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I think if you want something that is grab and go, and your main interest is Milky Way or brighter DSOs, then astrotracer is a pretty good option.
But if you want to look at more faint deep space stuff, or if you are in a good observing location, where you can build a semi-permanent set-up, I'd rather have a good mount.

Steve,

I think what I've decided to do is work with astrotracer for now, as well as save up for a CEM60 later on. I don't actually possess any telescopes, so I'd want to purchase a decent telescope as well.

Might be the time to work on that best-selling novel...:P

Or sell a few unnecessary body parts.

Hmmm. Ya know...

For medium-to-long focal lengths, my experience of AstroTracer vs. equatorial (plus or minus a computer) is more of a wash. I have a lot of trouble getting my O-GPS1 to precise-calibrate, so time spent in "alignment" is really about the same; I know for sure that I will be able to get Polaris into the correct spot in my polar-scope reticle within a minute, whereas with AT it's always a crapshoot. Might happen in 30 seconds, might take multiple tries, might not happen at all (that last is, admittedly, quite rare).

Pointing at the danged object is an unequivocal win for the EQ-mount side. If the mount model is sane, I often get things within the FOV by merely punching them up on the hand controller. And once I got plate solving working with Ekos...man, it's not even a competition. I mean, I have literally spent 45 minutes to an hour just trying to hand-point the camera at an object not visible to the naked eye. Need to use a bright star to refocus after an hour? Too bad so sad, hope you can find your target again.

When plate solving works (and I admit my Pi has been struggling with it lately), it is usually a matter of select target, tell it "go there" and wait for the "ding" as it shoots, solves, and slews until the target is within the 30-arcsecond tolerance I usually use.

Shortly after they added Pentax to libgphoto and thus made Ekos usable for us, I switched over to a dedicated astro camera and haven't done much at all with the DSLR. But while support lags the other brands, it was enough for my needs.

I use a CEM-25P, which is way heavier than a tripod head, to be sure. But it's well within luggability, the mount and the counterweight each weigh about 5 kg.

Have you tried the dSLR and a longer prime with the CEM-25P?

I am old school. Heck, I almost justify my handle! (Join first and last names and pronounce as one word.) I do have a Goto EQ mount (my trusty Vixen GP-DX/SS2KPC) but I use that only with a telescope (Primary Deep-Sky Prime-focus Telescopic Set-up: Alen K: Galleries: Digital Photography Review : Digital Photography Review). For wide-field up to 300mm I have been using Astrotracer exclusively since mid 2018.

And I don't use a computer in either setup, not even to find objects. With the EQ mount the Goto simplifies finding and pointing of course. With Astrotracer, I usually just bring a Pocket Sky Atlas and that allows to me find anything I am not entirely familiar with. If I already know where the objects are that I am going to shoot that night (I've been into astronomy for almost 45 years now), I don't bother to bring even that. Finding and pointing hasn't been one of my problems. And I actually enjoy the "manual" nature of taking tens to hundreds of subs with Astrotracer, repointing every minute or so and periodically checking focus. Not everyone, especially the Social Media generation, would enjoy doing that. So as I said, Astrotracer isn't for everyone.

I'm pretty sure I tried it with the Tammie 500mm mirror lens at least once, but don't seem to have any images to back that up. Hmm, maybe that says something right there.

Well, you did say "especially". I mean, technically I'm of retirement age. Maybe it's a career in tech, but I gleefully adopt whatever gadgetry makes my life lazier.

Cool!