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Glen,
If you can stretch the budget a little more , I strongly recommend you consider the Skywatcher EQ6-R pro
I had a HEQ5 for 3 years , great little workhorse but I’d wished I had the EQ6-R from word go ( the EQ6-R only came out on market late 2018 )
I have 2 of them at different imaging sites
Your mount is “priority” in Astrophotography , then scope .........
Like most of us you will most probably upgrade in the future to a bigger , different type or heavier scope
EQ6-R pro mount
20 kg rated ( Astrophotography max recommended payload 15kg ) I have 15kg on one of mine
Belt driven in Ra and Dec
Low PE , minimal backlash
Whisper quiet being belt driven , the HEQ5 and NEQ6 gear driven mounts sound like a meat grinder when they slew
Easy to adjust worm and belts
Synscan handcontrolled or controlled by laptop using Emod and your preferred planetarium ( I use Stellarium) plus others
Well supported
Proven mount world wide like it’s little brother the HEQ5
And so on .....,
On nights of good seeing I’ve had mine guiding ( PHD2 ) down to 0.65 arc sec total error with 15kg on board
Hope the above helps
Cheers
Martin
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