Well I think the time has come to finally make the jump up to a big equatorial to stick the SMC A* 400/2.8, 1.4X-L converter, and camera on. While I have the Sky Watcher Star Adventurer and like it for small things there is no way it can support that setup. So with that ~16lb lens + converter + camera it becomes clear I need something bigger and more robust. Add in that there are a lot of things I am bad a finding and goto functionality becomes a good feature. Also I would like to expect to get nice clean unguided tracking at 560mm for 30s but don't know if that is unreasonable or not.

So realizing that these things aren't cheap and not wanting to waste money I am looking for advice and recommendations on what mount to get. From what I can tell I will be stuffing about 20lbs of gear on it which I think means I want one with a capacity of at least 40lbs. This doesn't seem to be too hard to find. I can envision at some point in the future getting a guide scope wanting to do autoguided shots but that would probably a couple of years. Also I would envision getting a real scope too at some point but since that would be a reflector of some sort weight wise it would probably be comparable to the SMC A* 400/2.8.

As far as other requirements the automotive 12V connector or 12V alligator clips would be very desirable. It looks like some have USB connections instead of the old serial connections which would be good going forward.

Beyond that I want to be under about $2500 and have the tripod to go with it. Also to get a good straight and secure mount I am pretty sure I will need either the 7" or 11" version of this plate to secure the camera and lens to. Given that the lens and camera have the 1/4"x20 tripod holes at different heights I will need to make a spacer but that is a trivial task for me.

I did read the manual for the Celestron CGX EQUATORIAL MOUNT to have some idea of what to expect and would lean towards that as it passes my sniff test as not being something that will let me down. However If there is something better, or comprable and cheaper, or I should consider another one, or I am looking at the wrong thing all together I would like to know before I spend that kind of money.

So I am not attached to any particular brand and don't' really know much about any of them. So educate me and make some recommendations.

I am currently looking/saving up for a bigger equatorial mount myself. I found some resources that I found helpful to compare various mounts that I feel I should share: here and here

I personally am leaning towards iOptron for now because of its open platform and large community support.

I am curious about what other members are using. Good Luck with your search.

=TJ

Welp, you won't hear too many iOptron complaints out of me. A CEM-25P is my first and so far only mount, I'm running 17 pounds on it and getting sub-second RMS guiding if I'm careful about the balance and it's a good night.

For me a huge win for the center-balanced equatorial is the portability and ease of setup. Until I got narrowband gear I pretty much had to drive out every single time I wanted to image. I am actually thinking about future-proofing myself with a CEM-70 but bate at the idea of hauling all that weight around and setting it up time and again. A -40 is just about right for my needs, though I'll probably start out right at the reasonable astrophotography weight limit for that mount.

I have gotten excellent support out of iOptron, too.

I would be shocked if you couldn't get pin-sharp 30s subs off a -40, I've gotten acceptable unguided results at 60 seconds out of my -25P (e.g. here and here). And I've seen more than one claim of 5- and even 10-minute subs.

The -40 is indeed USB-controlled, though apparently they use the FTDI chipset to change over to RS-232 internally (so if you're on Windows, you have to install those drivers, or so I've read). I really, REALLY like the cable management features through the saddle, so that any USB connection between on-scope gear such as a camera needn't have a cable swiveling around externally. Almost perfect for me, although I wish that were a USB 3.0 connection. However since you can run your own cable in through either the DEC or RA axle and up out the central hole in the saddle, it's not a deal-breaker for me, especially since I would plan to mount the scope computer (Pi) on the mount rather than swinging 'round with the scope, so I'll have to run the autofocus wiring through there anyway.

Oh, two more things: I improvised a 12V wiring harness by digging up some old wall-warts with the correct barrel connector and cutting the cords off. From there you can wire up anything you like. I use deep-cycle sealed lead-acid batteries in the field, I picked up a cable with a cigarette-lighter plug on one end and ring connectors on the other. Bolt the rings to the SLA battery terminals, and if the battery begins to flag, I can bolster it with my car's.

If you do go with iOptron, I advise that you pay the bit extra for the 2" tripod. Pretty solid, and I've heard that smaller one is less so.

2500$ will get you in a good EQ mount territory. I have the Skywatcher HEQ5 and I can support (just) a 8" reflector + 80x400mm guidescope and camera + Pentax K30 with coma corrector. Being the hobby that it is you might want to consider the next step up (NEQ6 or EQ6) for future proofing I found that 2-3min unguided tracking with a 600mm scope is easily achievable. The above mentioned 5-10min are luck (with the alignment) and good PEC training.

I am running the CGEM-II CGEM II EQ Mount and Tripod | Celestron It does Goto, and it tracks well. The tripod is beefy.
I usually use it with the Celestron Edge 925 which makes a full frame image circle, so I attach a Pentax K1.
It is lugable. I store it in a case with wheels and it fits in a Prius C, but not a Miata.

For that amount of money, you can get a Losmandy GM-8 which has a 30-40lb imaging capacity and 55lb visual capacity.

Mossy,

Here's a thread I started awhile ago on the same topic on Cloudy Nights: Used AP Mount? - Mounts - Cloudy Nights

It's worth perusing the thread - lots of good feedback.

If 2500$ is the upper limit then it might make sense to stay way below, buy e.g. an EQ6-R pro and invest some of the saved money into a decent autoguiding system. On the long end (do you say this in English? ) this will save nerves and improve the image quality dramatically.

Thanks for the info Pete, you were one of the people I was hoping would drop in. I believe the phrase you are looking for is "in the long run". The EQ6 series seems like a good value and if being better served with that and then getting a guide cam and scope plus computer to run it (a plan for later anyway) I wouldn't have issues going that route. Going right to an autoguider setup may be a bit much as apart from what they do and the very basics I don't' really know much about them so making that plunge now would likely be a mistake. However starting to think about it now is a good idea as it will avoid waste.

The $2500 amount was chosen as that is likely the absolute upper limit of what I would be able to spend and also appears to be a limit that would include most if not all of the mounts I would want to run.

In poking around some yesterday to look at some of the recommendations I stumbled upon a closeout deal on an iOptron iEQ45 Pro which seem like would be a good place to be starting from but I don't know how that would compare to the EQ6-R Pro that Pete mentioned which is still cheaper. I am fine with inexpensive so long as it is also good with options to grow and expand.

When reading through all the info thus provided one thing I see a lot of is comments about the weight of the head. As someone who built a tripod that comes in at about 60lbs and lugs it around is that really that big of a concern since the "heavy" heads look to be about 25 lbs (12kg).

Finally when thinking ahead for guide scope and cam how does one go about mounting such a thing with a huge camera lens like the A* 400/2.8 as it can't just be attached to the lens like I've seen people do with actual scopes? Also for a guide scope I seem to have read somewhere were someone was using an old M42 or K mount 200/4 as the guide scope on some guide camera so I assume such a thing is possible or am I just misremembering things? If one can do that I would use my old M42 S-M-C 300/4 as it mostly just waits for me want to stick it on my spotmatic now when I want to shoot some film so this way it gets put to good use. Is something like that even a good idea or is it just dumb?

Thanks to all for all the input I would expect more questions once I process all the info provided.

I'd snag either the iOptron CEM40 or GEM45. Ohh, and the IEQ45 is great too if you get a good deal on it, and you may end up with enough left over to get yourself an MGEN for stand alone autoguiding and dithering!

On the GEM45 I actually was looking at one at B&H at the upper end of my price range that looks to come with just about everything I would need even if I didn't use it all at first. I have no idea if the iGuider and other bits are worth it or not but this is the one I was looking at. I have looked at a lot of mounts and with this being my first jump up to a high quality one don't really know how to judge them other than by looking at payload capacity and knowing what will atleast hold and run reasonably well with my gear (that 20 or so pounds of gear means looking at a 40+ lbs capacity mount so I don't have concerns).

The HEQ5 Pro has been the goto :-P solution for amateurs for some time now. With the EQ6-R Pro, it seems it has replaced the HEQ5 as the amateur mount of choice with higher load capacity and yet still portable. I'm not sure about the CGX for portability - quite heavy if I'm not mistaken, perhaps more like the EQ8. The EQ6-R Pro seems to be the new standard and of course supported by all the EQMOD support with a built-in USB2Serial port. It seems like every YouTuber has got one - Astrobackyard, Chuck's Astrophotography, Astroforum, etc. I have one too. I liked the CEM45 but the EQ6-R Pro was quite a bit cheaper and based on a tried and true GEM design. And having the EQ6-R Pro for about a year I would say I wouldn't want any bigger for portability sake. If you work in your backyard, then thats probably not an issue. But if you want a more advanced mount with cable routing built-in, the CEM45 looks like a great choice. I friend has one and gets great guiding.

The iGuider is a built in autoguider, but is a really short FL. It would work great with things like a RASA, or pretty much any other scope under 600mm fl, but you're just about better off skipping that and putting the money toward an MGEN and then a cheap guidescope. I have the iGuider on my CEM70G. You have to use a computer with it, but then again you also have to use one for iPolar too, so it's kind of a wash. I happen to like optical polar scopes better because I like to do DSLR and no computer.

Hi Andrew,

what I had intended to write down was "(auto)guider" actually . The main reason to buy an autonomous guider is for a mobile setups without using a computer. For the MGEN it is also its simplicity in the usage and its accuracy. All other "normally" guided systems need a computer at their side. This seems to be a plus in complications and problems at first. But a guided system has so many direct and indirect advantages. Most of them are obvious but do not underestimate the indirect advantages. Having a modern mount, a guider and a computer involved into the image acquisition process opens the door to systems like NINA, APT or SGP, programms that totally change the life of an astroimager who was alone with his camera and mount before. Pentax users have still the disadvantage that there is no proper SDK for most of the actual acquisition software to dock in. But nevertheless with an MGEN2 also Pentax users with NINA and e. g. Astap on board can build up an image acquistion process that starts with selecting the target in an interactive visually augmented target database or from a planetarium software, interactive framing, automatic slew to the target, platesolve and sync of the mount. The MGEN triggers the shutter, keeps the stars in shape and steers the dithering.

Anyway guiding is a must for astroimaging IMHO with our without the "auto" in the name.

BTW Scotty you have several MGENs running and you are a programmer (if I remember it right). Maybe it is of interest for you to hear that a CN buddy of mine - your compatriot Francesco Meschia - has programmed a smart addon NINA code for the mgen. Now the MGEN2 is fully controllable under Nina including guidegraph and meridian flips - no fully automatic flips with Pentax because it requires an automatic image acquisition for the platesolve. I have already tested it and it works great.

I also heard that the MGEN3 support for NINA is on the doorstep.

Cheers and stay well
Pete