Interesting indeed, the choices for gear nowadays just continue be keen to see/read first light reports, the first iEQ45 real world reports are starting.........
Just noticed this on Stargazerslounge from the UK.............
........"A number of new Skywatcher products have been showcased in Photokina, including:
Skywatcher EQ7 (we assume) mount with 45kg payload, dual-encoders, permanent PEC and 0.9 degree step accuracy.
120ED and 150ED f/7 five-element (triplet at front plus doublet flattener) with new linear power focuser.
100ED f5 Petzval with carbon-fibre tube.
100mm guide scope.
300mm f/4 Newtonian.
8" and 10" f4 carbon fibre newtonians with new linear power focuser
14" and 16" Flextube and GOTO Dobsonians.
The new 100ED refractor will feature Japanese FPL51 and German Schott glass, the 120ED and 150ED will have Japanese FPL53 and German Schott. They will offer a "full frame corrected focal plane" with "excellent field flatness". ................"
gee that mount looks large - i wonder how much? Though it seems to be going a tad backwards with the cables being manually attached on the outside? a 150mm refractor mmmmmmmm an a cheap F4 300mm...... all the popular items..... and all when the dollar is up as well.....
It looks a lot chunkier with the thicker counterweight shaft and latitude/base assembly (plus a bit more with the encoders) creating a larger appearance?
It will no doubt hold larger and heavier scopes, but at what cost to the amateur?
I love the shot of the mount with a short 90mm refractor..........makes it look like overkill
I guess at the end of the day if they can keep the PE down and use some decent quality worm gears and also address QA issues then it'll prolly be worth the money. but if its anything close to a G11 in pricing then its a no brainer... so the price point will have to be 25-3k ish or it wont kick off that is just my opinion as they have made sure that they are the "cheap" alternative to the more expensive and subsequently better products. lets see what the wood works churns out :d
Well there is a huge price gap between the proposed pricing for IEQ75 and the smaller IEQ45 mounts. The smaller mount is about 1500USD and the bigger one is almost in the AP900 price range. I am not sure how the specs of the Eq7 compare with the IEQ75, the later has some high res encoders to imrpove performance. I wonder if the Eq7 will make use of such encoders also.
That counter weight shaft looks pretty thick! looks almost twice as thick as the eq6's.
Just wondering how the tripod will hold up with that extra weight?
And is it starting to look like a Paramount...you know with the bulky square/rectangular boxes and round drive bits (scuse the plain - non tech lingo....http://www.iceinspace.com.au/forum/....s/tongue05.gif) ...without the wires heheheh
That counter weight shaft looks pretty thick! looks almost twice as thick as the eq6's.
Just wondering how the tripod will hold up with that extra weight?
And is it starting to look like a Paramount...you know with the bulky square/rectangular boxes and round drive bits (scuse the plain - non tech lingo....http://www.iceinspace.com.au/forum/....s/tongue05.gif) ...without the wires heheheh
Bartman
Good point Bart...................to me it looks like they're trying to emulate an Astro Physics style/appearance.It will need a damn good tripod to support that weight - plus a large and heavy scope on top of that.
Either way, I have a feeling that it's price may be dissapointingly high?
As Peter W has said before, the first 80% of the engineering is relatively straightforward - the big test will be if they can reliably produce mounts that perform to a very high level - something that is typically expensive to do (to get that final 20% performance).
Certainly looking a tad Paramountish in those pics....
Interesting indeed, the choices for gear nowadays just continue 
be keen to see/read first light reports, the first iEQ45 real world reports are starting.........
..........makes it look like overkill
