skywatcher EQ6

Hey folks,

I put up a thread here a while back asking for advice on mounts, (cge and cgem) well as things have turned out I didnt make any purchase yet, as all ov you will know, coming up with the cash isnt easy, and also me being very cautious in making a purchase, even my girlfriensd does rise me about being so so cautious, any how here is my situation, I was advised before to go with the celestron cge over the cgem, but at the time the cge was discontinued. I was put in the direction of the losmandy mount, which did look very impressive but with a lot of research it had a lot of bad reviews, and lately ive been looking into a lot of mounts in my price range and I was seriously considering a cgem and even contacted a dealer, for the best price and I would get a very good deal, and I was also assured that if their was a problem with the mount that they would take it back and exchange it. but im weiry about that because I remember recently reading something a guy wrote about his mount started to give trouble and the same shop didnt want to know about it,
now ive seen al over the net that the cgem is having a lot of problems and in my view far too maney problems to go and buy one, so here is my main question, the sky watcher EQ6, does any one here use this mount, if so what do you think, Im going to buy a celestron 9.1/4 tube to go on the mount, ive seen some good reviews on cloudy nights of the orion atlas mount,which from what i can gather they are the same, also im currently using a celestron 6" on a cg5 mount, is the EQ6 any bigger than this mount, any advise will be much appreciated.

I don't use one but a lot of the guys in my local club use them and get very good results. A C9.5 would be a good fit with room for a guide scope.The EQ6 Pro is the one to go for. I am surprised at the reviews of the Losmandy G11 as it is generally regarded as a workhorse mount.

I've no idea of prices or what your budget is but you could do worse than look for a Astro-Physics mount. Second hand market is good at the moment and you might get a Mach1 lurking out there somewhere. Or one of the older AP mounts.

I also thought the Losmandy G11 was pretty well thought of. Perhaps newer ones are suffering quality issues?

thanks folks, about the losmandy, their is super reviews about g11 and if its working properly it would be a great mount, but on the other hand their is a fair share ov people that had problems with them, and they are more expensive than the eq6 so its a lot of money to pay out with the possibility of running into problems, ive seen a lot of good for the eq6 and its a nice price and also seems capable for what I want. all this is just from reading reviews,

a second hand mach1 would be a nice one,

The EQ6 Pro is very good value for money in my opinion.

The biggest gripe that I had with mine was that the ALT polar-alignment bolts were barely usable - I had great difficulty elevating the mount head even without load. However replacement bolts from Astrodevelopments soon sorted that out.

www.astrodevelopments.eu/Synta%20cables.htm .

Other possible criticism is that the counterweight bar is integral to the head (it retracts inside) - and maybe a bit short because of that. Some users have sought to replace the bar - or attach an extension bar.
I bought a third counterweight instead (from modernastronomy) and have being able to use a payload of 15Kg.

www.modernastronomy.com/

I have no experience with any other mount so I can't compare.
I don't know the weight of other mounts but the mount head of the EQ6Pro comes in at 16Kg and I wouldn't want to move heavier than that.

Periodic error can vary between mounts. I suspect 20 arcsecs peak to peak (uncorrected) is pretty typical though. I've never accurately measured mine but I think it's in that ball-park.

Mark