Mount choice

[lhansen (Lars)]

I've been trying to put a wide field rig together, starting with a fast 6" Newtonian built to battleship standards. I've always had a soft spot for the Vixen GPDX, however with a full load of cameras guiders etc, I'm pushing it's limits.

So I need to get me a beefier mount, one capable of carrying around 18kg of scope and cameras, with out of the box PE preferably less than +- 10 arc secs, with reliable GOTO and an st4 autoguider port.

Now for the hard part, my budget is around $1500, I don't mind second hand but it must be supportable by the manufacturer.

I loved using my old EM200 but that is obviously way out of budget.

So... I'm looking for comment/feedback/ideas.

I look forward to your input

[Poita (Peter)]

18KG and lowish PE for $1500, it doesn't really leave any options I can think of other than a 2nd hand CGEM or an EQ6.

Have you considered a lighter scope?

[lhansen (Lars)]

No, I really like the newt. All that carbon fibre, anodized aluminium and a superbly figured mirror

What's the lowest I can go (financially) to get a decent mount that meets my criteria?

Originally Posted by Poita

18KG and lowish PE for $1500, it doesn't really leave any options I can think of other than a 2nd hand CGEM or an EQ6.

Have you considered a lighter scope?

[ZeroID (Brent)]

As Poita says. An EQ6 or equivalent. Price is not the governing factor here, its the limiting factor. What you want does not come cheap.

[lhansen (Lars)]

What about the ioptron eq45.

[Poita (Peter)]

If you can find one for that money.