This is a carry over from the saxon ed80 thread, but I feel this topic deserves its own thread.
I am considering purchasing an 80mm ED but at this time I dont have any kind of suitable mount. Ive been a dob person all of my short observing life, so I know little to nothing about EQ mounts.
Im not looking for a premium astrophotography grade of mount, just something decently steady with perhaps the option of an RA drive. The other possibly conflicting requirement is that I would want it nicely portable for easy transport in the car.
I have the 100mm ED on the Sky Watcher Pro mount. The mount is quite heavy, but you still notice the image wobbling a bit in the wind. It was a bit sea-breezy in Melbourne last night, and the wobble was quite annoying.
I should add I love the 100mm ED - the views I had of Saturn last night were very impressive. Wasn't too good going deep sky (and it wouldn't be from Oakleigh). Jupiter was about 15 degrees up when I was about to pack up, so I snuck a peek. Through the murk there were two bands clearly defined, with some glimpses of detail in those bands. Very excited by what Jupiter is going to show in the next few months.
Oh, and the RA drive is bliss (combined with my drummer's stool!).
After revamping my EQ3 mount I take back all the nasty things about it. If I were to restrip again it and do a thourough job on it this time I'd probably be even more happy. Still want to throw the tripod away though. Thoses stupid aluminium legs again. No matter which way you go, avoid those legs like the plague.
This eq3 mount handles my celestron np but don't expect anything but moon shots and avies of jupiter and saturn out of it for astrophotography.
The 2"stainless legs are the bees knees, they work but they add to the cost, best bet is make some wooden ones yourself,they don't have to be fancy just practical, they need to be at the height you observe at, they don't need to fold down , they can be made to look good with a
bit of stain and varnish.
I made a fixed height set of legs that work with my 4" refractor and my C8, they fit across the boot of the car so they are easy to transport.
coat was about $50.00 with all timber and fittings availible from bunnings
If you buy the EQ5 then this opens a whole new world to you , this mount can be retrofitted with just about any motor/goto combination you can buy.
the one in the pic use's a meade Autostar to drive and goto.
The basic twin axis motors from the maker of this mount can also be simply modded to provide a autoguiding port, so photography is a possibilty,these mounts are used to take good astro photo's.
If money is an object, then I agree with Westsky, the CG5 is a fine mount. Either on wooden legs, as he shows, or maybe a fixed pier, it works and works well. OK, I have been a Losmandy fan for some time now, but at the money you cough up for a CG5 they are fantastic value. Even better to buy used on Astromart.
Second in line is the SP or even GP.
I stripped the lot down and cleaned the "glue for grease" out, buffed some of the internals to take some of the rough spots of them and regreased. I was a bit slap dash about it and now wish I'd taken my time and done it properly. There is a good site for how to go through the process. There is also a review on how to improve the Tripod on CN. This is the tripod link: http://www.cloudynights.com/howtos2/c102.htm and here is the mount service link http://www.astronomyboy.com/cg5/index.html . I haven't done the tripod improvements but the mount worked much more smoothly. I'm thinking of selling the Celestron and mount. I f I decide to I won't redo the mount, if I decide to keep it I'll definately redo it.
Geoff, I used the plastic ones from the original legs but these suck so I made some from timber , just used the plastic ones as a guide,
I still use the metal tray from the original though this is the best part
also you can use all the nuts and bolts from the crappy legs.
That mount you have should do the job for the OTA you have in mind.
Yep that's the eq3 alright, same as mine. Though the image that Geoff posted earlier is a bit different Stuart. Note the pinched waist on the RA axis above the altitude adjustment, the two bolts on the top plate instead of one, and the altitude adjustment bolt and scale and the fitting together there seem different. Also I can't see how Geoff's mount is azimuth adjusted? Maybe its one of the comparable copies. There is enough out there. I guess if it walks like a duck quacks like a duck ahd flies like a duck we'll call it an EQ3
Choosing a mount
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