SkyWatcher EQ6 Pro + EQmod

[merlinxlm]

Hello everyone,

I have just received my new shiny SkyWatcher EQ6 Pro + EQmod from Opticstar, a brilliant service. Where do I start with this monster, first impressions are its a very big and sturdy mount. The build quality looks amazing. I have assembled the unit and made sure that it was level. I have figgured out how to use the polar alignment scope with using the date and time circles, at last. I switched the unit on last night for the first time, imputed my details, but I did not complete the polar alignment procedure, I was in my garage.

I decided to try out the guided tour on some planets and the moon. All I can say is, Its a brilliant piece of equipment, it slewed to the position of the planets/moon with ease, I had a rough guess as to their position. I then adjusted the slew rate to its maximum speed of 800x, just to try out, even at that speed it was reasonably quiet. I cant wait to try it out on the next clear night.

I'll post some more reviews when I try it out properly, I cant wait.

Thank you.

[misterp]

Hi,

Search for polarfinder.exe on the web, it tells you where Polaris should be in your polar scope. Works a treat and its free

Hope that helps

Ian

[jarbi]

... or in EQMOD, you can click Setup and then click on the grey button with title 'Polaris HA' . I just discovered it in the latest version of EQMOD, maybe it exist there for a long time already.

clear skies,

Janos

[merlinxlm]

Thank you, I'll check it out when I've installed the EQMOD on my latop.

Thank you.

[merlinxlm]

I've finally set up EQMOD, I set up Stellarium and StellariumScope. I've set up the scope to communicate with the laptop and the apps. Then I set up the logitech rumble pad 2 to control the mount. Then I installed the EQToure and EQmosaic. Brilliant extras, to install on to the EQMOD. The only problem I had was being able to control the mount through Stellarium. Then I found that I had to highlight an object then press Ctrl+1 to slew to the highlighted object, brilliant the first time the mount slewed to the object.

I have to agree with all the comments regarding the EQMOD, it’s a brilliant modification, you’ve got all the charts at your finger tips, all the mount control's and adjustments. Plus the Bluetooth control, well worth doing. Just hope the weather clears so I can try it out, I cant wait!

Thank you all for you're help and advice.

[merlinxlm]

Hello everyone, I've just had my first night out with my new SkyWatcher EQ6 Pro + EQmod. I had previously set up the mount and the apps in the garage, but the weather had been against me. I took out set up tonight for the first time, I decided to do a 5 star alignment after polar aligning the mount, with the built in EQMOD polar aligning tool. The quality of the mount was really good, well worth the money, I hope it will last me a lot of years. I slewed towards the great Hercules cluster "M13", but the cloud's were covering it. I then checked with Vega, Saturn and the "M5". All turned up near to dead centre in the FOV. I was blown away at how accurate it was, I'm going to get use to the new set up before I start on the guided set up, the best part was being able to control the mount with the bluetooth controller. I only had a short time with the kit tonight, the clouds were closing in and the wind really picked up. I cant wait until my next outing.

Thank you.

[PaulG]

The majority of that went completely over my head but it sounds mighty impressive.

Must be great for everything to come together with no hiccups and just work (which is sometimes unsual for electronics).

Paul

[George]

And if you have a suitable webcam or guider you can use this utility to fine tune your polar alignment.

EQAlign Project

Enjoy your mount its a beautiful piece of kit

[merlinxlm]

Thanks for that, when I get my self a web cam I'll try out the App.

Thank you.

[therockfrog]

Great to read this. I just received a very good used Atlas and am going to be working on the EQMOD thing to see how it compares with the hand controller operation. I love tinkering with stuff so the EQMOD seems like a great application.