Saxon NEQ6 Pro GOTO Mount with Steel Tripod for Astrophotography

Description

NOTE FOR A LIMITED TIME, THERE IS A SPECIAL ASSOCIATED WITH THIS MOUNT – Free EQMod cable (say if you want the 2m or 5m version) at checkout.  

The Saxon NEQ6 Pro Mount with Steel Tripod provides the precision and stability needed for serious observing.  We at Astro Dog recommend getting the best mount you can, right from the start.

This NEQ6 Pro mount includes a built-in illuminated polar scope for both Southern and Northern Hemisphere, a latitude adjuster with micrometer scale, an azimuth polar-alignment adjuster, aluminium setting circles, large manual slow-motion tracking controls, bubble level and steel tubular tripod legs.

The NEQ6 is a very heavy duty mount that can take heavy loads.  Note these load recommendations are based on user experience rather than any specific manufacturer recommendation.

• VISUAL : 25kg load
• IMAGING: 18kg load

Compatible with EQMOD using a Lynx Astro EQDIR adapter 🙂

“Best for heavy scopes”…. “We practically had to thump it to induce any vibrations”
BBC Sky At Night Magazine 

“I like these mounts, they are solid, well thought out and work quietly and effectively”
Astronomy Now Magazine

The saxon NEQ6 Pro Mount with Steel Tripod features and includes the following:

• A user friendly Synscan hand controller
• 2x 5.1Kg counter weight
• Wall-to-wall large accessory tray
• An extension 185mm counterweight shaft
• 2″ stainless steel tripod legs
• Retractable counterweight shaft
• Accept narrow (V-style) or wider (D-style) dovetail mounting plates
• 1.8 degree step angle and 64 micro steps driven
• Motor resolution at 0.144arc sec (or 9.024,000 steps/rev.)
• Slew speeds from 2x, 8x, 18x, 32x, 64x, 400x, 500x, 600x, and up to 3.4°/sec (800X)
• Sidereal, Solar and Lunar tracking rates
• One, Two and Three star alignment options
• Auto guider interface for astrophotography
• Guiding speed from 0.25x, 0.50x, 0.75x, or 1x
• Minimal vibration for steady long-exposure astrophotography
• Payload Capacity 20Kg
• Containing over 42,900 objects with complete Messier, NGC and IC Catalogues.
• Positioning accuracy up to 1 arc minute. Accuracy enhanced by software collimation error (mount mechanical error) compensation
• Periodic error correction
• Firmware upgradeable via internet download
• PC Compatibility
• Car power supply adapter included
• Requires 11 to 15V DC 2A power supply (not included).

User Comments

“The Perfect Mount!  I bought this mount after having read so much about it on the Internet. It certainly does live up to its reputation of being extremely sturdy, well-built and easy to setup and control.

Putting it together was a breeze and with the help of AstronomyShed’s video tutorials, I marked the “home position” precisely with a permanent marker and aligned the polarscope to the mount.

Regarding the sturdiness of the mount, the build quality and tracking capability, this mount cannot be equaled at its price. The SynScan Hand Controller proved decent and never yielded problems. Polar alignments were easy to perform as well and were always precise when the polarscope was well aligned. The AutoGuider port is also brilliant and works perfectly with the Orion StarShoot AutoGuider using PHD Guiding.

Important to mention is that nowadays I have moved away from the SynScan Hand Controller and use an EQDirect USB interface. This was an excellent upgrade and makes this mount even more attractive as it is wonderful to control via EQMod and Stellarium, along with the likes of Alignmaster for more precise polar alignments.

The only problems I have had with this mount are power related. The power cable included is very fiddly and with slewing, the cable would wiggle in the 12V connector and I would lose power. This was extremely frustrating and I fixed it by sticking the power cable across the front of the mount with power tape so it couldn’t wiggle. Also, using this mount alongside a CCD camera with its cooler would drop the voltage across the mount below 12V and cause the power LED to flash, affecting tracking. This was fixed by buying a simple Universal Car Laptop Charger, setting it to 15V and using this as the power cable instead. This ensures the mount always receives between 12 and 15 V for continuous power.

Overall I have to say that I would never go back on buying this mount. It is absolutely perfect even for large payloads and tracking with autoguiding is fantastic. This is a true astrophotographer’s mount and like they say: Invest in a good mount first and foremost and then think about everything else later.” – Kayron

“Surely the EQ6 mount is too well known to require a review? Maybe but like all things astronomical, this excellent mount continues to evolve so perhaps it’s worth another look.  Fit and finish on the latest incarnation, the NEQ6 Pro is pretty good and mine arrived in pristine condition. I particularly wanted to be able to use both Vixen/Synta and the more substantial Losmandy dovetail equipped telescopes on this mount so the fact that two pucks would be supplied, one for each type of dovetail was going to be a little bonus. Imagine then my surprise and pleasure to discover that a single dual saddle came installed on the mount and, even better, this was of the spring loaded compression type. I have always thought that the rather crude ‘bolt tightening up against one side of the dovetail bar’ system was a low grade solution so this new saddle was a breath of fresh air. ADM engineering it isn’t but it is a good leap forwards by Sky-Watcher who have finally recognised that the Vixen dovetail is quite challenged with heavier ‘scopes and a source of potential differential flexure when imaging with anything but the lightest of systems.

The first thing I normally do with new equipment like this is to download the latest firmware but there was no need, it was up to date as supplied. I checked for smooth rotation of the RA and DEC axes and all was well here so time for switch-on. No problems here either, the usual singing note from the motors indicated that they were ready for action so I completed the date/time/location etc pages then carried out a dummy 1 star alignment inside the house as you do hear horror stories of mounts ending up pointing in totally the wrong direction! Not this one, it stopped exactly where I expected although I did notice that the drive had a little more momentary ‘rattle’ just before it stopped than I am used to with my older SkyScan upgraded EQ6 but this was the same as all the other (N)EQ6s I have had contact with in recent years.

I still use a polarscope for most of my polar alignments (it appeals to my ‘fine engineering and tinkering’ side) and to my surprise, the crosshair reticule was perfectly centred in the RA axis when I carried out the start of the ‘object at a long distance’ alignment. This made calibrating the rest of the system a breeze.  I am loving this mount although its white livery does make my original EQ6 look a tad dated!” – Stephen

Package Dimensions:

• Box 1 – 115x27x27, 20.3kg
• Box 2 – 53x53x22cm, 19kg

Questions?  Call us on 1300 ASTRODOG or just use the form!