Quote:
Originally Posted by glend
The Astroshop in Brisbane retails iOptron i believe. That is a USD price i assume. So allow $5250 AUD on conversion, plus $525 GST, plus shipping charges. Probably min $6000 to your door. Its observatory only. Specs are very similiar to rhe EQ8.
The EQ8 is listed by Andrews at $5899, and that includes the field tripod/pier. You can buy the head unit alone and in the past Andrews has knocked about $700 off if you just want the head for an observatory.
Andrews has a 10% off sale on them a couple of times a year, if you can wait for that. So you might get a new EQ8 head unit for less than $5k.
If you can live with a little less capacity (34kg), the CGX-L might be cost effective, at $5399 from Bintel. Observatory or field use and comes with a good strong tripod, and plenty of advanced features. The CGX series had some early factory setup issues but that is all fixed now.
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That's all well and good - but is the iOptron a better mount? and does it overcome the Dec backlash issues of the EQ8.
It will be interesting to see when people start to review this mount.
John K.