mount quandry... AGAIN!

[GordonCopestake]

I'm in the market for a new mount. I'm currently using a manual Vixen GP which is great but I would like to upgrade to a motorised or even GOTO mount. I've owned a CG5-GT before now and liked it, but it was quite loud and I would prefer a more acurate mount for basic photography. I'm only going to be using small refractors and a DSLR so dont need a massive load capacity.

I have a number of options open to me, but wanted to bounce a few ideas off the forum to see what people thought.

My first option is the HEQ5 Pro (Sirius) for £780

http://www.firstlightoptics.com/proddetail.php?prod=proheq5

This is the little brother of the EQ6(Atlas) and would solve all my problems. It's a great mount and one i'de enjoy owning. I doubt i'd ever need another mount again. However there are a number of cheaper alternatives open to me in my situation:

My other option is the keep the Vixen GP and add motors and/or GOTO to it. The Vixen MT1 motors are expensive however at £99 each plus another £100 for the controller. This means it would cost me £300 to motorise the GP. I could use lower quality motors from Synta designed for the EQ5 at a fairly low price of £119

http://www.firstlightoptics.com/proddetail.php?prod=dualmotoreq5

This however doesn't allow me to guide or give me GOTO. Another option has appeared that i've not heard much of: Synta has recently released the Skyscan system for the eq3/2 and eq5 mounts. I believe that this is identical to the one that Orion sells for the SVP:

http://tinyurl.com/2w6u55

There is a vauge price for this in the UK of £399. Now this is my main quandry:

For the same price as the Skyscan upgrade for the GP/EQ5 I can purchase the non-goto HEQ5 (Sirius) and possibly use the EQDirect mod to give GOTO and guiding. I'm not sure which would be the best combination. The advantage of the HEQ5 non-GOTO is that I could purchase the GOTO upgrade for it at a later date as finances allow plus it has a higher load capacity, although that isn't really an issue for me at the moment.

I've been thinking about this for about a week and still havn't come to any decently conclusions. Any thoughts on the merits or pitfalls of the above options would be appreciated.

[Kai]

I would plump for the Heq5 as its all there out of the box,and if you want to do a bit of serious imaging then you are also able to guide with it.

I would say this as its the mount i recently purchased so i suppose i am biased

Ps i will swap your vixen for my eyepieces as it seem they are both just as hard to move on

[GordonCopestake]

I think you are right Kai, just bite the bullet and go for the HEQ5 Pro. Just wanted to make sure that I had it right in my own head though!

[blinky]

Gordon have you looked at the price of the HEQ5 with a Skywatcher scope? From what I have seen it only costs another 60-80quid or so to include a 200mm Newt. I would think you could get more than that selling it on astrobuysell, especially if you include your old mount.

Just a thought

[Greg]

Gordon...

HEQ5 PRO..

That's my opinion ...

Does everything the EQ6 will do although won't carry as much payload. Same GOTO and you can guide with it..

And it's fairly portable..

[Kaptain Klevtsov]

Gordon if for roughly the same amount of brass yuo can pimp the EQ5 or get an HEQ5, go the whole hog and get a HEQ5 if you think you might need to do imaging later. My recent crab and horsey pictures were done on the HEQ5 and I'd say that they speak for themselves. I'm totally happy with mine, especially as I've done your suggested guideriser Mod. and it's loads better.

Because you're worth it.

Captain Chaos

[GordonCopestake]

you could be right. Plus I have some cash owed to me for a website job and that will cover the HEQ5 Pro. Just means the missus doesn't get treated...... Valentines day and all that coming up.... Food for thought though. If I can flog my GP then it's a done deal I think.

[Greg]

Just means the missus doesn't get treated...... Valentines day and all that coming up....

Sshhhh

We won't tell....

[dazza1639]

Sorry to hijack your thread but I've got a query. As I have previously posted I'm going to be in the market for a new scope in the next few months, I was going to get a fork mounted SCT but after some discussion I was told that I may be better off with an EQ setup, So I'm considering a Celestron C8-SGT but I've heard some bad reports on the CG-5 mount that comes with it ie. noise not & not being very good at tracking if you add additional load say a Skywatcher ED80. So my questions are

Will the CG-5 mount be OK if I add an ED80 to the C8 at a later date?

How easy is the setup and operation of the CG-5 compared to a fork mount?

Would the extra £450 be worth it to get an HEQ5 instead of the CG-5 mount?

The £450 is based on buying the C8 OTA for £969 and the HEQ5 mount for £780 = £1749 or the C8-SGT with the CG-5 Mount included for £1299

Thanks

Darren

[GordonCopestake]

I would buy the c8 second hand, they go for about £400. I would also go with the heq5 not the cg5

[dazza1639]

I'm a new kit kind of guy. I like having dealer backup, I like knowing what I'm getting and if something is wrong I can always take it back. With second hand you don't get this everything is bought as seen, and I've heard that a some of the C8 SCT had dodgy optics. I suppose if I wasn't worried about dealer back up I could always import to save money. But I don't think you can beat having dealer support.

[GordonCopestake]

I see your point, but the C8 depreciates so quickly if you ever came to sell your OTA you would only get £400 for it. The C925 is a quite a bit better and resells at about £1000.

You could always buy your mount and put your 114 on it until you can save your pennies and buy the C8 new?

[Rob]

Joining the C8 club again then Gordon?. Mine (which was yours) now has a baader full lenght dovetail rail on the underside of the tube... much better than the poor Polaris bracket type thingy it have before... rock solid!!

They are great scopes!. Do you want to make me an offer??..

[dazza1639]

Not a bad Idea, I think I'm ready to up the scope though, I was considering getting the Skywatcher ED80 Pro with the HEQ5 Pro but I believe that the ED80's small aperture my not be much better than the current scope visually and thats what I do most.

[GordonCopestake]

I am considering a C8 again yeah Rob, but gotta get my mount sorted first. I went dob for the winter and need to regain a decent EQ mount. Going to go for the HEQ5 Pro new so that will eat up a lot of cash. I'll buy a C8 when the mount is sorted and i've got some cash again... could be a while! If you are still looking to get rid in a month or 2 i might take it off your hands, it's a great 'scope with nice optics. Although the XLT coatings increase the resale value and give brighter images, especially under LP skies (which i have plenty of )

[MartinB]

Adopting firmest possible headmaster voice here - my advice young Copestake is to stop changing your mount!

A while ago Jamie was considering selling his losmandy G8 to fund an EQ6. You told him he must be mad - the reasoning being that the extra load bearing capacity didn't justify the loss of losmandy quality. Follow your own advice Gordon. The GP is an absolute peach of a mount. With a bit of tlc you can get the uncorrected PE down to 5 arc seconds. My Super Polaris carries my ED80 ZS66 camera filter wheel and guide head effortlessly. I'm sure the HEQ5 is a great mount but the vixen is a tried and tested class act. Invest in this mount big time, spend more than you will recoup when selling it on then you will want to keep it!!!!! My Super Polaris is old and battered but is the best purchase I have ever made with the exception of a Telrad.

[GordonCopestake]

Not a bad Idea, I think I'm ready to up the scope though, I was considering getting the Skywatcher ED80 Pro with the HEQ5 Pro but I believe that the ED80's small aperture my not be much better than the current scope visually and thats what I do most.

The ED80 is a great scope for imaging, but for visual 80mm of aperture just isn't a lot. The C8 makes a great visual scope, but have you considered the Explorer 200 newt on the HEQ5?

http://www.firstlightoptics.com/proddetail.php?prod=200heq5pro

Same aperture as the C8 and a much wider FOV which for visual DSO's is what you want. The C8 is a great jack of all trades but the explorer 200 isn't shoddy either

[Rob]

I am considering a C8 again yeah Rob, but gotta get my mount sorted first. I went dob for the winter and need to regain a decent EQ mount. Going to go for the HEQ5 Pro new so that will eat up a lot of cash. I'll buy a C8 when the mount is sorted and i've got some cash again... could be a while! If you are still looking to get rid in a month or 2 i might take it off your hands, it's a great 'scope with nice optics. Although the XLT coatings increase the resale value and give brighter images, especially under LP skies (which i have plenty of )

Nice buy on the mount there... I may or may not sell the C8, its such a great scope. I don't want to regret it afterwards.

I will give you first dibs if I do though.

Rob

[GordonCopestake]

Adopting firmest possible headmaster voice here - my advice young Copestake is to stop changing your mount!

A while ago Jamie was considering selling his losmandy G8 to fund an EQ6. You told him he must be mad - the reasoning being that the extra load bearing capacity didn't justify the loss of losmandy quality. Follow your own advice Gordon. The GP is an absolute peach of a mount. With a bit of tlc you can get the uncorrected PE down to 5 arc seconds. My Super Polaris carries my ED80 ZS66 camera filter wheel and guide head effortlessly. I'm sure the HEQ5 is a great mount but the vixen is a tried and tested class act. Invest in this mount big time, spend more than you will recoup when selling it on then you will want to keep it!!!!! My Super Polaris is old and battered but is the best purchase I have ever made with the exception of a Telrad.

You could be right Martin, my only problem is that it will cost me more than the HEQ5 Pro to get the GP up to scratch. It needs a taller tripod, motors and controller and i'de like GOTO and guiding. All these things push up the price to that of a brand new HEQ5 (Which I can have for a VERY good price brand new from Steve).

[GordonCopestake]

I am considering a C8 again yeah Rob, but gotta get my mount sorted first. I went dob for the winter and need to regain a decent EQ mount. Going to go for the HEQ5 Pro new so that will eat up a lot of cash. I'll buy a C8 when the mount is sorted and i've got some cash again... could be a while! If you are still looking to get rid in a month or 2 i might take it off your hands, it's a great 'scope with nice optics. Although the XLT coatings increase the resale value and give brighter images, especially under LP skies (which i have plenty of )

Nice buy on the mount there... I may or may not sell the C8, its such a great scope. I don't want to regret it afterwards.

I will give you first dibs if I do though.

Rob

I regret selling it hehe

[dazza1639]

I thought about a larger newt, I don't think they are comfortable scopes to use on an eq mount. I seem to be forever rotating the scope in the tube rings to get the eyepiece in a decent position for viewing, when I get the eyepiece right the finder is in an awkward position. With my current scope being light I tend to move the mount accidentally when rotating the tube.

[GordonCopestake]

True. The C8 or a refractor would solve that problem, but then you are back up to big £££'s

[MartinB]

Actually Gordon, you have a similar quandry to me. I would like goto for my SP. I could get cheap skyview jobby but that doesn't have permanent PEC. Or I could fork out £750 on the superb AWR package which has excellent motors, permanent PEC and a good bloke who puts it all together called Alan Buckman. Now I would "happily" spend the £750 on the AWR kit despite the fact that I could get a new HEQ5 except that at some stage I might be wanting to consider a bigger apo, maybe an ED120, I think the SP would then be taken beyond it's limits esp if side by side with the ED80. So it's then either an EQ6 or a G11. But that might be a couple of years away so will have to continue without goto!

The Super Polaris is so easy to cart out into the garden

[GordonCopestake]

Thats one of the reasons I like the GP so much, it's light! I've owned 2 GP's and loved them both, it's just a shame that it costs so much to add all the goodies to them. I was half considering going straight to the EQ6 Pro and then I would never need another mount ever again (i'm not likely to want to spend massive amounts on a AP1200 etc). But the weight puts me off a little as I dont have a permanent setup at the moment (although one is vaugly planned)