Telescope Reviews: Re: EM200 or NJP

The eq head of the NJP doesn't come apart, though the counterweight shaft comes off, so it's about a 55 pound monster to put up on the tripod. Still, I find the Tak tripod height is pretty comfortable for simply slightly lifting the head up to and setting it on - where it stays put by gravity while I go get the screws to bolt it in place.

I think I have the tall tripod, too. It came with the mount, used, for a total of $4600 a few years ago. It's the Temma PC version, not Temma II, but other than a purr while it's running, I don't find it objectionable. It slews fast enough (sounds like a starship accellerating when it's spinning up), and seems to work with all the software I've used on it: Pegasus/Tracer 2000, TheSky6, EquinoX 6, Equinox Image (guiding the mount while imaging with an ST2000XM), and Astro IIDC (guiding the mount with a firewire camera via a Shoestring Astronomy GPUSB and appropriate cable). Oh, and I had a prototype Starfish guide camera that also guided both my Tak mounts well. I also use Voyager 4 software to drive my Nexstar mount, and I've been bugging them to add Temma drivers, because I like their program. They say they're working on it.

I think the EM-400 has replaced the NJP. It's got a higher load capacity and so is a heavier mount as well, but I believe the Eq head breaks down into two pieces.

Any of these mounts should have something like a Scopeguard case with wheels for moving them around for trips to dark sky sites, et al. My EM-10 doesn't, but it doesn't weigh anything like the NJP, either!

Interestingly, except for the weight, it's no more work for me to take the NJP to a dark sky sight than it is for the EM-10 (I have a van, so room isn't usually a problem). Primary setup time difference is due to more stuff I can hang on the NJP than the EM-10. Setting up either mount is very fast, and consists of the same steps:

*set up tripod.
*Put equatorial head on tripod.
*Screw on dec shaft.
*add counterweights.
*add OTA(s), cameras, licorice whips (aka cables).

Polar align with polarfinder (when you get familiar with this, it takes only a couple of minutes to get accurate enough for imaging).

-Tim.

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"We`re just waiting looking skyward as the days come down.
Someone promised there`d be answers, if we stayed around."
-Orchestral Maneuvers in the Dark, "The Romance of the Telescope"

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