range of the smaller Harmonic hybrid mounts of which I have no hands on experience. I think their main advantage is their relative light weight and compactness, hence easier for a portable set up. The HEQ 5 is tried and tested and they regularly come up on the second hand market. The belt modded example I used would guide at 0.5" total RMS with a an 102mm APO riding on it.

[Albir phil]

HEQ 5 is a good mount at a reasonable price

[Elp]

Not exactly budget but if you go for a harmonic drive you'll wonder why you ever carted around a CW mount with CWs. If it's permanently setup there isn't any advantage, a well balanced and reliable GEM will guide better.

[tooth_dr]

1 hour ago, Elp said:

Not exactly budget but if you go for a harmonic drive you'll wonder why you ever carted around a CW mount with CWs. If it's permanently setup there isn't any advantage, a well balanced and reliable GEM will guide better.

I think it’ll be mounted permanently, I don’t think I could go back to setting up. My telescope and kit would be around 11kg.  I have a Meade LXD-75 mount but not sure if that’s up to the job?

*I meant HEQ5 in my first post 

Edited September 28, 2023 by tooth_dr

[Elp]

Not familiar with that mount, if it works by all means use it. Larger loads and longer focal lengths are more susceptible to guiding issues if under mounted so require more stability. The HEQ5/6 is recommended a lot.

[R26 oldtimer]

A belt moded Heq5 is still a very reliable budget option.

[tooth_dr]

Short focal length of 500mm and a fast scope, but heavy at 11kg. Will the HEQ5 be ok at that?

[Budgie1]

11kg is at the top of the recommended payload for the HEQ5 and (assuming you want to buy new) the EQ6-R Pro is only another £250, its already belt driven and has a 20kg payload capacity.

I love encouraging the spending of more money! 🤣

[tooth_dr]

20 minutes ago, Budgie1 said:

11kg is at the top of the recommended payload for the HEQ5 and (assuming you want to buy new) the EQ6-R Pro is only another £250, its already belt driven and has a 20kg payload capacity.

I love encouraging the spending of more money! 🤣

Second hand definitely, budget of £500 or thereabouts.  I had an (N)EQ6 for several years and sold it when I bought a bigger mount.  Never going to more than 11kg though, I’ve other scopes but that’s the heaviest 

[AKB]

Hi Tooth!

I had an HEQ-5 with a belt mod and it carried a C9.25 (9kg OTA) plus guide scope, heavy focuser, flip mirror and small camera.  Must have been at least 11kg…

Tony

[tooth_dr]

55 minutes ago, AKB said:

Hi Tooth!

I had an HEQ-5 with a belt mod and it carried a C9.25 (9kg OTA) plus guide scope, heavy focuser, flip mirror and small camera.  Must have been at least 11kg…

Tony

That does look pretty heavy!  I assume it guided well, one thing to carry, another to perform 😂

[AKB]

It's a while ago, now.  This particular configuration was a planetary imaging setup, of course, so tracking wasn't really an issue.  I mostly used it with an 8" F4 Netwtonian for deep sky stuff,which was certainly lighter, but I recall it was good enough at the time.

Not sure you'd do much better at that price point.

 

[tooth_dr]

8 minutes ago, AKB said:

It's a while ago, now.  This particular configuration was a planetary imaging setup, of course, so tracking wasn't really an issue.  I mostly used it with an 8" F4 Netwtonian for deep sky stuff,which was certainly lighter, but I recall it was good enough at the time.

Not sure you'd do much better at that price point.

 

I don’t think I will get better value. I used an (n)eq6 originally so I am familiar with SW. A friend has just offered to lend me his HEQ5 to try it out so I think that might be an excellent idea. 

Edited September 29, 2023 by tooth_dr

[AKB]

Nothing beats actually trying it out…