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View Full Version here: : Advice on which GEm mount


gman
12-10-2008, 06:50 PM
Need some advice.
Have a 10" dob and have finally had enough of manual tracking.:mad2:

I am loooking at moving onto a GEM type mount.
The OTA weighs roughly 14kg and a little bit more for the finder and eyepieces. (Haven't weighed the actual full scope yet)

Other than the Losmondys which are out of my family oriented price range, the other readily available choice is the Skywatcher.

A Skywatcher EQ5 advises that it will hold upto 15kg
A Skywatcher EQ6 advises that it will hold upto 20kg

If I add a few other bits and pieces I will go over the 15kg.
My questions are:-
How accurate are the specs?
Are there other choices out there that I do not know of?
For people who own the Go-to versions, do you really use it for the extra bucks?

Thanx
Grant

Alchemy
12-10-2008, 07:21 PM
if the losmandy is out of your range the eq6 pro is probably the go and if you want to get into imaging

ezystyles had a 10 inch on his (still does but he's light polluted where he currently lives)
tamtarn has a 9 1/2 inch celestron on theirs
iceman has his 12 inch (planetary ) on his

not sure who else has a largish newt on one of these, the gm8 wont hold more than the eq6 (IMHO); if you went to a 12 inch scope you would need a g11 if you wanted to do long timed exposures,

AlexN
14-10-2008, 08:08 PM
I've got a C11 on my EQ6.. Requires very still nights for imaging, however it holds the C11 + 4" APO + cameras, cables, dew heaters etc... hums along nicely..

I can recommend it.. however if your budget can stretch, the G11 is the bees knees..