equatorial mount
A worthy addition to the EQ6 series with welcome upgrades
SKY SAYS… We can see the EQ6-R becoming the mount of choice for those wanting to upgrade from EQ3s and EQ5s
Sky-Watcher mounts have a good reputation for stability and reliability, and the long-established EQ6 series is no exception. This latest variant, the EQ6-R Pro, brings further refinements and a slightly greater carrying capacity than previous models, up from 18kg to 20kg.
The EQ6-R certainly looks the business. In addition to the main mount head, the package includes a stainless steel tripod, a pair of 5kg counterweights plus extension shaft, a SynScan V4 Go-To hand controller, a power connector and a camera snap port cable. Note that you need to specify your camera model when ordering so you get the right snap cable, and that the carrying capacity does not include the counterweights. For astrophotography, we’d always recommend working at half to two-thirds the official capacity to take into account the weight of your imaging accessories, such as the camera, a guidescope and a guide camera.
Several tweaks to the EQ6 design stood out as we set up for our first practical night sky test. First, Sky-Watcher has incorporated a very welcome carry handle on the main body of the mount, which really helps if you need to keep the EQ6-R in storage when not in use. Second, the latitude and azimuth adjustment bolts are nice and chunky, and easy to grab hold of even with gloved hands, and they made adjustments much easier. The old graduated scale for latitude on the mount side has now been replaced with a latitude dial scale which we found useful on initial setting up for our latitude.
Another nice new feature is the change to the polarscope end cover – it used to be a screw-in cap that could be easily cross threaded, rendering it hard to remove or screw back on. Now the end cap slots over the polarscope and is held in place with a plastic screw, a simple but effective solution to this particular problem. The saddle for attaching a telescope has undergone a slight but welcome redesign that makes it feel much more solid in use compared with – say – the NEQ6, and it can take both Vixen- and Losmandystyle mounting bars. Assembly was straightforward, all things considered.
Taking a tour
After attaching a SkyMax 180 Pro Maksutov telescope to the mount, we polar aligned and performed a three-star Go-To alignment using the SynScan V4 handset, then completed a tour of some deep-sky objects in and near to Leo, Cancer, Hercules and Ursa Major – including M1, M42/43, the Leo Triplet, the Eskimo Nebula, NGC 2903, M13 and M92. The mount placed all of our targets inside the inner 50 per cent of the view with our 26mm eyepiece, which gave a magnification of 104x.