Newest Adition to my fmaily arrived today, an AZ-EQ5 Pro

[chris_g]

It'll be carrying the previous addition to the family, my Canon 6D, sporting the 75mm to 300mm F/4 to 5.6 lens. Still needs a guide scope but that's in the works. Already had to use some non-stock stuff to get the camera to ride and balance but it balances. Still researching scopes

Twice the equipment, twice the fun!

[Juno16]

Congratulations Chris!

She’s a beauty!

[chris_g]

Congratulations Chris!

She’s a beauty!

She's really light weight compared to my EQ6, and the tripod folds up, really compact. Sweet rig for a grab and go!

[Ylem]

Sweet! Looks nice, enjoy!

[Juno16]

It’s really nice Chris. Doesn’t the AZ-EQ5 Pro have belts drivinf the DEC and RA axis?
I really like my new HEQ5. It handles the Sharpstar 61 perfectly. Nice easy rig.
Soon I’ll be mounting the Explore Scientific ED102. Hopefully it will handle that scope as well.
I’ll probably be upgrading it with the Rowan belt mod later this year following Martin’s fine video @MartinF !

Enjoy and looking forward to your first light.

[chris_g]

It’s really nice Chris. Doesn’t the AZ-EQ5 Pro have belts drivinf the DEC and RA axis?
I really like my new HEQ5. It handles the Sharpstar 61 perfectly. Nice easy rig.
Soon I’ll be mounting the Explore Scientific ED102. Hopefully it will handle that scope as well.
I’ll probably be upgrading it with the Rowan belt mod later this year following Martin’s fine video @MartinF !

Enjoy and looking forward to your first light.

Yup, it's belt driven. It also has dual encoders and what Sky Wacher is calling Freedom Find. You can unlock in either axis after it's been aligned and slew manually and lock it back and it doesn't lose its alignment. I'm looking forward to first light with it. Though not sure when that will happen just yet. It still needs a guide scope and camera. I'm also still researching tubes. It was supposed to two vixen saddles but it has a dual Losmoandy/Vixen saddle, like my EQ6, and a secondary vixen saddle for dual OTA mode. That wasn't on either Sky Watcher's or Agena's web site as part of it, nice surprise.

I've got to lighten the ED80 load before it will ride on her for imaging, didn't realize my mini-PC was so fat! . I also swapped out the Vixen dovetail on it for a Losmondy dovetail so I could get it to balance. And the guide scope is pretty hefty too! The whole rig is almost 19 pounds.

I've heard about belt mod upgrade of the EQ6, I'm not good at that kind of stuff, but he parts don't look to terribly tiny, maybe if I have issues. This is what I'm getting tonight as I type this out