Imaging Mount

[adamsp123]

Taking a price point around £5K what mount would you choose for Astro imaging?

[E621Keith]

Not an imager and never go to spend this much.

£5K can buy some very nice kit, EM200, CGE pro, AP Mach 1, HGM titan ... not too sure about the UK price of the last two, but they are around $6K USD.

[roundycat]

it might be possible to get a used AP900 for that money.

Dennis

[shaunster]

How about seeing what the new skywatcher Eq8 is like?

[Psychobilly]

Potentially a nice problem to have... although with the way the weathers going in the UK I would probably use the money to get a fix at Ollys ...

Who sells high end mounts in the UK these days?

Billy...

[AndyH]

I'm not an imager and never will be, but, If I had that sort of dosh, I'd buy an AWR enabled goto Intes-Micro Alter D6...............drool. That's the only thing that would get me to sell me Tal 2M mount.

Andy.

[Whippy]

I'm not an imager and never will be, but, If I had that sort of dosh, I'd buy an AWR enabled goto Intes-Micro Alter D6...............drool. That's the only thing that would get me to sell me Tal 2M mount.

Andy.

I'd go along with that, I believe the IM D6's are pretty nice mounts. Although it goes to show how much you have to spend to out-do an EQ6.

Tony..

[Psychobilly]

Widescreen Center seems to have plenty to choose from...

[MartinB]

I went through this decision making process some time ago. In the frame were CGE, losmandy G11, EM200, Gemini M42 (?), Mach1GTO and, pushing the boat out even more, an AP900.

At the time, there seemed little hope of an observatory. I felt that the AP900 would be hard going for a portable set up and more than I needed capacity wise. The CGE and G11 were dismissed on account of falling a little short on performance and too many reports of problems.

In the end I narrowed it down to the Mach1GTO and the EM200. The Mach1GTO was a clear winner in terms of electronics with it's handset and PEC, it also looks pretty cool. The great selling point for me was the EM200's sublime polar scope. It is a fantastic time saver achieving superb alignment in about 2 minutes. Good enough for 30min+ subs.

Even though I finally managed to sort an obsy I've never regretted the decision. It runs off Sky 6 and uses Chuch Ferranda's excellent driver which provides the EM200 just about all the features Tak could never be bothered with including parking, slew limits and so on. It doesn't have PEC but the PE curve is very smooth and +/- 5 arc secs. It is a very boring mount, it just tracks

If you want to go above 16kg payload then go AP900/1200/new Paramount MX (just keep saving!). Some might be tempted by a G11 or CGE, everything I've read suggests that the they don't have the ultra quality tracking you are looking for.

[adamsp123]

Jury is till out on this splashing the cash! but having got a nice xmas bonus plus I need to sell some kit anyway I am considering getting a top or near to top of the range amateur mount.

Thanks for all the ideas, never thought of the IM Alter D6 and I will investigate further.

I probably wait until the EQ7...8 whatever hits the streets and see what that can do.

Martin regarding the EM200 I never thought of that one either although IIRC Olly had troubles with his....but I feel that the AP900/1200 would be very nice...

So carry on saving and see what the EQ8 can do and take it from there.

cheers Pete

[ollypenrice]

I did have gremlins in my EM200 but it seems fine now, though sensitive to guide software parameters. All of the makes (other than Paramount) mentioned in this thread have appeared at least once down here and none of them has a perfectly unblemished record. This might surprise you but it is true. So you cannot buy a mount and be dead certain that it will tick away straight from the box, always and without fail.

My own homework led me to agree with Martin's conclusions so for me it would be AP Mach One or Tak. I went in reverse order when I splashed out and would go for AP first and Tak second now, I think.

I have an iOptron IEQ45 coming for review so that should be interesting.

One I would not touch till they sort it out is the ASA but that is over budget anyway.

Olly

[adamsp123]

After seeing some interesting and postive posts about a New mount control board for Vixen mounts that uses the apparently rather good Celestron mount control software for a relatively low cost of 170 euros, I ordered one for my Atlux and now have it installed and running, the improvement in tracking/guiding is amazing, pity the starbook is gone and replaced by Celestron Nexremote S/W but the improvement is well worth it, some of the best money I have spent in this hobby...

( I have written a more detailed report in the review section)

So it looks for now I will stay with the exellently made Atlux under Celestron mount control, saving me a pretty penny or two.... .