Who has what mounts ?

[Ian Robinson]

Celestron New Polaris (with only RA drive).
Celestron CG5 (dual axis drives)
EQ1-mini (with only RA drive works OK for wide fields and exposures under 10mins)
Coming soon Vixen Atlux with all the bells and whistles.

[montewilson]

Takahashi EM-200 - damn I'm happy with it.......

I subscribe to the theory that you spend more on the mount than any of your scopes.

[gbeal]

AP400GTO, and like Monte, am happy as. Also subscribe to the same theory.
If the 400 has a fault, it would be nice to be bigger, but looking on the bright side, it keeps me from getting a bigger scope(s), LOL.

[montewilson]

A good mount with a cheap scope will always take better pictures than a cheap mount with a good scope.

Sadly, a lot of people insist on trying the latter option.

[Omaroo]

Losmandy G11 / Gemini
Takahashi Teegul SkyPatrol II
Chinese EQ5 equiv

Happy with the two top ones. Really unhappy with but understanding of the bottom one. You gets whats you pays for.

Well stated Monte - I agree. My obs mount will be an EM-400 or NJP

[OneOfOne]

Celestron CGE, very happy, but it is a bit of a heavy beastie!
Used to have a Celestron CG5, also quite good for visual but never tried it with photography.

[middy]

Saxon Dob base. :P Would love an EQ6 though.

[xelasnave]

Monte said.........A good mount with a cheap scope will always take better pictures than a cheap mount with a good scope. ...
and this is a fair generalisation that newcommers should think long and hard why someone who has been there thinks this way...the mount is it ..does not matter how sharp stars are if PE or other flaws in the mount give you a sharp jiggly electric worm.

I have an eq6 which I am very happy with... but if I had the spare cash would go for something like a Paramount mount... which I rate as the best I have seen to date... well it looks impressive and the work I have seen with these mounts indicates their quality.

alex:):):)

[JohnG]

An excellent G-11 with Gemini in an Observatory, permanently mounted.

A good GM-8 on the G-11 tripod as a field mount.

Cheers

JohnG

[astro_nutt]

Saxon 10" dob on home made alt-azimuth with setting circles, motorized friction drive with automotive bearings on both axes, just so I can keep objects in FOV at the touch of a button..luxury!!
Well stated Monte..it is the purpose of the mount to allow the optics to operate to their maxium efficency!
Cheers!!

[g__day]

Vixen Atlux with SkySensor2000-PC
Celestron CG5
Eq3-2 motorised

[Starkler]

Heq5Pro, because nobody seems to be selling alt-az mounts beefy enough to carry my ed115s refractor.

[netwolf]

Got a G-11 non-goto with NGC-MAX DSC. Soon to be upgraded with a siderealtechnology goto system. I would concur with what Monty and Alex have stated that the mount is the most important component in a Imaging setup. I was fortunate to find a G-11 at the time when I was considering a mount purchase. I was looking at the EQ6, and I still think this mount has a lot of potential for beginners who should really start with smaller FL. And at smaller FL's the mount errors are more forgiving.

[jase]

Losmandy Titan. Its performance is good to very good. Its certainly not my final mount.

[Lester]

Goliath G.E. 1980 vintage with 14" Thomas Matthis R.A. drive. Solid as a rock, just not computerised.

Ordered Losmandy Titan, should be here in 5 months.

A solid mount makes astronomy much more enjoyable.

[leon]

Losmany G11 on a permanent pier in the observatory, i'm sure it will out last me.

Leon

[cahullian]

eq5 seeing how it's the best mount I have, I am happy with it until I have to kneel on the grass to look in the ep. He he he

Gazz

[Miaplacidus]

Televue Panoramic with Telepod and encoders set up for Argo Navis, which is overkill for my 80mm scope. Rebalancing is an issue with a short refractor, and looking at zenith is impossible.

So in many ways I prefer my Helix Hercules mount on Manfrotto tripod, which is great for grab and go, especially if I am using binoviewers and not clutching at high powers.

One day I will have a pier....

[allan gould]

Losmandy G11 with Gemini and an HEQ5-Pro.
Love them both as when they are setup properly they just work.

[citivolus]

Celestron CGE, this one will last me quite a few years.

[netwolf]

I really like the Goto that Celestron and Meade make its so easy to use. I wonder if Meade will release anything on part with the CGE, which is a very good mount also. But the price in Australia is just a joke.

[solissydney]

Got a proper mount, an Astro mount made i Q/land, 20 - 30 years old, I think.Would not part with it.

[Stephen65]

While it's usually said that if you want to image you should spend more on your mount than your scope, it depends on what sort of imaging you want to do.

For lunar and planetary imaging you don't need remotely the same degree of tracking accuracy as for long exposure DSO imaging - typically my lunar imaging runs are only about 60-90 seconds long at 30fps and provided the mount can track for that length of time with say only 10-20% variation in the FOV then that's more than adequate.

I find that even at long focal lengths (say 9 meters plus) my EQ-6 does give enough tracking accuracy for lunar or planetary imaging if I do a decent polar alignment. The same polar alignment also gives me a couple of hours of in-the-FOV goto's.

If I were to get into long exposure DSO imaging I would think about upgrading my mount though.