NEQ6 for Christmas, or not?

[Dealy (Kev)]

I thought I'd be a great bloke and save my lovely wife all the trauma and worry about what to get me for Christmas by buying a mount for myself .

Currently I only have a home made equatorial that is, well, pretty ordinary. My scope is a home made 8" F7.5 newt.

I can't afford to replace it all now so thought the best place to start would be a mount that would serve me well into the future. I do plan on gearing up for astrophotography in the future.

I've noticed NEQ6's are very popular. My question is are there any things I should be aware of, problems, or any reasons why I shouldn't invest in one?

Kev

[ZeroID (Brent)]

Get wifey clearance first !!!
Check the weight of your 8" though. Max weight on an EQ6 is stated to be ~25kg but for photography you want to be well short on that. 15-18 kg max all up is recommended.
I can carry my 10" but only because it's a lightweight Serrurier Truss build and I don't have anything else on it.

Good idea ...

[Dealy (Kev)]

Good advice about the clearance. Yeah it's all been approved and budgeted for.

I must weigh it but I'm pretty confident my 8" will be less than 20kg. I'm not sure it's that suitable for photography anyway so was planning on getting hold of a suitably priced refractor down the track a bit.

I'm going to try some processing before I spend much more to see if I enjoy that side of photography.

So ... no trouble or frustrations with the mount?

Kev

[DJ N]

Hi there Kev,

In my opinion, I would pay the extra few hundred bucks and go for the AZ EQ6 GT instead. I "traded up" to one from an EQ6 Pro, and it is a better mount. I do find it quiter, easier to use (clutch locks - both RA and Dec, alt adjustments,........ etc).

Plus, if you want to use it from a visual perspective, you can run the mount in AZ mode which would be much more suitable from a newtonian perspective.

I can highly recommend the mount!

Cheers,

Daniel

[alistairsam]

Hi Kev,

It is a popular mount and very good for the price range. easily handles the rated load. no real reason you shouldn't invest in one.
All depends on the level of accuracy you're looking at and your budget. its perfectly capable of getting you some very decent images once you get into AP.

I'd suggest getting the USB2EQ6 cable. That'll allow you to control it without the handset.

When you get into photography, F7.5 would require decent guiding so i'd suggest keeping an OAG in mind. works a treat, saves all the flexure hassle with a guidescope. Does require a sensitive guidecam like the qhy5l2 or lodestar.

Pointing accuracy with this mount isn't that great. so spend some time in getting your PA as close as possible as that greatly affects pointing accuracy. This also largely depends on the worm and gear mesh, so if its brand new, it should be decent.
PemPro and Alignmaster are two tools that help with PA a lot.

Once you do that, then sync atleast 5 stars all around. that will get your targets with the FOV if not in the centre.

Again, with F7.5, your PA needs to be close.
The PE of the mount isn't too flash, but can be guided out.

Also spend some time using a level to get your start/park position correct. I've learnt, that also affects goto accuracy.

in my opinion, don't get the extension rod for the counterweight bar. but get another 5kg counterweight if you need.
Keeping the weights closer reduces oscillation.
I got one second hand and am very happy with it bar a few things i'm refining to meet my needs.

Fairly heavy. I got the large foam padded box from Bunnings and it just fits in. makes it easy to transport this way.

Cheers
Alistair

[ehgore1978 (Scott)]

I've had mine for about 7 months with a 10" black diomand skywatcher. Definately use a level on your first set up and polar align best you can. I've had hit and miss with initial star alignment getting into FOV maybe thats Polar alignment but when thats setup it runs sweet even with a Canon 5D attached to the 10". Also found 2 star alignment works good on mine.

[MattT]

Kev, I got 'clearance' before getting mine. Saved me some trauma Works really nice too. I'll add that I got it used, thanks Lewis and as quality control can vary on these Synta mounts, all the bugs and globs of glue and any other nasties had been taken care of. It was also a lot cheaper than new….on the other hand if you get it new and it doesn't work because of whatever, a proper astro shop will get it fixed or replaced…hopefully.
Hope you enjoy Christmas.
Matt

[Dealy (Kev)]

Thanks everyone for the replies and all the good info on how to set-up.

Sounds like I should get a pretty reasonable mount if I put the effort into the alignment process.

Daniel I don't think I'd be game to ask SWMBO for any more cash. Like everything else if I just spend a little bit more I know I can go one level up, but I think that's just out of my reach. I was looking at the HEG5 and decided to stretch the budget a bit and go for the 6. The GT does have some nice features but.

I'm looking forward to actually looking at objects rather than trying to find them.

[2stroke (Jay)]

As long as your guiding these mounts are fine for avg focal lengths, they are the best bang for buck you can get though they do have there limits. You get what you pay for but afters seeing reviews of hps mounts where people are getting hrs worth unguided in obs you start to realize what money buys. Anyone there are great mount for the price and lol most of us are using them and getting great results so thats a proven.

This is my dream mount http://www.astroshop.eu/equatorial-w...-mount/p,25267 now these things eat nearly anything for dead, though ill never have the cash i can only dream

Maybe this one one day lol its got dam fine tracking http://www.astroshop.eu/equatorial-w...b_bar_3_select

[Dealy (Kev)]

Approx $30,000. I'd have to mortgage the house.

After reading these reviews and others on the AZ EQ6 GT I've decided I'll scrape up another few hundred and go for one of those. Very nice looking mount.

Thanks Daniel for the heads up.

Kev

[Camelopardalis (Dunk)]

Wise choice stumping up for the AZ IMO, wish I had done the same. I don't need EQ for visual but I needed the load capacity.