Mount Choice

[StuW]

Hi all,

I'm looking at purchasing a mount for my ED80 so I can take photo's. I have a budget of £450 - £500.

The two mounts I am trying to decide between are the Skywatcher EQ5-pro and the Celestron CG-5 both with goto. I know the Celestron has sturdier legs which would be better for imaging, but I've heard it is very noisy compared to the Skywatcher?

I assume a few people on here have had to make the same choice, what swayed you in the direction you took?

On a side note, I don't have enough posts to post in the retailer reviews section, but I want to give a big thumbs down to Scopes and Skies / Pulsar Optical. I ordered my Skywatcher ED80 from them on 19th Aug and received everything a week later apart from a 2x Barlow which was supposed to come free with the scope, after 2 emails and 4 phone calls I am yet to receive it and i'm stuck as it was a free gift item!...

[drummerp]

Personally, I'm no expert but I've just purchased an ED80 and was advised to purchase the HEQ5 rather then the EQ5 or the CG-5.

I had a CG5 non Goto and the HEQ5 is far more stronger and sturdy.

Also the Celestron mounts seam to be a lot noisy.

cheers

Neil

[Beardy Bob]

Yeah, the EQ5 is fine for an ED80 with a camera piggybacked (or prime focus), but for long exposures anything over about 20s or so at prime focus (e.g. for DSOs), or a minute or two if piggybacking a camera and using a very short focal length lens (e.g. widefield milky way shots) the EQ5/CG5 will struggle from what I've been told.

I've also heard the CG5 is much noisier than the EQ5!! Between the two I think the EQ5 gets better reviews.

[StuW]

The problem with the HEQ5 is the price, it's out of my budget. I would need the syntrek version to do PC Goto, so would need an interface aswell so ~ £650 total...

[eddy]

Does the HEQ5 track well?

[Yoddha]

StuW, when I was choosing my mount (LXD-75), all reviews were telling that this is one of the noisiest mounts in the world But I bought it and guess what - ~95% of the time I use it in near by mountain where the noise only can help to keep the animals away , ~4% in villages where then noise is not problem. In the rest of the cases I was wondering is there anybody who have problem with the sound. No complains till now...

Unless you have very nervous neighbors that can't slip, focus your attention on the other mount parameters I'm not familiar with CG-5, but the LXD-75 has silent mode which works on half speed on slew it definitely is more quiet.

[StuW]

Thanks everyone for your imput. I've read about 80% of the posts on this board and I've picked up a couple of things...

- I can't use EQMod on the Celestron

- Providing I get a good polar alignment and stick to lower widefield magnifications I can image fine.

- I can always use a webcam for guiding at slightly higher magnifications.

At the moment I'm leaning towards the EQ5 due to funds and functionality.

[Sparrow]

I have to disagree with Beardybob. I've been using the CG5 mount with goto now for a year for astrophotography and it's absolutely fine. Very sturdy and handles my setup without any problem (8" Newt, 80mm guide refractor, and two cameras. I'm also pulse guiding through the handset quite successfully. I've used it for widefield and magnified imaging without problems from the mount. I can't comment on the EQ5 pro as I haven't used it. I'm sure it's absolutely fine but I too was restricted by budget and I'm not dissappointed with the CG5.

As for noise - without having the two mounts side by side with the same set up on them, I don't think it's possible to make a valued opinion on the noise comparison. I haven't found the CG5 excessively noisy on fastest slew speed - yes it makes a noise but not what I would consider to be unreasonable.

[Dave-Ryan]

Keep an eye on ebay for a used HEQ5. I picked one up last year for £400 and it works great with my 80mm APO.

I now have a duel mounting bar on it carrying the 80mm APO and a SW80 for guiding.

[drummerp]

Keep an eye on ebay for a used HEQ5. I picked one up last year for £400 and it works great with my 80mm APO.

I now have a duel mounting bar on it carrying the 80mm APO and a SW80 for guiding.

Absolutely agree, keep looking for a second hand HEQ5 mounts, Astro Buy and sell sold a goto snyscan version for about £300 the other week.

Cheers#

Neil

[ollypenrice]

I also agree with the used HEQ5 option.

Olly

[PhoenixRising]

I've just sold a CG5 Goto, (upgraded to an NEQ6 Pro), and yes, it is a bit noisy when slewing, but not that bad. It was great with a camera or 80mm, both up to 5 minutes plus with quick polar alignment/drift alignment, unguided! Also, great for the price.

Not so good photographically with a 200P because of the weight with the guidescope etc, got up to 2 minutes 20 sec unguided and then had to gently adjust the backlash settings when guiding (Synguider), to get up to 4 mins. So this shows the limitations of the load capacity of a CG5/EQ5.

Its definately comparable with the EQ5 Goto, but bear in mind, it doesn't leave you with alot of headroom should you get a bigger scope/more complicated set up. I reckon you should always get the next mount up from the one you think you need.

So the HEQ5 Pro would be spot on. I saw two sell for £500 here recently, so I'd be patient and bag one of those.

[ollypenrice]

I've just sold a CG5 Goto, (upgraded to an NEQ6 Pro), and yes, it is a bit noisy when slewing, but not that bad. It was great with a camera or 80mm, both up to 5 minutes plus with quick polar alignment/drift alignment, unguided! Also, great for the price.

Not so good photographically with a 200P because of the weight with the guidescope etc, got up to 2 minutes 20 sec unguided and then had to gently adjust the backlash settings when guiding (Synguider), to get up to 4 mins. So this shows the limitations of the load capacity of a CG5/EQ5.

Its definately comparable with the EQ5 Goto, but bear in mind, it doesn't leave you with alot of headroom should you get a bigger scope/more complicated set up. I reckon you should always get the next mount up from the one you think you need.

So the HEQ5 Pro would be spot on. I saw two sell for £500 here recently, so I'd be patient and bag one of those.

Seriously? Round stars in 5 minute subs through an 80mm scope, unguided? I'm amazed.

Olly

[MartinB]

I could only imagine it being possible near the NCP

[PhoenixRising]

Ok, I was tired last night. I was getting up to 5 mins with a 50mm prime lense. 2.20ish with the 80mm unguided.

[ollypenrice]

Ah, more along the lines I'd have expected but certainly very acceptable indeed. The next question would be, how well does the PE guide out? I had excellent unguided tracking all through my troubles with the Tak EM200 but a terrible respose to the guider until the mount went back for attention. Probably some kind of spurious signal being generated somewhere.

Olly

[russ]

Ok, I was tired last night. I was getting up to 5 mins with a 50mm prime lense. 2.20ish with the 80mm unguided.

That sounds about what i used to get from the LXD75 unguided. 2min subs with the ED80 and DSLR but with a 40% failure rate.

[PhoenixRising]

That's spot on what I was getting, 40% failure rate, not bad though getting 4-5 minute widefields unguided. You've only to look at denebs work to see what can be done without forking out for guiding.

I reckon to get more out of a ch5 you'd have to do the astroboy servicing.

[dmahon]

Thanks everyone for your imput. I've read about 80% of the posts on this board and picked up on a couple of things..

What I picked up is that someone will suggest a mount even largerthan the one you were thinking of. I was considering the same scope and a HEQ5 and people are suggesting an NEQ6 to me!

[ollypenrice]

Ouch, 40% failure does argue the case for an autoguider! On my last three nights imaging (total 13 hours) for the Heart, Soul and Double Cluster mosaic I lost no frames at all, though I didn't use one with a meteor in it - which was probably a mistake since it would have added some fun to the picture.

Olly

[Uplooker]

StuW,

Have a look here at this. Does this fit the bill???

Skywatcher EQ5 Pro Mount For Sale

[moocher]

U.K. Astronomy Buy & Sell

Alan:D