Mounting Blues

Hi - New to AM and new to hobby. Please be gentle, I purchased a scope from Mark (THANKS DUDE!)a Intes Micro 66 and I am really troubled by what mount to get. Mark has been really helpful but I want to get some opinions here so...What I am thinking of doin is getting a Meade 5" refractor GOTO setup and switching OTa's around using the autostar unit to help me find stuff. I have been seeing the LXD55 mounts with goto sell here on AM for $500 so another $195 for a scope and a brand new mount dosent sound too bad... what do you think? Don't plan on doin Photo's any time soon.....

I would not recommend the LXD55 mount for the MN66. I have the MN66 myself, and tried the Orion Skyview Pro...a nice sturdy mount that I find to be more stable than the LXD55 that two friends have (at least the tripod is!). As much as I liked it overall, the SVP was marginal at best, and I sent it back. I would recommend a Losmandy GM8, at a minimum, but preferably something sturdier. I exchanged my SVP for the Orion Atlas, which is the same as the Skywatcher EQ6 mount. I think that this mount will do quite nicely, as I am purely a visual kind of guy, and I think the periodic error is a bit much on these mounts for imaging.

While I can understand the appeal of a nice goto mount, I would look at other options for this scope. Just my opinion...

Doug
Midway, FL

a word of caution if you plan to observe when it's cold- don't expect a meade goto gem to work below freezing. rich