The Honders likes the AP1600.
Its giving nice round stars now that could stand a slight improvement still. So tonight if its clear I plan to do a monster 400+ Tpoint model and implement the accurate polar alignment adjustments! A 16 inch saddle that is on the way may also help in case there is a little bit of flexure there. The guide errors seem very low a lot of the time.
One feature that seems a standout on the AP1600 mount is the way the gears and worm engage. On other mounts they are permanently engaged. The AP1600 gears and worms seem to only engage when its tracking. Clever. The axes are stiff but you can push them with a small amount of effort. Fine balancing is not regarded as that important per the manual.
Its also dead quiet when tracking. When slewing at 600X its not that loud either. At 1200X its louder but not outrageous. It does sound like the motors have plenty of grunt which is reassuring. There is no movement in either axis when you give it a slight push. No wiggle, nothing. Amazing. The whole unit comes across as ruggedly accurate and precise.
Its also able to be upgraded at home with absolute encoders which get rid of PE altogether and gives below .2 arc sec guiding and unguided tracking for many objects. This gives you back the home position which is probably one of the best Software Bisque features of their mounts. Some time in the future I'll probably get those.
Greg.