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"EQ" mounts

bing434

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bing434

bing434

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Hi there guys, as a child I always had a fondness for astronomy however went off the subject due to one thing and another. Now, at the age of 22, I've recently rekindled my love of the field and hope to make my first purchase of a telescope in the near future.

My question to you veterans is this: what is the difference, say, between an EQ2 mount and an EQ6. I understand the difference between an equatorial and an alt-azimuth mount but I'd like to know what those numbers mean. This might seem like a stupid question to some of you but I can't figure it out for myself and can't be bothered to look through search engine pages to find out - SGL seems to be a better resource anyway :headbang:

Thanks in advance!

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John

John

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Hi and welcome to SGL.

Basically there is a range of equatorial mounts marketed by the Skywatcher brand and they range between EQ1 to EQ6. The EQ1 is a very lightweight and basic mount for small scopes only while the EQ6 is very sturdy and will cope with much larger and heavier telescopes. There are also variations which have no drives, drives and computerised GOTO systems which can locate objects for you to look at once the mount has been properly set up. The general advice is to get the sturdiest mount you can because there is nothing more frustrating than an under-mounted scope whether you are interested in visual observing or imaging (astro photography). The GOTO option is available from EQ3 to EQ6 levels.

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John

John

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So the number is basically a sign of the strength of the mount and, therefore, the size of telescope it can support?

Seems simple enough, thanks for your reply.

Gareth :p

Yes thats more or less it Gareth ;)

Don't ask me why there is an EQ3-2 in the range though :headbang:

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orionhunter

orionhunter

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is there a website which can show the basic differences of each model?

im certainly confused as to what is an eq1 eq2 eq3 etc...

the one ive just got, i call an eq1, but it maybe an eq2 or even an eq3?

i can tell the big ones apart from the small ones. ie the 5 and 6 models

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John

John

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I have never understood the difference in EQ mounts.

EQ1-EQ5 etc.

My Celestron 90EQ Firstscope is??????

Probably the worst................cheap.

The EQ1 - 6 system was coined by Skywatcher for their products. Rather confusingly Celestron use a similar, but different system, eg: the CG4 is roughly equivilent to a Skywatcher EQ3-2 and a CG5 is similar, though with a little more capacity, to the Skywatcher EQ5.

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LukeSkywatcher

LukeSkywatcher

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Cost and stability.. Bigger numbers means more of both :headbang:

I dont know what i bought. I bought a 90mm Celestron refractor for about 300 euro from the main Celestron dearler in Dublin (Astronomy Ireland).I could not even start to guess what EQ# the mount is.

Its solid enough but what the hell do i know...........

I am now having a very intense love affair with my SkyWatcher Heritage 130P Dob.

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