EQ Mount suggestions

[Fluffyllama95]

Hi,

I’m wanting to upgrade my mount to a motorised EQ, I am thinking of buying a HEQ5 but wanted an opinion of the best motorised mount that’s easy to use for a beginner wanting to take deep space and planet photos.
I hear goto mounts are great for beginners but my budget is no more than $1600 for a mount.

Otherwise I was thinking a Celestron nexstar 8SE and make a wedge but I heard reports it doesn’t photograph deep space well.

Any suggests would be great.

[Startrek]

I’ve already recommended the HEQ5 in the other post
These are the most commonly used, cost effective , reliable , well supported and proven performance entry level 13kg class long exposure astrophotography mount on the globe
They can operated locally from the handcontroller or remotely via cable or wifi
Hope others chime in as well .....
Cheers

[raymo]

I second the HEQ5. Used ones come up in the classifieds here quite often,
at a lot less than your budget limit.

Regarding the 8SE; it is about as far as it is possible to get from being suitable for your purposes. A fixed angle wedge would be no use if you took the scope far from home, so you would need to make an adjustable one, but much more importantly it has great focal length making good tracking and guiding more difficult to achieve. At f/10 it is very"slow" photographically,
so would require much longer exposures than an f/5 or 6 scope.
raymo

[Fluffyllama95]

Thankyou for the advice! just want to make sure i am making the right decision. Where can I find second hand HEQ5 mounts? I'm not very good at navigating this website yet.
Cheers

[Startrek]

Main forum page
Scroll down to Classifieds
Look under Telescopes and Mounts first section
Cheers

[Kuz]

Della

Astro anarchy saxon HEQ 5 pro mounts for $1500 Brand new.(same as skywatcher mount) They are currently out of stock, but worth a call . You would have to put postage on top. Hopefully stock isn't due in the apriil 2057.

[jahnpahwa]

I've just put an HEQ5 into the classifieds... not sure if my asking price is ok (and I'm open to a bit of a haggle, of course!), but its under your budget and includes power supply, all cables needed, rowan belt modification done and a (real) pelican case for the mount.


I'd be happy to check out pack and send for a quote to your address if you're keen :)

[dec_odonnell]

Following this as I am probably going to be in the same boat..

[rustigsmed]

yes don't forget about saxon heq5 usually cheaper than the skywatcher heq5.

[SylvKief]

has anyone tried the star adventurer for a starter mount? I have heard they are quite good, and cheapish?

[Drac0]

They are good for what they are designed for - a DSLR + lens/small scope. If you're happy to stick with that then it's fine & can make a great lightweight travel setup. But if you plan on getting anything bigger/better than a 70mm or maybe 80mm achromatic then you would really be better off spending the extra to start with on a full mount.