Heq5 pro

[poider (Peter)]

G'day, I have a skywatcher 100mm ED refractor and a Nikon D7200 I have had some success with the skywatcher star adventurer, but know it is at it's limit amd cannot handle a slight breeze.
I am thinking of upgrading... scope and camera are about 4.5 kg I do not plan on any camera other than maybe a larger Full Frame, I don't plan on any guiding or other scope I am wondering between the Skywatcher HEQ5 pro 10kg capacity or EQ6 pro 18 kg capacity, I dont want to pay for the higher model only to find the lower would be ample or dont want to pay for the lower to find it inadequate.
Is the HEQ5 Pro enough ?

[DJT (David)]

I had the same set up when I started. It will cope fine. You might want to think about adding a guide scope and guide camera at some point which that mount will deal with easily

Edit : Just read your comment on guiding. If you change your mind you will be fine.




David

[Startrek (Martin)]

Peter,
I had a HEQ5 for 3 years and 2 off EQ6-R mounts for the past 2 years
From experience you will want to eventually take longer exposures rather than be limited to 45 to 60 sec unguided
Remember the HEQ5 is a low end mount and no matter how well you polar align you will be limited to around 60 sec unless you guide
This mount when polar aligned and guiding can easily push 5 min exposures
The HEQ5 is Astrophotography rated to about 9kg max ( you de rate them for long exposure AP outdoors on a tripod )

Estimated payload with guiding
ED100 3kg
Camera 0.70kg
Adapters 0.10kg
Guide scope and camera 1.5kg
Mounting bar 1 kg
Cables 0.20kg drag
Dew straps 0.10kg
Total 6.6kg
So the above set up “including guiding equipment “ is within the maximum recommended AP payload of the HEQ5 mount
Hope the above is useful
Martin

[RyanJones]

I run a 8” Newtonian with guide scope and cam on a HEQ5 pro with 0.5 arc second guiding. It will comfortably handle your setup. My only recommendation would be if you chose the HEQ5 is to get the Rowan belt modification. You don’t have to do that straight away. If you chose the 6 I believe the newer ones come with belt drive.

[Startrek (Martin)]

Originally Posted by RyanJones

I run a 8” Newtonian with guide scope and cam on a HEQ5 pro with 0.5 arc second guiding. It will comfortably handle your setup. My only recommendation would be if you chose the HEQ5 is to get the Rowan belt modification. You don’t have to do that straight away. If you chose the 6 I believe the newer ones come with belt drive.

Ryan,
Is your HEQ5 out of the box ?
Your 8” f4 with guiding set up would be around 11kg ?
Do you have a finder on board as well and dew control straps etc...
0.5 arc sec rms is unbelievable for a basic out of the box HEQ5, best I’ve heard of yet !!
I could only ever get down to 0.80 to 0.90 arc sec ( best ) with my out of the box HEQ5 carrying my 6” f6 , guide gear , dew straps etc... around 9kg payload
Well done !!

[RyanJones]

Originally Posted by Startrek

Ryan,
Is your HEQ5 out of the box ?
Your 8” f4 with guiding set up would be around 11kg ?
Do you have a finder on board as well and dew control straps etc...
0.5 arc sec rms is unbelievable for a basic out of the box HEQ5, best I’ve heard of yet !!
I could only ever get down to 0.80 to 0.90 arc sec ( best ) with my out of the box HEQ5 carrying my 6” f6 , guide gear , dew straps etc... around 9kg payload
Well done !!

Hi Martin,

No it’s probably a fair way from what you’d describe as out of the box. All the changes I’ve made though have been done at home. I’ve taken a bit of weight out of the setup to bring it down to just over 10kg. In its normal “ out of the box “ guise with the Rowan belt mod it was much more like your numbers of around 0.9 - 1.1

All this aside I see you agree this mount will comfortably handle the OPs setup.

[poider (Peter)]

Thank you all