The HEQ5 Pro mount is considered by many to be Sky-Watcher’s ‘sweet spot’. A mount costing less than £1k with an impressive combination of ease-of-use, stability and tracking performance. It is probably the mount most recommended to someone wanting to begin astrophotography.
The SynScan computerised handset’s two-line illuminated LCD screen is easy to read and navigate. One-star, two-star and three-stars alignment routines are available and are easy to use. All work but three-star alignment is the ‘gold standard’ because it corrects for cone error. Once aligned, SynScan Go-To will automatically place objects in the eyepiece field-of-view wherever they are in the sky. Think Sat-Nav for astronomers! You can also control the mount from a laptop or desktop PC.
Similar to Sky-Watcher’s larger EQ6 Pro, the HEQ5’s counterweight shaft slides neatly into the body of the mount for easy storage and transportation. It also has a built-in polar alignment scope which makes it easier to align the polar axis of the mount to the Earth’s axis of rotation (whilst not strictly necessary for Go-To pointing accuracy, tracking is improved if the mount is polar-aligned). Looking through the polar scope you will see a graphic that enables you to offset quickly and easily from Polaris to the true north celestial pole.
