Best Performing Mounts
WINNER !
Sky-Watcher EQ6-R PRO Go-To
(Wobble 0.6 arcseconds)
This is the best mount on the market right now in terms of performance/price ratio. The EQ6-r is a kind of frankenstien of the NEQ6 with a bit of the AZ-GTEQ6 thrown in. The result out of the box is a significant step up from anything that has gone before in its price range. It can carry and image with much bigger scopes than I am recommending here. If you buy this mount it will serve you well for years to come. BTW the older EQ6’s can be tinkered with to be as good as this mount (and you can purchase a Rowan upgrade for the old EQ6’s too) so if you see an old EQ6 second hand its a good option.
Orion Atlas II EQ-G
This is the same mount as the Skywatcher EQ6-R but in a black dress. Its now sold out but if you can pick up one second hand then you’re onto a winner
RUNNER UP !
Skywatcher EQM-35
I bloomin love this mount
(Wobble 1.2 (ish) arcseconds)
I bought this mount for travel astrophotography. Its part of my “new” ultimate travel scope set up although to be fair its probably a bit too big for a non mega geek to lug about on a plane. It is however definitely in the category of nice and portable. Straight away I was surprised how well aligned the polar scope was. Then when I used it to guided a rather too large 8inch newtonian I was surprised by how little it wobbled. Only 1.4arc seconds initially dropping down to 1 arc second later in the night. WOW! Basically if you are shooting with a small refractor ( up to about 90mm in aperture) this is all the mount you will ever need. An 8 inch newt is probably a bit too big for it, certainly I couldn’t recommend the “wow” scope because of its heavy steel tube although I seemed to just about get away with it. I am very tempted to make this the overall mount winner but if you are really serious about astrophotography the extra payload and ridiculously small amount of wobble on the eq6 edges it.
