Synta EQ-6

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Brand and Model:Synta EQ-6
Price ($USD):$750 to $1000
Type:Equatorial
Attributes:checkedMotorized un-checkedPEC un-checkedGoto
Electric Power:
Weight (lbs.):54
Description:Dual stepper motor drive designed for telescopes up to 35 pounds. This Chinese produced clone offers large carrying capacity at an affordable price.

Cloudy Nights' Review

An Italian Review [View Alta Vista's English Translation]

Vote Highlights Vote
Synta EQ-6
I've had my EQ6 (original version) for exactly 2 years now, so I checked in on these votes to see how others have felt about theirs, and to finally vote for mine.

It seems that one or two contributors have a problem with people giving a product like this a 9 or 10 vote based on its qualities _per monetary unit _. They feel that the 9s and 10s should be reserved for the frankly better performing, better quality but accordingly more expensive "high-end" products (in this case mounts by Takahashi, Astrophysics, Losmandy, Mountain Instruments, etc.). However, the flaw with their "you must not take price into account" line of reasoning is this: where do you draw the line? Because the world of equatorial mounts does not stop there! The problem (my rant gets philosophical here (;-)) with the "advanced" amateur community is that as an overall unit it is largely self-contained, self-supporting, self-informed and self-congratulatory. Why is this a problem? Well, because within this largely enclosed system various consensus opinions will hold sway and things beyond that horizon will be overlooked. It will be forgotten that there are many bigger, better, smoother, more capable, more expensive mounts out there - they just are out of reach of the amateur market. I'm talking about semi-pro custom models used in college observatories and truly-pro models used for research observatories. Since you've already used up your "10" votes for your Taks and APs, now what vote are you going to have to give these other mounts? 11? 12? 15? 20? But you can't, since 10/10 is the max. You've painted yourself into a corner by not permitting a sensible rating system, which avoids these problems of absolutism by allowing price affordability to be a factor.

Now I have the good fortune to be a 3-in-1 astronomer: a professional research astronomer, a university astronomy educator, and in my leisure time an occasional amateur astronomer/astrophotographer with my own modest gear paid for out of my own pocket. I've used all three classes of mounting I described above, from 1m/1.5m/3.6m/4.2m/6m observatory telescopes around the world, to our custom university observatory model, to my own humble Vixen Super Polaris (years back), EQ6, and LIDL-discount-store (costs about $30!) equatorial mounts. The whole mount spectrum. And I know how pointless it would be to assign them vote positions on an absolute scale. The only question is whether they have met my expectations for that class of equipment, and class is primarily determined by price bracket. (End of rant!)

So what do I think about the EQ6? I think that for the money (900 Euro), it is a great mount. For fun, I do deep sky photography with medium-format lenses and RFT refractors up to 600mm focal length, and I find it an extremely stable platform, even in strong wind. Periodic error is not great but it guides out fine (with old fashioned manual guiding), for these focal lengths and typical exposures up to half an hour. I found that with good polar alignment, lenses up to 100mm can be left unguided for 16 minutes (that's 2 full worm periods, so any further image motion would just be declination drift, not periodic error of the mount). Backlash is very low. So despite some opinions to the contrary, I do consider it a good mount for long-exposure imaging - the only caveat here is that this is for wide-field work (up to say 800mm f.l.). It may help that the dealer I bought it from routinely adjusts these mounts before sale (and yet he is still the least expensive source in Europe). Some degree of upgrading of the motors and controller would be needed for critical longer focal length, long-exposure work - and many inexpensive, high quality options are available in this regard.

For visual work, it is a pleasure to use. I haven't noticed vibrations at high power viewing. Axis motions are amazingly smooth, and the axis clamps can be tightened to the desired variable friction - so that even with fingertip-controlled manual slewing and panning around, once you stop moving it, it doesn't budge, and you don't have to lock the clamps, it will just resume siderial tracking. That's really perfect for panning the Milky Way in a RFT, or touring Messier objects. So it certainly scores highly for "ease of use". It is also tidy and integrated - there are only two cables, one for power and one for the handbox controller.

The weight doesn't bother me; I follow exactly the same procedure as another voter here: I carry out the (light) tripod, then the (heavy) head+counterweight unit, then the (medium weight) scope. It's about 25 feet from my shed to my observing/photography spot and it doesn't tax me in the slightest. (Though I wouldn't carry it up a mountain on my
back either!) In fact, if all I did was visual observing, I would leave the head attached to the tripod and carry it as a unit.
But for photography, I need to level the tripod, so I must take the head off.

Which brings us to polar alignment. This is also easy. I level the tripod with my own little spirit level, attach the EQ head, eyeball it in azimuth on Polaris, use the "Kochab clock" with the counterweight bar method to quickly set the correct siderial time on the RA axis, and then bring Polaris into the little circle in the polar scope using the azimuth and latitude adjustment screws. This has usually been perfect for photography and gets me up and running in about 5 minutes, but I sometimes follow up with a little drift alignment before longer sessions. BTW, I use my old Super Polaris polar finder illuminator, that I found again some years after selling the SP mount! It (just) fits the hole at the front of the polar scope.

Right now I have 2 refractors on the EQ6; the smaller one is mounted at the end of the counterweight bar, on a dovetail I scavenged from the above-mentioned LIDL mount. This configuration is like the well regarded "Giro-2" alt-az mount with 2 arms that you may have seen.

In summary, I have no regrets at all about buying this mount. Value wise, nothing else came close to its price in its stability class (especially not here in Europe, where Losmandy etc. prices are a lot higher). I have not been disappointed by its performance except perhaps a tad in periodic error, and I have been delighted by its ease of use. So I vote it a 9 overall.

Overall Rating: 9
Performance:8 Ease of Use:10 Value:10
Weight: 10 (Trustworthy Vote)
Date:
By:
Link to this vote: http://excelsis.com/1.0/displayvote.php?voteid=372458

Synta EQ-6
My stuff:
5" f/12 refractor set up on grass, often with small Canon digital video recorder. Polar alignment with Polaris centered in polar scope.

Ease of use: It's heavy. Also, it has no manual slow motion controls. I give it a middle score mostly because of the weight. Slewing is mostly for fine adjustments. Finding objects needs to be done by unlocking the axis and pointing the scope manually. Some would consider this mount too short for a long refractor, but since I prefer to view seated, it is only slightly uncomfortable. I understand there is an extension column available. The altitude control for adjusting the latitude during polar alignment is very stiff and no amount of white lithium seems to help. Still, it is workable. The whole thing takes a few minutes to set up and easily fits in a small station wagon when collapsed. I do not find the accessory tray that helpful since I use it for the batteries and hand controller.

Performance: Vibrations dampen very quickly on turf but not on hard top. Power drain on the eight flashlight batteries is slow. At 220x and with an imperfect alignment, planets move around within the field of view (Ploessl) but do not go beyond it. I have not tried to make photos with it, but I suspect at low power and with a more exact alignment it would do pretty well. The mount easily handles the five foot long, 25 lb. scope. The motors are very quiet. It also easily handles the TV101, the mount being somewhat of an overkill for that 11 lb. scope. I intend to retrofit my Discovery 8" f/6 Dob for the EQ6.

Value: It's a beefy mount supposedly able to handle a C-11 (though I have never actually seen it done) that cost $US800. Better mounts are available, but no where near the price. I bought mine from Kahn in Canada because Orion was out of stock. (This is the same mount as the Orion Atlas). There are things about the EQ6 that seem cheap: the stuff altitude adjustment, the ill-fitting polar scope cover, the vinal battery case, but generally it represents an excellent value. It does well supporting considerable weight.

Overall, no complaints. Highly recommended for heavy (up to about 40 lbs.) scopes, especially for visual use.

Overall Rating: 8
Performance:8 Ease of Use:5 Value:10
Weight: 5 (Veritable Vote)
Date:
By:
Link to this vote: http://excelsis.com/1.0/displayvote.php?voteid=355908

Synta EQ-6
After dwelling for weeks as to which mount to buy as a replacement for my overworked EQ5, I finally settled for the EQ6. I was also waiting to see if a secondhand GPDX would come onto the market but no such luck.
The EQ6 was at the top of my budget, so anything by Losmandy was a non-starter. It left me with two choices - EQ6 or plain GP with Synta drives. The load capacity of the GP didn't seem too impressive, so went with the EQ6.
Let me say straight off that I think it was a good choice. The mount is absolutely rock solid - thats with an 8" f5 newt, 4.7" f5 guidescope, 8x50 finder, electric focus and heavy 2" eyepieces. Even at the highest powers the newtonian can cope with, the image does not budge. Damp down times at low to medium powers are as good as instant. With 2secs at very highest power. This is not Synta mounts as I know them!
The downside is a jitter from the RA drive, poor PEC. I haven't attempted to reduce it but there's plenty of material around the net on how to do it.

The bottom line is - if like me you are working on a very tight budget, there's no other option! If you are into long exposure imaging and working to this budget, then you are doomed! Because no mount, new or old, for £600 is going to provide a basis for long exposure photography. The EQ6 has to get a thumbs up.

Overall Rating: 8
Performance:7 Ease of Use:8 Value:9
Weight: 5 (Veritable Vote)
Date:
By:
Link to this vote: http://excelsis.com/1.0/displayvote.php?voteid=270829 

Update to this review - I've since had a good chance to give the EQ6 a work out, both for visual and photographic use.

For visual use, well the verdict is easy - as good any mount out there, including anything Losmandy can knock together. If you wanted was a stable mount that could track will viewing, the EQ6 is all you would ever need.  10/10

For short exposure imaging with webcam - This is just superb. Ultra stable with an 8" F5 reflector or C9.25, this makes focusing much easier and the object stays glued to the screen. 10/10 

For Medium exposure imaging with MX5-c - Now I tried this at a star party with plenty of premium kit about that should have embarrassed the EQ6 and me. But no, the EQ6 impressed a lot of people. Had no trouble imaging M31 at prime focus for 2 mins unguided with not a hint of trailing or jitters. 8/10

Haven't tried long exposure imaging. But without the ability to plug (without spending another £700) in an autoguider, it would fail miserably. 2/10

Fit and finish isn't bad but doesn't compare to anything by Losmandy. The tripod is excellent, illuminated polar scope works well, zero backlash in the motors and both axis are smooth in operation. 6/10

A solid 8/10 overall


>After dwelling for weeks as to which mount to buy as a replacement for my overworked EQ5, I finally settled for the EQ6. I was also waiting to see if a secondhand GPDX would come onto the market but no such luck.
>The EQ6 was at the top of my budget, so anything by Losmandy was a non-starter. It left me with two choices - EQ6 or plain GP with Synta drives. The load capacity of the GP didn't seem too impressive, so went with the EQ6.
>Let me say straight off that I think it was a good choice. The mount is absolutely rock solid - thats with an 8" f5 newt, 4.7" f5 guidescope, 8x50 finder, electric focus and heavy 2" eyepieces. Even at the highest powers the newtonian can cope with, the image does not budge. Damp down times at low to medium powers are as good as instant. With 2secs at very highest power. This is not Synta mounts as I know them!
>The downside is a jitter from the RA drive, poor PEC. I haven't attempted to reduce it but there's plenty of material around the net on how to do it.
>
>The bottom line is - if like me you are working on a very tight budget, there's no other option! If you are into long exposure imaging and working to this budget, then you are doomed! Because no mount, new or old, for £600 is going to provide a basis for long exposure photography. The EQ6 has to get a thumbs up.
Synta EQ-6
This mount is heavy, but offers a nice load capacity for some bigger scope users. I've owned this mount since 2001 and overall, I love the stability that my EQ6 mount provides me.

For visual use, this mount is recommended, since it can carry bigger scope and the price is much more cheaper than other's on the same load capacity class. Pretty easy to use also.

For astrophotography use, I don't think this is a good mount. The PEC is BIG and seems like there's a big variation of quality between each mount (typical Synta)...You will have to tweak this and that to make the mount perform better, but hey, i think some Losmandy G11 users have to do the same thing too!
So, if only the manufacture can improve tracking quality, this mount will be really recommended.

thank you for reading my comments.

Overall Rating: 7
Performance:7 Ease of Use:8 Value:7
Weight: 5 (Veritable Vote)
Date:
By:
Link to this vote: http://excelsis.com/1.0/displayvote.php?voteid=179412

Synta EQ-6
After a year and a half of trying to beef up the CG5 mount that came with my CR150 refractor, I finally decided it was time to purchase a heavier duty mount. I had made up my mind to go for the Losmandy G11 even tho the price had been keeping me from buying it in the past. Then, into the market, comes the EQ6. After some reading, discussion and emailing to several dealers and owners of this mount, I decided to purchase one. I was given a great deal by ITE in Montana and had the mount shipped immediately. The bottom line on this mount is that it handles the 34# payload, that my scope setup now weighs, with ease. Something the poor old CG5 simply could not do anymore. Operation is smooth and "very" quiet. In fact when I first turned it on, I thought it was broken as there was absolutely no sound whatsoever coming from the motors. It was working just fine as I was to find out. It tracks smoothly and and stays on target while doing so.When properly polar aligned objects stay centered with no drift whatsoever. It is a large and heavy mount, and makes the CG5 look like a toy next to it. Well finished and fitted this mount should prove to be excellent for anyone with a large, or heavy, OTA etc. I am currently having a GOTO system professionally so my viewing times will be more viewing than finding. This mount will surely give the G11 and the CI700 a run for their money, at a lot lower price. With the new GOTO, I will have spent only a few pennies more for the entire setup, than the cost of admission to the G11 alone. Highly recommended.

Overall Rating: 10
Performance:10 Ease of Use:10 Value:10
Weight: 5 (Veritable Vote)
Date:
By:
Link to this vote: http://excelsis.com/1.0/displayvote.php?voteid=127523 

Hi,

are you kiddin' to rate this thing a 10?
Be more realistic!
A Takahashi, Astrophysics or Losmandy only earns a 9 because they all
have little things that could be make better.
This chinese low cost mount has many points that can be make better,
the drive system, the polar finder, the polar finder cap, the setting circles,
the worm gears (periodic error) e.t.c.
The realistic vote is a 5 and that's a good vote for this.

>After a year and a half of trying to beef up the CG5 mount that came with my CR150 refractor, I finally decided it was time to purchase a heavier duty mount. I had made up my mind to go for the Losmandy G11 even tho the price had been keeping me from buying it in the past. Then, into the market, comes the EQ6. After some reading, discussion and emailing to several dealers and owners of this mount, I decided to purchase one. I was given a great deal by ITE in Montana and had the mount shipped immediately. The bottom line on this mount is that it handles the 34# payload, that my scope setup now weighs, with ease. Something the poor old CG5 simply could not do anymore.  Operation is smooth and "very" quiet. In fact when I first turned it on, I thought it was broken as there was absolutely no sound whatsoever coming from the motors. It was working just fine as I was to find out. It tracks smoothly and and stays on target while doing so.When properly polar aligned objects stay centered with no drift whatsoever. It is a large and heavy mount, and makes the CG5 look like a toy next to it. Well finished and fitted this mount should prove to be excellent for anyone with a large, or heavy, OTA etc. I am currently having a GOTO system professionally so my viewing times will be more viewing than finding. This mount will surely give the G11 and the CI700 a run for their money, at a lot lower price.  With the new GOTO, I will have spent only a few pennies more for the entire setup, than the cost of admission to the G11 alone.  Highly recommended.
Synta EQ-6
I spent 2 months trying to track down a secondhand Losmandy GM8 mount that was close to my budget. In the end I gave up, just an impossible task in the UK. So started searching for a Vixen GPDX instead. But after checking prices I realised a secondhand GPDX would cost more than brandnew EQ6. So the EQ6 it was.

After now owning and using the EQ6 for 2 months i think it was good decision for a number of reasons.

i/ The cost of an EQ6, bought mine for £550 brand new.

ii/ For visual use and short exposure photography it beats both the Vixen GPDX and Losmandy GM8. For visual use alone, it rivals the Losmandy G11. I have tried my 10" f5 Newtonian on all these mounts and I am happy that for the type observing and imaging I do, this mounts fits the bill 100%.

iii/It's not overly heavy and can be moved in one piece.

iv/ I have the revised EQ6 with illuminated polar finder and this works better than the Vixen effort.

v/ Unlike all other Synta mounts, except the HEQ5, its drives don't suffer from any backlash. Just wish there was 32x slew.

vi/ Handles a 10" newt, 9.25" SCT and 6" refractor without breaking sweat. Will supposedly handle an 11" SCT or 12" newt but never tried myself.

There are some negatives off course.

For long exposure work its PE is too poor to make it useful. It's here where the Vixen and Losmandy mounts blow it away.

The locking clamps and bolts feel cheap and flimsy.

The counterweight bar looks a tad too thin but does tuck away nice and neat.

The polarfinder cover easily cross threads or the thread strips.

The polarfinder cap pops off and is easily lost.

Apart from the PE, these are minor quibbles and don't effect the performance of the mount. Just quality control issues.


Bottom line:

If like me your budget is set at approx £600/$600 and it's physically impossible to raise it. And all you do is visual work or play around with modified webcams/digicams doing short exposure imaging, then this mount is the only choice. Even if a secondhand GPDX came up at the same price, I had still recommend this mount over the Vixen.
I know I will get flamed for heaping such high praise, after all it's a Synta product and it's not the done thing to like Synta products. But this is a good one, it's a bargain in fact!
I wanted to give it a higher score but knowing how funny people get about giving budget items high scores, I'd better only give it 8.

Overall Rating: 8
Performance:7 Ease of Use:8 Value:10
Weight: 1 (Unreliable Vote)
Date:
By:
Link to this vote: http://excelsis.com/1.0/displayvote.php?voteid=299571

Synta EQ-6
To the person responding to my rating of a "10" for this mount as being unrealistic, I rated it as "I" see it and use it. I was not comparing it to a "pro" model Paramount or AP etc. rather I was looking at it as to what it provides for what one pays for it. Show me one other mount at, or near, the price of an EQ6 that offers what this mount does. I don't think you can? I don't mean to use this page as a rebuttle but your impressions of this mount may differ from mine and you may have used one that was not as good as the one I have. I have had no problems whatsoever in the time I have used it, in fact I just had a state of the art GOTO system retrofitted to it by a known high end company that will be offering this system to other EQ6 owners shortly. I have a "beta unit" and it has given the EQ6 new motor/electronics upgrades needed to put this mount, at a lesser cost, into the same league as the more common GOTO equipped G11 and CI700 etc., maybe now even one step higher. I am not one to give praise lightly, but I do recognize value when I see and own it. This is a great mount for the money. It handles my 34# payload with ease and with the new GOTO feature will advance my viewing enjoyment, and actual viewing time, even more. Hope this clears things up a bit for you?

Overall Rating: No Vote
Weight: 1 (Unreliable Vote)
Date:
By:
Link to this vote: http://excelsis.com/1.0/displayvote.php?voteid=177186

Synta EQ-6
Best Value. Some handcraft work needs to be done to make the pole guide usable. Out of the box motor with slight weaknesses but good enough for photography after some fine adjustment.

Overall Rating: 8
Performance:9 Ease of Use:6 Value:9
Weight: 1 (Unreliable Vote)
Date:
By:
Link to this vote: http://excelsis.com/1.0/displayvote.php?voteid=142294

Synta EQ-6
I sent mine back too and get my money back.
There was too much play in the axis, with the drive on the image was
shaking, the polar scope was unuseble, the paintig of the body was a joke,
the periodic error was almost 1.2 arcminutes, the tripodlegs are too "soft",
the counterweightshaft is too thin, the cap for the Polar finder is junk.
Better buy quality like losmandy, astrophysics or so.

Overall Rating: 1
Performance:1 Ease of Use:1 Value:1
Weight: 1 (Unreliable Vote)
Date:
By:
Link to this vote: http://excelsis.com/1.0/displayvote.php?voteid=141961

Synta EQ-6
One of the most capable mounts for the price. Great for visual use, not quite up to astrophotography as-is.

Overall Rating: 9
Performance:8 Ease of Use:10 Value:10
Weight: 1 (Unreliable Vote)
Date:
By:
Link to this vote: http://excelsis.com/1.0/displayvote.php?voteid=140141

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