...Andrew, what I forgot to....the MGEN is way more easy to use for a beginner than e.g. PHD2. I bought mine at the very beginning with my K5 and the Star Adventurer in the end of 2014 and still have it on board. I tried out PHD2 in the meantime and switched back to the MGEN. The actual version MGEN3 is more or les "plug and play" as I hear in the forums.


And a disclaimer: Yes I am a fan of the lacerta products but not linked in any way to them. I have two MFOC and one MGEN2 and have payed 100% of all the bills !

As a recent owner of the MGEN3 I can confirm that the MGEN 3 is plug and play. It works great on both my Losmandy G-11 and ES IEXOS 100. It even includes an intervalometer that will fire off my K-1 so I don't need my external intervalometer since the built in one doesn't work for anything longer than 30 sec exposures.

After slogging through everything it sounds like path to the best results would be:
Sky Watcher EQ6-R Pro
MGEN-3 guide camera setup (looks to make things stupid easy which is sounds good for someone starting out)
A big dovetail plate like the 7 or 11 inch version of this one
An adapter so I can get a lens (135mm or 200mm M42 Pentax screw mount one) attached to the guide camera so maybe this one
Some method of mounting the guide scope?

From what I can tell all that would come in towards the upper end of my range but now I am left with how to mount the guide scope which would likely be either my M42 S-M-C 300/4, S-M-C 200/4, Vivitar Series 1 135/2.3. I've seen the hoops that go around a telescope that these things can ride on but I don't think that would work with the A* 400/2.8. So now what would be the correct way to mount a guide scope and camera? In my mind I could fab something up where I can have a rig that would run off of the main mounting plate that the guide scope can be mounted to but someone must have a proper solution to that whole setup so I don't have to build my own.

One more quesion what is the power plug that comes with the EQ6-R Pro? Is it really the automotive 12v plug (the cigarette lighter plug)? If so that makes things easy.

Yes the EQ6-R comes with a cigarette lighter plug.

For the adaption of a guidecam you need to care for the right sensor distance to get into focus. The adaption and fixation is not trivial with a camera lens. Maybe it is also not a good idea to use a lens because it has a variable focus that changes even with a touch. A simple guidesope or finderscope with a fixed focus should work better in practice. Once focused and you are fine for a long time. May advise would be to get a cheap and lightweight 8 x 50 or 9 x 50 finder scope together with a sturdy holder (right word?) and shoe. There are sets recommended, maybe someting like this Teleskop-Express: TS-Optics 50 mm Leitrohr und Sucherteleskop mit 1,25" Steckh. Scotty should know what works best and can be acquired easily in the US....

The camera and the finderscope shoe can be mounted together on a rigid dovetail that is clamped crosswise/ transverse (right word?) into to the mount.

For a guidescope this oen works well Amazon.com : SVBONY SV106 Guide Scope 60mm Multi-Use Finder Scope Guide Scope with Helical Focuser F4 for SG4 QHY5II ZWO SG4 CCD Astronomical Telescope : Camera & Photo

I have a couple of them that I use on various OTAs

Think you're getting some excellent advice here. I'd still recommend a center-balanced equatorial if you're concerned about weight, a CEM40 head is 15 pounds.

I have yet to see actual iGuider performance numbers. But it couldn't be simpler than a scope and camera built into the mount -- IF you're going to have a computer all the time anyway. Then the iGuider would likely be a good choice up through 400mm or so. If you go longer, the iGuider scope (120mm f/l) might not suffice -- note that the SVBONY Scotty recommends has a 270mm f/l! Longer is not necessarily always better, since mo' mag means less FOV and fewer available stars to guide on. And the guiders work at a sub-pixel level. But at some point, a discrepancy that a short scope can't notice is enough to mess up the longer scope's image. Heh. For plenty of folks, a "guide" scope is 80mm -- bigger than my imaging scope!

All that said, if you can figure out a decent mount for it, it's hard to go wrong with a cheap-but-adequate scope and an MGEN. This fellow found a cheap bracket to do the job. The bane of guidescope setups is differential flexure, you'd want to be sure that you've got something pretty rigid.

Edited to add: Duh. You said "1.4X converter" right up front. I have no data to back this up, mind you, but 120mm starts to sound a little short to guide that.

Coming to the guidescope topic once more. For my MGEN I use a light weight 8 x 50 finder scope since ever. It has an fl of only 164 mm an this is very nice and sufficiant for my maximum focal length of 910mm.

I also have a 240 mm Svabony as a guidescope for my ASI120MM-s guidecam. I had bought that combo at the time when N.I.N.A. could not dio automated meridian flips yet. The guiding performance of this setup with PHD-2 was worse compared with the finder/MGEN combination.

@craigbob and possible other MGEN3 users: the latest nightly build of N.I.N.A claims to have support also for the MGEN3 now.

The iGuider looks to be a 120/4 optic (30mm aperture) while the SVBONY is a 270/4.5 so only a little bit darker so I wouldn't imagine that there would be a big hit from that. Also considering that I'm not going after crazy dim object in a star sparse area of the sky I'm not too worried. At this point in my life ~$100 to change a component out at a later date isn't a big concern but I want to avoid things like multi hundred or thousand+ dollar component changes at a later date. The only place I would likely have issues finding guide stars would be my back yard at its awful bright bortle 8 as most of my shooting is done from a dark 5 and when I can manage it a dark 3 and dark 2.

After looking that the SVBONY guide scope the ring bracket looks like it could be easily mounted either under or slightly off to the side of the big dovetail that the camera and lens would be riding on (maybe I should get the 14" plate). Mounting it under the dovetail for the camera and lens would not result in flexing. To mount off to the side I would look into getting some square aluminum tube stock with drilling and tapping the correct hole for joining things would ensure that there isn't flexing and at short length for the tube stock it would be very ridged. Even getting some thick 90 degree aluminum bar stock would likely work for mounting off to the side, but if I need to weld up a bracket I would have to use steel as I don't have the ability, knowledge, or equipment to weld aluminum.

One of the biggest selling points of the MGEN is not having to haul a computer around, especially since I don't have a windows machine or a laptop so that would require yet another expense.

Or you could do as I do and Velcro a $65 Raspberry Pi to your scope. :-)

Kidding. If you are interested in simplicity and don't find the features that Pete cites a compelling reason to complicate things out of the gate, the MGEN is far and away the best choice I can think of for you.

I'd send you a shot of my rig to say "No, no, see, imaging with a computer is really simple!"

But darn it, I just can't seem to find an angle where you could see the telescope through all the cables, the autofocus belt, the cable ties, and the little trapdoors for the cuckoos that pop out to announce the meridian flip. :-)

That actually has crossed my mind as and option as the Pi is really a disposable computer. I think the ease of initial use, the "one button guiding", is really appealing with the ability to add on and switch things out in the future.


On a different but slightly related topic what does a meridian flip have to do with anything? I have previously run across the term and now vaguely know what it is but don't understand why it matters. My understanding that the meridian is the line in the sky that run north to south and the flip happens when what ever you are pointing at crosses it but what effect does that have on autoguiding as the term comes up a lot in that context?

Well I did figure out meridian flip and it isn't that complex especially since the mount will do it for you when you tell it to do it.

Of course since the FOV can change (or at least flip over), the guider has to start over to find a good star and get going on it. I'm definitely not running at 100% with Ekos on the Pi, sometimes it seems as if it doesn't get the word from the mount that the flip is over, or something. You can turn off some or all of this, but by default Ekos will command the mount to do the flip, plate-solve to ensure that the FOV is exactly centered, refocus if it's time for that, and restart the guider.

Since my mount behaves ever so slightly differently on one side than the other, usually it works but guiding is a little worse (or better). Pretty sure it has to do with how I balance the mount, it has to be just a few grams east-heavy in RA but after the flip of course that's east-light. If you're not going to be silly and load up your mount as I do (17 pounds on a 25-pound mount), that will likely be much less of an issue.

I spent my first couple years using a modified manual CG-4, which you can now get with a motor system at a reasonable price, but if you are seriously hooked for the long haul I'm really loving my Skywatcher EQ6R-pro. The thing is a beast and requires multiple trips to get it all on the alignment bricks and the head unit is about like carrying an 80lb wet cat, but I've gotten 30 minute+ ~1 arc sec exposures using a cobbled up guide scope consisting of an inline 8x finder with a 48-42mm press fit and a an asi120 camera on the back. I've called it the Honda accord of "portable" mounts.(my old one would be a fiat) I usually use 600sec@ 200iso on the 150mm f/4 TPO newt with a GSO CC and modded K5 for my shots. It's expensive but the consensus of reviews I've found in groups has been pretty solid.

This seems like a good place to plug for kstars/Indilib or indigo as a base for remote use. I seldom go back to the mount more than once or twice for alignment and that bloody focus lock that I always forget to loosen.

I paid $35 for my pi3b and it's in a hanging file folder along with battery and supplies. :P