What's the biggest scope you can put on an EQ5?

[MartianHill]

On 23/11/2023 at 22:02, Ags said:

Yes, larger is not always better. I had an inkling an EQ5 would be ok for a C8, which isn't bad as they come up second-hand at reasonable prices. But if I get an EQ5 it would firstly be for my current scopes- both the 90mm refractor and the C6 would go well on it. I'm not tempted by hyperstar, but if I can get hold of Starizona Night Owl that's close enough at f4.

The other scope I do think about in the 8 (ish) inch classical cassegrain. It seems to be a bit better for visual use on the Moon and planets than a C8, but probably a bit worse photographically as it has slightly less resolution. But it is a bit heavier than a C8 - too much for an EQ5?

I suspect the 8” CC is a little bit too heavy for an EQ5 photographically, plus the scopes operating aperture is only around 190mm.

Edited November 25, 2023 by MartianHill

[bosun21]

On 23/11/2023 at 09:21, Moonshed said:

That’s disappointing, I was thinking you had a weird obsession about watching gears mesh. Hmm, that sly wink.......admit it, you broke the cover. 

The manual mount (EQ5) when you fit them with a dual motor kit leaves the DEC gears exposed. With the go to pro version of the mount both RA and DEC are covered.

[Mr Spock]

I wanted my EQ5 to be as basic as possible. So, tracking only.

Getting back to basics, mount and scope, is what renewed my interest in observing 

[Ags]

That was my thinking too - basic EQ mount with tracking. The HEQ5 Syntrek would have been ideal but it's been off the market for a while. I am going back to thinking that a goto 10" dob is the most realistic option for reasonable aperture and portability. Maybe the 12" if i can rejig my garden and sort out a scope trolley.

[bosun21]

3 hours ago, Mr Spock said:

I wanted my EQ5 to be as basic as possible. So, tracking only.

Getting back to basics, mount and scope, is what renewed my interest in observing 

I have one of each, and on most nights while out with the go to I just skip the alignment and use it solely as a tracking mount.

[orly_andico]

I can understand the desire for a basic mount.. it’s why I use that old Takahashi 90S - dead simple, runs off a USB power bank. No need for GoTo alignment. Slo-mo knobs to move it around. Setting circles.

An SP-DX would be another viable option if you can find one. The GP-DX is more common but has no setting citcles.

[John]

I tried a Celestron AVX, an HEQ5 and a Vixen GP-DX while I was searching for a mount for my 130mm F/9.2 refractor. The AVX was GOTO but I just skipped through the setup and used the handset to control the motor drives. The HEQ5 and GP-DX were non-GOTO, just driven in RA and DEC.

 

Edited November 25, 2023 by John

[Ags]

5 hours ago, John said:

I tried a Celestron AVX

What did you make of the AVX mount? Just a dressed-up EQ5, or something more than that?

[John]

10 hours ago, Ags said:

What did you make of the AVX mount? Just a dressed-up EQ5, or something more than that?

It's closer to the HEQ5 than the EQ5 I thought. Of the ones I mentioned above it actually did the best job with the 130mm F/9.2 triplet. I didn't use the GOTO system so I can't comment on that.

My 130mm F/9.2 triplet has similar mounting needs to a 150mm F/8 doublet in terms of weight and length. In the end I ditched EQ mounts and found a superb T-Rex alt-azimuth mount, which did the job far, far better than any of the EQ mounts.

 

Edited November 26, 2023 by John

[Ags]

FLO has a good price on the AVX, it seems to have the least 'goto premium' while still having a decent capacity. Sadly European retailers don't offer similar sharp pricing. If it wasn't for Brexit, I could make them price-match

[orly_andico]

Why not try https://www.astrotreff.de/marketplace/ ?

I sometimes see amazing bargains there.

I think if you want single-axis, basic, it's hard to beat an SP-DX (the SP would not be materially better than an EQ-5, and the GP-DX has no setting circles).

[Ags]

Das ist eine gude tipf! I only frequent the te-les-koop.nl but the German market is obviously bigger. First thing I spot is an old EQ5 with motor and polar scope for EUR 210 😀

I have been pondering my situation for a while and I have settled on getting an EQ5 with dual axis drives after all. It will be perfect for all my current scopes. If I do decide to go big, I think a 10" dob on an EQ platform can always be added later. 

[orly_andico]

I remembered that the SP (and SP-DX) have verniers on their setting circles. Even my (various) Taks don't have that (the Losmandy GM8/G-11 have verniers as well, but they are larger and heavier).

With verniers you can get sub-1 degree pointing, around 0.1-0.2 degree is usually doable.

Incidentally.. I think dual axis drives overrated. The EQ-5 and it's Vixen cousins have so much backlash on the DEC that the 16X or 32X "high speed" mode is imprecise due to the unpredictable nature of the backlash being taken up.  I find it's easier to "feel out" the backlash by hand, with a DEC slo-mo knob.  This may not be the case at higher magnifications where the 2X or 8X speed on the DEC of a dual-axis drive may be more useful, but for my use case (100X or so at most) a single-axis drive is great.

Edited December 5, 2023 by orly_andico

[Ags]

Or maybe this...

https://www.firstlightoptics.com/equatorial-astronomy-mounts/sky-watcher-eq-al55i-pro-go-to-astronomy-mount.html

Ok it is goto, but I'll forgive it for that if it is any good!

[GreatAttractor]

I had had an EQ5 (rebadged as Bresser MON-2), worked fine for visual and Solar System imaging with a SW Mak 180 and even with a SW Explorer 150PL (150 mm f/8 Newt).