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I think the FLI Microline 16803 is a good body choice as its the smallest and lightest for large chips as well as small. The downside is FLI do not have any guiding solutions. That is all SBIG or QSI. MMOAG works fine and can be attached to a FLI as I do. Its not pretty but it works fine.
I think a lot of astrophotographers have gone for these large chipped cameras and faced a lot of problems with weight and the resulting flex. The Microline is only slightly less powerful at cooling (3C I am told) so no big deal. You don't really need the USB hub and extra power outlet on the Proline.
I had Apogee U16M and its a good camera. Perhaps it also flexes less as its a bit lighter and narrower putting less stress on the focuser. Downside with U16M is the slow cooling but its not a big deal. Everything else with it is very good. Their filter wheel is fantastic and its a lot cheaper as well. But its still a fairly large and heavy camera.
SBIG and QSI seemed to close the gap in the electronics with FLI which was a big advantage FLI had. Now they both do fast downloads and cleaner AD with the right model.
Weight is the modern issue. These imaging trains from most are just too heavy for anything without an AP sticker on it just about. Even Taks struggle sometimes.
Greg.
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