Sw AZ-EQ6

[LewisM]

Decided on my new mount - SW AZ-EQ6. Anyone got a good hands-on with it?

Will be selling my NEQ6 - problems resolved (there was an acrylic like residue binding one of the Dec cogs!)

[LewisM]

Seems Tasco is out of these till late Feb...

Anyone got one for sale?

[Wavytone]

Saw a demonstrator at Bintel in December, they said not before end January, and had a quick fiddle with it. There are many nice touches and it is obvious a lot of thought has gone into this mount from people who actually used it at night, although they re-used many parts from the EQ6. In short I think it is far better than any other mount under $3k, and the alternatives from Meade/Celestron look pretty lame against this.

For me the key highlights were:

a. Altaz operation and will track, for visual use.
b. It has shaft encoders, so once calibrated you can push it round the sky to find things by position - no need to lock the axes and flog the gears using GOTO all the time. About bloody time...
c. Can be integrated wirelessly with an iPad/iPhone to operate as a push-to scope, with any of several apps on the iPad;
d. Side-by side capability, as I have 2 scopes and quite like using my present mount in side-by-side mode.
e. Accommodates OTA's with Vixen or Losmandy rails,
f. Can be used equatorially, which might get me back into photography;
g. The drives are very quiet when slewing thanks to the belt drives to the worms.
h. Very positive clutch mechanism on both axes (huge improvement over EQ5/EQ6).

That said, there is a possible downside. The head is claimed to be good for a 20kg payload (scopes, not counting counterweights) but it depends how long the scope is (Mak/SCT vs Newtonian/refractor). I suspect this could be a bit optimistic as the worm wheels and shafts are the same size as those in an EQ6 - puny. The small worm wheels also imply that while its fine for visual use, its suitability for astrophotography will be about the same as an EQ6.

But I'm still not sure I can be bothered with it - thinking about building a 12-14" dob instead.