Thanks for the advice Alex,
I must admit that I have looked at the CGEM and originally thought it would be the answer to my questions.
Unfortunately I am not sure now that it is what I am after. For the life of me I cannot understand why they would be advertised at $3000 US dollars in the States and advertised for roughly $8000 AUD in Oz. The exchange rate is bad but surely not that bad.
The EQ6 with C11 seems infinitely sensible to me, although I am not sure about the off-axis guider. I have read that a small ED80 can be guided by webcam and K3CCD (there is a guiding capacity in the software). There is also the Orion Scope Guider which is not overly expensive.
I will be using a Canon EOS 350d that I already have for imaging and the weight of the Camera must also be considered. As you have said, balancing will be crucial and I am happy to learn and also to do a lot of crying and hair pulling on the way.
The other option would be a LX200 10" out of the box but I don't particularly want to go down the Wedge track and I think I could get the C11 and EQ6 for considerably less money. (I am talking myself into it)
The idea of upgrading the mount is also a good one so once again thanks for the advice.
All other advice greatly appreciated.
Regards
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