[gregbradley]

Wow interesting list.

The obvious standout is the AP1200 which is in a class above the others in the list.

I see a couple of local PMEs for sale in the ads. Save on GST and shipping.

I have owned Sphinx, Mountain Instruments MI250, Tak NJP and Paramount ME.

By far and above the rest is the PME, as expected. But it is more of a jump than I expected. I now achieve round stars everytime without fail and without any mucking around trying to tweak everything. The NJP can give round stars a lot of the time but not always. This is the first time tracking is taken out of the imaging equation. My NJP requires more careful balancing, guide parameters just right, everything just right. The Paramount operates in every respect at a higher level of accuracy. It is heavier but manhandleable and I would say its at the limit for portability but could be done.

I also found it very easy to use and it is quite user friendly one thing I liked about my Tak NJP. But it has all the bells and whistles. The home position in particular is fabulous and that would be a fabulous feature on the Tak. I am not sure about the PEC. I often don't turn it on (unless it uses it automatically which is possible) and I don't see a difference when I do so perhaps Paul is right there. It is pretty accurate to start with.

Not sure about the EM400 (I suspect it is the same). The Temma control box has a switch for slewing speed or normal speed. It is quite a pain as everytime you frame the object you need the slewing speed but before you autoguide you need to flip it back to normal speed. If you forget which is easy to do, it will throw the carefully framed object off and you need to reframe it again. Also it has the quirky hold down the S1 key when turning on the mount to let it know you are in the southern hemisphere. Even with that I have had the occassional trouble convincing the software I am in the southern hemisphere as it starts to slew into the ground!

So my advice is put the mount above the dome automation and get one of these local PMEs which are superb value. Your imaging will go to another level.

With the other mounts you mention you will also do well. It no doubt will require more fussing and tweaking to get optimum results.

The other neat thing about the PME is how seamless it operates with the Sky. The fact it has a home position at startup so it you don't lose all your careful synching if you physically move the mount. Plus it will handle any size scope us amateurs are likely to get.

The next best there would be the AP1200. One feature mentioned by Tony Hallas is the fact the AP1200 can image all the way round past the meridian without doing a flip. That to me would be a real plus as my PME stops when it gets to the meridian and I have to flip it. I know this can be automated but then you're back to the mucking around with gear scene. I prefer to set it up then flick a switch, frame up the object and hit start for the imaging!

Dome automation won't make better images only extra convenience. A PME or AP1200 will and you'll never need to upgrade. I like the Tak mounts but importing an EM400 with GST and shipping and exchange rate fees will put you in similar dollars to the local 2nd hand PME for a far better mount. Perhaps the difference is narrowed to $2000 or less yet the jump up is quite large.

There are other high tech mounts out these days. But they are yet to prove themselves with large numbers of satisfied customers, bugs sorted, software compatible etc etc. I really don't like being some companies beta tester when I paid for a fully sorted product.

Greg.