The history and the decision to the purchase of the Skywatcher EQ8 mount
In March 2004, the first version of the EQ6 was bought by me in 1160 Vienna, Thaliastrasse 83 at the Astrostudio Rhemann. The mount was then priced very attractive and had a box with four buttons for the directions in RA and DEC for the control. And there were some different speeds to choose from. The Synta upgrade kit V3 01 for the EQ6 could be purchased from the House of optics in Heinsberg in Germany in December 2006. With this upgrade the two stepper motors, the motor controller board and the hand controller were replaced. From now on the EQ6 had become a powerful goto mount. With this mount and the 10 inch Newton, which had been bought as a Dobson in May 2003 at Astro Optik Beck St. Pölten, I could work well since then. But of course, this version of the EQ6 is with a 10 inch Newton and a dew shield photographically always close to the limit. And because there is a possibility that a very powerful 12" or a 14" Newton with carbon tube should be used later, I began to watch the mount market in the 50kg class in 2011. This limit arises because I needed a mount that is still useable mobile. Because already the EQ6 was always used only mobile by me and I had to setup at the beginning of each observing night and then had to remove it at the end. This should be possible with a larger mount in a relative short time too.

The market for mounts with 50kg telescope weight in the years 2011 - 2013
The analysis of the market for mounts with 50kg telescope weight always ended with the same result. If I summed the prices for mount head, solid tripod, modern control and the necessary power supply, with some exceptions I always came in the range of 10.000,- to 20.000,- Euro. That was well above my price limit scheduled for this purpose at this time.

For me further negative features of some mounts were:
- Too high assembly level for a Newton telescope.
- Product seems to be an individual produced item.
- No usable solid tripod available.
- Complicated and long lasting setup and dismounting.
- Power supply voltage 24 Volts instead of 12 Volts.
- Because of the drive concept a too high current consumption.
- Operation and control only possible with a special software.
- Complex and time consuming alignment procedure on sky after setup.

Some times it is astonishing which sortiment of external electronic boxes and cable connections are necessary for several mounts. Not only for a mobile setup this can be cumbersome and time consuming. This are potential error sources in an observatory operation too. And often, you get a now clearly out dated control to a relatively expensive mount. These facts have further restricted the circle of the mounts which would be appropriate for me. And by controlling the EQ6 with notebook, Guide 9, wireless gamepad and EQMOD ASCOM I was now but somewhat spoiled in this regard. And so I remained working with the EQ6 with permanent watching of the mount market. Because in the meantime it was told that Skywatcher has a much larger mount than the EQ6 in development and it also will be offered on the market relatively soon.

The decision for the Skywatcher EQ8
According to the always more concrete announcements from the year 2012 and the actual launch of the EQ8 in spring 2013, I quickly realized, it was worth the waiting and there was an excellent new alternative when purchasing a mount now for me. Until now a mount in the 50kg class with key data and features like the EQ8 was not available on the market for this price. Unfortunately I missed the initial presentation of the EQ8 in March 2013 in 1050 Vienna, Schönnbrunnerstraße 96 at the Teleskop und Mikroskop-Zentrum because I had no information about. But there was a very good offer valid until the end of April 2013 to make a pre-order and to get a complete EQ8 with original tripod for 3.499,- Euro only and with a delivery date in summer 2013. And since the first test results in Vienna were really excellent and seemed trustworthy to me, I have pre-ordered the EQ8. There was another positive surprise concerning the date of delivery. Because the mount had arrived in Vienna at the end of June 2013, so much sooner than expected. And since I wanted personally meet the team of the Teleskop und Mikroskop-Zentrum, a pickup of the mount with the car by me was agreed. But I could arrange this not earlier than July 09, 2013. Beside the standart equipment I also took two pre-ordered additional counterweights with 10 kg each and a pol finder. With the four counterweights I can mount easily even heavier telescopes in the future on the EQ8.

Because my Newton will be mounted on the EQ8 now with a 610mm long 3" Losmandy dovetail rack my EQ6 got a new Geoptik plate with GP and Losmandy clamping. So the Newton with Losmandy dovetail rack can be further used on the EQ6. On the other side I purchased a Losmandy/GP adapter for the EQ8 to make it possible to mount all my optics with GP level also on the EQ8. So I can change my optics between two different mounts and rack systems.

The EQ8 is probably mechanically to more than 99% a new product and designed differently than the EQ6. One can not make direct technical or constructional comparisons. And experiences made with the EQ6 are also no longer applicable here. Not only do the EQ8 mount achieve all my expectations and has surpassed them. It is also constructive ideal for me because despite of the weight class of 50 kg a mobile setup or dismounting is possible like with the EQ6 in just a few minutes. The mount head with pole finder included weighs 26 kg. The counterweight rod brings 2.6 kg on the scale. The tripod weighs 28.8 kg. And the three level plates for the tripod legs weigh in total additional 5.5 kg. The original counterweights weighing 10kg each. Thus, an EQ8 with two counterweights has a total weight of 82.9kg. With the 18kg for the 10 inch Newton system about 101 kg are reached for the overall setup.

With this setup the mobil assembled EQ8 was working with a worm error of only +/-2.5 arcsec without PE correction or guiding. This relatively small peak to peak value of only 5 arc seconds would be a good value for mounts in the 10.000,-Euro class too. With guiding but without PE correction the residual errors in the tracking then remains under 1 arcsecond RMS. With a typical seeing of 2.5 to 3.5 arcseconds at my site quite sufficient. This guiding accuracy is achieved with a DMK camera on a finder scope with only 180 mm focal length. Guidemaster and EQMOD ASCOM pulse guiding control the EQ8 with the 10 inch Newton.

The mount was picked up in Vienna from the Teleskop und Mikroskop-Zentrum with my car
July 09, 2013

After the stow of the EQ8 mount in the car there was enough time to make a photo with Lajos and Tommy from the Teleskop und Mikroskop-Zentrum in Vienna.

The solid parts of the EQ8 mount in their package are nearly filling the relativ big storage space in my car.

The second big carton for the mount head suitcase could be left at the dealer in Vienna.

A lot of cartons and parts in the garage which have to be assembled to a EQ8 mount now.

The solid and stable tripod is lying fixed and safe in foamed material in the carton. Nearby the carton with three level plates for the tripod legs.

The tripod with central pillar and still secured tripod legs.

The level plates used as a base for the three tripod legs still in the packing.

Manual, mount head, hand controller, cables and counterweight rod packed sure in foam material and in a suite case with a upper shell and wheels.

The EQ8 hand controller, cables for power supply and communication and the necessary tools for assembling are provided with the mount. With the hand controller the mount can be aligned to more than 42.000 objects on the sky.

Even the 10kg counter weights for the EQ8 are packed single and sure.

The EQ8 mount finished for the first time. The pol finder is mounted very stable and is full adjustable. And because of the good optic the mobil alignment works easier and faster as with the EQ6. Because of the guiding the remaining small error of the polar axis orientation is irrelevant also for long exposures.

The mounts EQ8 and EQ6 side by side. Clearly the total different mechanical concepts are visible. However, nobody would immediately assume that the EQ8 is still more than twice as heavy as the EQ6.

Even the orientation of the tripod legs is different between the mounts EQ8 and EQ6. The EQ8 has oriented one leg to the pole and the EQ6 exactly one leg to the opposite direction.

As expected first tests in the garage with the Newtonian mounted on the EQ8, which was controlled by the Notebook with Guide 9, EQMOD ASCOM and Gamepad were successful.

EQ8 Mount - Pages overview

Page #1 - History, decision and purchase of the Skywatcher EQ8 mount (this page)

Page #2 - Mobile setup of the EQ8 mount with Newton telescope

Page #3 - Current draw and power supply of the EQ8 mount

Page #4 - Detailed images of the EQ8 mount

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