Help Choosing My Next Go-To Equatorial Mount

Hi Zak,

Is there a reason you are only considering skywatcher mounts?  Something like an iOptron Gem28 has a similar capacity to the HEQ5 but is much lighter.  A harmonic drive like an AM5 mount would be lighter than just about any of your other options and also have a greater capacity.

Mike

Hi Mike,

For some reason I really like Sky-Watcher mounts, don't know why though lol.

Yes I did look at iOptron mounts as well, but I am worried about backlash or compatibility with my ASIAir Pro.

I would definitely get the ZWO AM5 if I could afford it, it's an amazing mount!

I will look into the iOptron GEM28, thanks for your suggestion!

Michael Ring:
+1 for something like the AM5, I do not own one but I met a guy who was using it and we talked about his experiences.
There’s no need for counterweights and overall weight is also low.
He talked about consistent guiding of 0.7 to 0.8 arcseconds under Bortle 4 Skies, more than enough for his 80mm refractor combined with a camera of 3.76um pixels.
The nice bigger scopes in the range of 110mm should also work fine but I am sure that you will find a lot of reviews with different scopes on Cloudy Nights and YouTube.

As for the HEQ-5, it is a bit on the heavy side but a quite capable mount, it can give you slightly better average guiding than the AM5 when you upgrade it to the Rowan Belt drive mod or you were very lucky in the mount lottery. One plus point of the HEQ-5 is that you may be able to find it 2nd hand.
I love my HEQ-5 but there is certainly a weight limit on that mount and long scopes also cause issues when there is more than a little wind.

Yes I definitely agree with everyone's opinions about harmonic drive mounts!

I would definitely purchase one if I had the budget for it. That's pretty good guiding for a Bortle 4 zone!

I included it in my list as I can purchase them with the Rowan Belt Mod preinstalled which is nice, but the mount head of 10kgs is a bit too heavy for me with my low muscle tone.

I might be looking at a bigger scope further down the line, but for now I am happy with my Radian Raptor 61 and camera lenses. The Askar 65PHQ looks like an amazing scope, that one would probably be my next purchase after the mount as I am prioritizing that over a new telescope.

Hi,

Of those three, the HEQ5 is the best by far. 

Cheers,

Dimitris

Hey Tim, no need to go down on the ground, I have not used polar scopes for a long time, in fact most of my mounts do not have one anymore.
Nina and a lot of other softwares allow you to use your main camera for polar alignment and the quality of that polar alignment is usually pretty good.

Michael Ring:
Hey Tim, no need to go down on the ground, I have not used polar scopes for a long time, in fact most of my mounts do not have one anymore.
Nina and a lot of other softwares allow you to use your main camera for polar alignment and the quality of that polar alignment is usually pretty good

Yes good point.  Sharpcap is pretty good for that.  All those times with muddy knees for nothing! :-)

Joe Linington:
I would not recommend the EQM-35 unless you are willing or comfortable tearing it apart and tuning it. I have one and it was a mess that took 2 tear downs to finally get working well. If light weight for capability is your priority and you can’t afford a strain wave then the iOptron CEM 26 would be high on my list followed by the GEM 28. Of the 3 you listed, like everyone else, I would buy the HEQ5.

The problem is it has no bearings. So by design will be either too stiff or too "backlashy" and there are clear limits to how well it may perform no matter how you much you tune it. But truth is with worm-based mounts (both iOptron and SkyWatcher) tuning is inevitable, with SkyWatcher mounts this typically means also some amount of tearing apart and the EQM35 has no particular requirements, perhaps is easier in this regard actually because of its more "open" design. In my opinion it remains a very good mount for the money and will work well with a small refractor. But saving up for a HEQ5 or one of the two iOptrons is better because all three will cover you if you want to use a bigger scope in the long run. I own the EQM35 too and after doing most of the stuff in this thread (didn't tear down the RA axis though as it really doesn't feel stiff to me) can get sub-arcsecond guiding with the ZenithStar 73 which is about 4 kg with guider scope and cameras, while with the 8" Newt (about 6kg) it is an absolute nightmare. Wish I'd bit the bullet and gone for the HEQ5 couple of years back. 

IMO there are two other factors to consider besides weight when choosing between HEQ5 and the two iOptron alternatives: One  is that Skywatcher mounts typically do not include an AC/DC adaptor (but all take a standard 5.5mm 12V which is like 10 Euros/Dollars/Pounds in any electronics store)  and if they are not USB or WiFi models need a special cable for EQMOD, unless you want to connect them through Synscan with DirectPC mode which is a little more inconvenient and makes you rely on the less-than-ideal hand controller firmware. iOptron is more "batteries included".  The other is of course price, where the difference is very significant and does not necessarily correspond to better QA. 

Cheers,
Dimitris

Hi,

Of those three, the HEQ5 is the best by far. 

Cheers,

Dimitris

Hi Dimitris,

Thanks for your input!

I have heard great things about the HEQ5 Pro, but I will have to see if I can lift one due to my low muscle tone.

I also saw that the price of the HEQ5 Pro has jumped quite a bit since I last looked, it was $1,999 AUD but now it's almost $2,500 AUD.

Might have been because of the dealer I was looking at (Testar) had them on for a cheaper price for a while but are now back up to full price.

The beauty with Testar is they can perform the belt mod for the HEQ5 Pro for a little bit extra, which would be a huge benefit for me as I am too scared to take a stock HEQ5 Pro apart and perform the mod myself.

I haven't seen too much on the EQ5, but I have heard it is a good mid-range mount.

Tim Hawkes:
Hi Zak.   I used to own an HEQ5 PRO with Rowan upgrade and it worked well for my F 7, 110 mm refractor so I would recommend it for use with  up to at least 10 kg of telescope and kit.   Under good conditions I had guiding down to ~ 0.6 arcsec or less.     You have to get down on the ground to use the polar scope but it is not too difficult a mount  to use overall.   Tim

Hi Tim,

Thanks for your input!

That's good to hear about your experience with a belt modded HEQ5 Pro.

I don't plan on getting a big telescope anytime soon, maybe one day in the far future as I'm a big fan of widefield imaging, but I definitely would like a slightly longer focal length telescope so I can photograph some areas of interest in a few objects.

I place my gear on a small deck, so I don't have to worry about getting on the grass or mud thankfully. I am used to getting low with my Star Adventurer so it shouldn't be too much of a hassle to do the same if I get a HEQ5 Pro.

One thing that I am thinking about is does the HEQ5 Pro have a built-in polar scope illuminator? I hope it does as I hate using the plastic attachment that came with the Star Adventurer, plus it would be very handy to actually see what's in the polar scope without having to rely on attachments.

Bill McLaughlin:

Zak Jones:
I do have low muscle tone that makes it difficult for me to carry heavy items for long periods of time, so I am mindful about the HEQ5 Pro's mount head weight and that's why I've included the EQ5 and the EQM-35 Pro.

How about renting space in a hosting facility?  You will have help setting up better and heavier equipment (or can have them do it) and will probably have great skies as well.

Hi Bill,

I did think about that, but I live in Australia and from what I've seen there's no remote observatories around my area.

If there was one, I would definitely consider placing a setup there!

I use the iOptron CEM40 with my larger Celestron. Works perfectly with ASIair Plus. I've never even connected the iOptron hand controller! The guiding in very calm winds is typically .45, and in more active air aloft brings in .7 to 1.2 on most nights. It's a lightweight mount, though adding the counterbalance weights may be an obstacle.

There are smaller iOptron mounts in the CEM line, and I bet they'd work well.

One drawback from the EQM-35 ( at least with mine) is a very slow recovery from a dithered move. So much so that I've retired the mount for now. It was taking 4-5 minutes to settle down, even with my lightweight 71mm refractor. The CEM40 recovers in about 7-8 seconds.

A harmonic drive would be terrific, as you can eliminate the counterbalance. And iOptron has a partial harmonic ("Hybrid") series that is not priced too high. One caveat is this–a harmonic drive doesn't have a counterweight. That means that the entire weight of the scope shifts around as it follows the stars. It takes a very sturdy tripod (or pier) to not twist and creak under the changing load. This might affect tracking and guiding. I experience a few tripod creaks each night even with a counterweight, as the balance isn't perfect and the gear it's supporting weighs 30 pounds.

Good luck on your choice. If the mount is from a major manufacturer and is rated for your weight, it will likely perform well. Just glean through others' experience to see if certain features appeal to you most.

Hi Zak and best of success with your selection.
I have owned a Skywatcher HEQ5 Pro for about a year and a half. 
I use it with my Sharpstar 61 and Explore Scientific ED102. The mount performs well with either scope.
Out of the box, guiding was okay and averaged around 1 arcsec/px total rms error (PHD2). 
I installed the Rowan belt modification and adjusted the DEC and RA worms. The Rowan belt installation was well covered in the included documentation and installation went well. Adjusting the worms was a bit tedious, but also easy to do. 
Guiding performance averages 0.5-0.7 arcsec/px total rms error now and the mount exhibits almost little to no measurable backlash (PHD2 guiding assistant), so dither recovery is very good. 
I run the mount with GreenSwampServer and N.I.N.A. and perform polar alignment with N.I.N.A. Sharpcap works very well too.
As far as portability, I am not a big person at about 140 lbs (and 67 years old) and have no problem carrying the assembled mount outside (dodging furniture on the way). If it gets harder to carry outside in my future years, I will just remove the mount head and carry the tripod and mount head out separately.
Just want to throw out my vote for the HEQ5 Pro. Very happy user!

Jim