[MortonH]

I'd like to do a bit of astrophotography, mainly wide field stuff with a camera and lens, or maybe with the ZS80 ED. At the moment, my scopes are all alt-az, so I'd need a driven mount.

I could spend close to $2k on an HEQ5 or EQ6, but for a bit more money I could get a used 8" LX90 with an equatorial wedge, which would give me another scope and would be the guide scope if the ZS80 was piggybacked.

Obviously the advantage of a GEM is that it can hold larger scopes (e.g. my 8" Dob), but are there any other major advantages of a GEM compared to using an SCT as the mount?

Opinions welcomed.

Thanks

Morton