[Wavytone]

All good - in the end.

I bought mine from Bintel and it was just as well because the original unit that arrived was faulty and Bintel replaced it for another. No argument.

I was tempted to buy either an iOptron iEQ45 or a Losmandy GM811G but the lack of decent local support was a concern - if anything is not right the shipping costs to return are prohibitive and basically you could end up having paid for little more than a useless pile of metal. OTOH the EQ6 and AZEQ6 are common, local support from Bintel/Tasco is good, plenty of parts and spares and Skywatcher have shown some ability to update the firmware to remove bugs occasionally, so the chances of getting a useful life of say 10 years or so are quite good.

Last year I was somewhat skeptical at the capacity of the EQ6 series mounts but I had an opportunity to try my 7" f/15 Mak on an older EQ6, which worked fine. The AZEQ6 is a bit better in a few respects - larger RA worm, vastly improved altitude adjuster and beefier dec axis. After upgrading to my current scope (Santel MK91, 228 aperture, 3100 focal length, weight 15kg) the AZEQ6 I bought carries this easily and is a pleasure to use.

It slews fast and quietly (its not a coffee-grinder !), GOTO works well enough, though the resolution could benefit from finer encoders (hint: Skywatcher you really need to step up to 300,000 step encoders) and as for the SynScan user interface... well its very dated like a bad 1990's game handset, but it does work well enough.

It also works fine in EQ or AZ modes, no issues.

Regarding power supply, Bintel did advise do NOT try to run this off the PowerTank or similar LiPO gadgets - they simply do not have the capacity to supply the PEAK current required when slewing - the result being the motors will stall. In my case I use a 9AH SLA battery to power mine (from BatteryWorld in Chatswood) and this is perfect for a nights observing, though note if you want to supply dew heaters , laptops or other power-hungry devices you will need a bigger battery capacity. BatteryWorld can supply a charger and very kindly knocked up a cable with crimp lugs and a female socket to suit.

Disappointment :

... the secondary mount for use in AZ mode, to attach a second scope on the dec axis in a side-by-side set up. IMHO Skywatcher did a really half-assed job and it is utterly useless. The base only provides a crude adjustment in altitude - it lacks any means of alignment in the azimuth direction. Worse, even if you have succeeded in aligning the second scope with the main one, as the mount moves around the sky there is slop somewhere in the dec axis that allows misalignment to occur, of the order of 2 degrees. If you want a 2-scope setup this means either the second scope should ride piggy-back using scope rings, or use a sturdy side-by-side bar; the downside is the need for a larger counterweight on the opposite side.

Minor niggle:

In the Synscan firmware there are two cryptic settings which are not explained in the manual and the handset will nag you needlessly during the alignment. After poking around the intertubes I eventually found out these relate to cone error in the mount and how to disable the nagging.


Opportunity for improvement #1:

The Synscan handset has a feeble plastic bracket that clips on one leg of the tripod. It is very fiddly and annoying to use in the dark. A better solution is to put some velcro on the back of the handset and slap it on more convenient places like the side of the mount or hang it off the back of the scope.

Opportunity for improvement #2:

The polar axis is hollow and the mount as supplied comes with a polar axis scope in there - and its quite a neck-breaker to use. Better to remove the scope and install a laser pointer so you can see where the polar axis is pointing and align visually with Octans - you can easily get within a fraction of degree. Those in the northern hemisphere could aim at Polaris and be good to go. It's the first really good application I've found for a laser pointer and this is so easy it's ridiculous, no need to peek through a really awkward polar scope.

Opportunity for improvement #3:

Tripod. Standard Skywatcher heavy-duty stainless-steel one, best described as adequate but the AZEQ6 mount deserves better. The trouble with steel tripods is that they ring like a bell if the scope is tapped - ie vibrate. I bought a Berlebach Planet, you could try a Geoptik Hercules. The point being these big wooden tripods are stiffer than the Skywatcher one, and offer vastly superior damping for vibration. The result is quite remarkably better stiffness from the mount, but additional $$$.

Whether this is warranted depends on the scope you intend to put on top.

Counterweights:

With a 15kg scope I'm at the limit of the dec axis with the two 5kg counterweights as supplied. If your scope is heavier you'll need a third, or there is another way - acquire another dec shaft (they will screw into each other end to end) and extend its length.

Portability:

For me this is a must - at my local observing site I have to transport the gear approx 100m from car to the middle of an oval. I'm not as young as I used to be and the solution is a folding trolley from Bunnings; the mount is in one box, the counterweights and battery in a second box.

FWIW I am a strictly visual observer - no imaging.