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I believe the AZEQ6 and the NEQ6 PRO have the same imaging capacity. Skywatcher pulled a marketing trick recently to try and differentiate the NEQ6 R from the NEQ6 Pro, by lowering the advertised capacity to 18kg on the standard model, same for the AZEQ6. They really all have the same imaging capacity. Bintel still show them as the same 20kg capacity on their website. The rule says about 15kg max for imaging payload on the EQ6 or AZEQ6, so a 10" steel tube newt would be marginal. I have a 10" carbon strut newt that i built specifically to get under 15kg loaded with imaging gear. An 8" would be fine. Having it on a pier helps alot for imaging imho. If you consider the imaging capacity of the new Celestron CGX (25kg), then it is better than the Skywatchers, and that's the niche Celestron is aiming to fill. The CGX is belt driven as well, but not available locally for a few months and it will be around $4000 AUD minimum. In the sub $2000 price range it is hard to ignore the NEQ6 Pro. But as the saying goes "buy the best mount you can afford".
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