G'day Kearn Ol' mate! Thanks for your reply....okkk!....No gearing on mine either...it's a 'push-to' IN ONE AXIS ONLY
There's EQ mounts...then theres EQ mounts (as we know & I'm not saying mine is the best out there) The main thing to remember when building one of these is the bearings...if there massive...& I mean massive! The smoother the action..I'm also talking top quality bearings too. less friction..& stiction.. I wont bore you with any more construction details here. Iv'e never had any trouble at the zenith. But I do when the scope's pointed close to the south celestial pole. The only 'dob' Iv'e ever used was a home made one...but before they were ever called a dob, lol. Biggest piece of JUNK I ever had the misfortune of using! Just like your mate's EQ mount...same scenerio...So I'm open to the suggestion that a GOOD dob mount is good to use? Proof's in the pudding right? If dobs were junk, they wouldn't be so popular correct?
I'll cut to the chase...The one & only advantage that an EQ mount has over a dob...IMHO I'll repeat that...IMHO
& I'm talking un-driven here! is it is EASIER to 'nudge' by hand to track the object because the EQ (once set up for polar alignment) Your only nudging on one axis. And that, my dear chap..is Why I own one! That's my one & ONLY reason! lol.
(oh, & for piccie taking later once it's driven)
Yes it's permanent cos' of my dark skie's....If I had to move the damn thing to a paddock 20 kliks down the road, I would be very annoyed! Max time to break the mount down & throw it in the boot is precisely 19.75 minutes!
Set-up is longer.
You know, if there was a brand new DRIVEN EQ mount & a brand new DRIVEN dob mount sitting in front of me, & I had to choose which one to buy...given all the info Iv'e gathered over the year's..IE: Dob mount is cheaper to construct...expensive to drive. EQ mount is expensive to make...cheap to drive. And before anyone jumps on that comment...
I will be proving you can drive a mount such as mine for 50 lousy bucks...a bold statement??....we'll see. If It's a failure, or costs any more than that I'll admit it freely!
Sorry, went off on a tangent....back to which mount I would choose.
I can't tell you till I have my EQ sitting 10 feet from your dob. One day mate..one day soon!
Given ALL factors such as ease of transportation & all other factor's...The dob is BETTER! How's that grab ya!?
I still love my EQ though!!
Thank's for the stimulating discussion! Love it love it!
One more thing. American's have a saying: "I'd rather be seen pushin' my Harley than ridin' my rice burner!"