mount advice needed

[bob sheehan]

I am relatively new to astronomy and have just purchased a Vixen 114ED OTA. I have a Denk 11 bino and don't know which GO-TO mount and tripod to buy for taking to club dark sites. I have looked at the HEQ 5 Pro with skyscan, EQ 6 with Skyscan and the Vixen Sphinx with Starbook. I lean towards the HEQ 5 Pro but just don't know. Any other mounts to consider?Any advice appreciated. PS The lack of current download availability worries me with the Vixen.

[Miaplacidus (Brian)]

The main question to ask is how seriously do you plan to get about astrophotograpy? (If you were purely visual, you could consider an alt-az mount with an Argo Navis.) The other question is how much dosh you want to spend?

Brian.

[Jonathan]

Hi Bob,
I'd consider an alt/az mount like Brian suggested, but only if you have no desire to try your hand at astrophotography. Otherwise any of the mounts you have listed would probably do a good job. I have an EQ6 with SkyScan and it's not a bad thing. I have had some minor problems with it but they're quite a solid mount and certainly worth considering.