Just starting to look into investing into one of my last purchases. Bought a second (fourth) hand EQ6 some 9 months ago as an interim mount until I could afford to upgrade. I have narrowed it all down to 3/4 mounts, the fourth being a recent ring in
I am thinking of this as an investment of sorts, I am eventually planning on putting it into an observatory but that won't be for another 18-24 months when I buy my first house, need to wait until mid next year for business reasons. So I am looking at a high quality mount that I'll be setting up and pulling down for the next couple of years, get pretty quick at it after a while so that isn't an issue for me.
At the moment my list is as follows, in no particular order:
~ The ex-display EQ8 that Bintel are selling.
~ ASA DDM 60
~ Paramount MyT
~ 10Micron GM1000
The EQ8 is a ring in, not one that I had previously considered mostly due to the weight of the components, it has a 50kg capacity which although leaving room for bigger upgrades in the future, each bit is 25-30kg and I think it'll become tiresome moving around.... The price is however very enticing
What I like about the MyT is that Bisque is a very tried reliable company, fantastic customer service from what I am aware and designed to integrate with TSX.
Is it worthwhile spending that bit extra and getting encoders? If so, the GM1000 would be the next logical step, has an RMS of ~0.7", backlash free and fantastic tracking and pointing accuracy. Of the three it is currently the only one that can be used without a computer, not at the top of my list though as I don't see myself using it often without a computer anyway.
The harder question for most is whether spending that bit extra and also going direct drive is worth the upgrade. I remember someone a which back mentioning that during a discussion with someone from iTelescope.net, they mentioned that direct drive is the shizzle... May not those exact words sadly
With an RMS of ~0.3" it has immaculate tracking accuracy.
I am at that stage where I don't mind spending that bit extra and going all out. Upgrade wise, unless I get SERIOUS aperture fever I probably won't venture past the 250mm size so all three will have no problems with weight, would probably get a BabyQ over going bigger first anyway!
Looking for the wisdom of those that have had various mounts, although most of the members on here have likely never used any direct drive mount (not that there are a lot of them out there at this stage) but I suppose the first question is whether having absolute encoders really makes that much of a difference. Theoretically they should make a massive improvement but in practice nothing seems to go the whole way