Post by davy on Sept 19, 2016 0:02:09 GMT
Had the heq5 pro model for a bit of time now and thought I would give my views on it.
Got the mount in two boxes and it's heavy especially lugging it up four flights of stairs, I got this because it's big brother is even heavier and not suitable for humphing around far less four fights of stairs,,so that's the sole reason for getting it,the upgrade came about after a good few years service from the Skywatcher eq3/2 pro, great lightweight mount but I wanted more from my set up,i have always wanted a twin scope set up,,think we all do when we see images of them on the web.
The tripod is good solid mount in platform ,,I'm not going into specs,,just seeing if it cuts the mustard and how far you can push it.
The head is a fair weight and a nice feature is the extending,retractable balance weight bar,, extension poles can be bought and added,,but I have put a lot of weight on my mount and I can't see how you would need it,, weights are more than adequate to balance twin refractor scopes,rdf,finder scope,orion guide scope and two DSLRs cameras.
Noise wise on slewing pretty reasonable when new but obviously will be noiser when worn.
I fitted st102 and ed80 in a under over configuration and it's heavy on balancing setting,
The scopes do get close to the tripod on slewing at times and it's scary the damage you can cause if it hits.
I decided I would put an extension section on ,, looks nice as well lol
Next up was the scope mounting issue if I was going anywhere I had two scopes joined at the hip and a pain in backside to transport safely..
Twin saddle the answer.
On slewing to catalogue objects there is still possible telescope to mount collision damage .
So all looking good and working OK.
So let's make it better,,laptop hook up could be a pain on the eq3/2 with having to get all updates correct,proliffic driver etc and getting a USB to serial adapter that worked,,I was lucky it worked on my second purchase of adapter.
Fortunately hitecastro does a direct plug in and I used ascom platform and eqmod, software wise the no frills CDC works great..
Review wise...get one,, fantastic bit of kit,and a bargain if you want it on a pier in an instant forget the pro version.and get hitecastro cable.
Next up ,,changing to Rowan timing belt mod in next couple of weeks
Got the mount in two boxes and it's heavy especially lugging it up four flights of stairs, I got this because it's big brother is even heavier and not suitable for humphing around far less four fights of stairs,,so that's the sole reason for getting it,the upgrade came about after a good few years service from the Skywatcher eq3/2 pro, great lightweight mount but I wanted more from my set up,i have always wanted a twin scope set up,,think we all do when we see images of them on the web.
The tripod is good solid mount in platform ,,I'm not going into specs,,just seeing if it cuts the mustard and how far you can push it.
The head is a fair weight and a nice feature is the extending,retractable balance weight bar,, extension poles can be bought and added,,but I have put a lot of weight on my mount and I can't see how you would need it,, weights are more than adequate to balance twin refractor scopes,rdf,finder scope,orion guide scope and two DSLRs cameras.
Noise wise on slewing pretty reasonable when new but obviously will be noiser when worn.
I fitted st102 and ed80 in a under over configuration and it's heavy on balancing setting,
The scopes do get close to the tripod on slewing at times and it's scary the damage you can cause if it hits.
I decided I would put an extension section on ,, looks nice as well lol
Next up was the scope mounting issue if I was going anywhere I had two scopes joined at the hip and a pain in backside to transport safely..
Twin saddle the answer.
On slewing to catalogue objects there is still possible telescope to mount collision damage .
So all looking good and working OK.
So let's make it better,,laptop hook up could be a pain on the eq3/2 with having to get all updates correct,proliffic driver etc and getting a USB to serial adapter that worked,,I was lucky it worked on my second purchase of adapter.
Fortunately hitecastro does a direct plug in and I used ascom platform and eqmod, software wise the no frills CDC works great..
Review wise...get one,, fantastic bit of kit,and a bargain if you want it on a pier in an instant forget the pro version.and get hitecastro cable.
Next up ,,changing to Rowan timing belt mod in next couple of weeks