[Wavytone]

CatznStars... A while back I had the chance to try an AP130GTX (f/7, focal length 910mm) on an altaz push-to setup consisting of a DM6 mount with encoders and a Nexus II, connected via WiFI to SkySafari running on an iPhone. With that focal length and aperture, this rig was dead easy to setup (5 minutes), alignment was excellent and the stars don't move so fast that tracking is an issue.

The key thing is that SkySafari showed very accurately where the scope is pointing - and I mean DEAD ON TARGET - you really don't need GOTO - just push the scope to whatever you want to look at, centre it in SkySafari and it will be spot on. If anything GOTO is a hindrance. And even better - no messy batteries and cables dangling underneath to get snagged in things.

I subsequently built a similar one using an ED130 triplet APO from TelescopService in Germany on a Losmandy AZ8, with the encoders and Nexus II fitted by Serge at AstroDevices. Testing it indicated that the blind pointing accuracy was under 5 minutes of arc, reliably.

I can confirm this was a great setup and suggest you consider either the Losmandy AZ8 mount or DM4 with encoders fitted, with a Nexus II. The DM6 is overkill frankly. The Losmandy AZ8 isn't as steady as the DM6, but it does do a side-by-side setup (2 scopes), it has worm drives and superb adjustable drag clutches whereas the DM4/DM6 cannot do a side-by-side setup and have no clutches (just friction), but they do work well when adjusted and the scope is balanced, rather like a good dobsonian.

FWIW I was subsequently offered a 9" maksutov with exquisite optics and - with some pangs of remorse - sold everything to fund that and a new mount to match it. With a focal length of 3100mm the max field of view is just 40 arc minutes, and capable of 450X so at high power tracking is essential. This is on an AZEQ6.

With this however I am still using SkySafari to select what I want to look up, taking the object name from that and manually entering it in the Synscan handset to make the scope slew to it.

A push-to setup eliminates all of that and is a LOT easier to use. GOTO IMHO is a bad half-assed 1990s way of thinking.

As your scope has a much wider field of view and is unlikely to go past 220X tracking is not critical so push-to should be fine.