SkyView EQ Deluxe

Good Day,

I just purchased a SkyView EQ Deluxe mount for an Orion 8" Newtonian and would like to share information from other users on their experiences with similar equatorial platform employing setting cycles manually or with a clock drive. One day, I would like to use my German-style, equatorial mount for astrophotography but will probably have to manufacture my own clock drive for this purpose.

Regards,
Keith

I had one of those for several years, and always thought it was a pretty decent mount. However, I found using manual setting circles to be a rather inefficient way of locating objects, and quickly resorted to star-hopping with a decent chart and a RACI finder scope.

My experience with clock drives on that mount was that the Accu-Track adjustable-rate version was unsatisfactory. The tracking rate was always off. Once I switched to the RA/Dec control box, the problem disappeared and it tracked real well for visual use.

I have not done any astrophotography, but from what I've read, the SVD is not up to the task. For that matter, it will be borderline for visual use with the 8" Newt you are putting on it. I tried to save money by using it for my 16 pound MN66, and it was too shaky when trying to manually focus, so I switched to a Losmandy GM-8. I think the Losmandy is about the minimum mount that is capable of serious astrophotography.

Hope that helps,

Hugh Bartlett
Oakland, CA