EQ Platforms

Who makes the best EQ platform for my 10" f7 dob that won't break the bank ? ( $ 600.00 - 800.00... or less ?)

I think you are out of luck. I went through this exercise already. I ended up with a Losmandy GM8, which I love dearly....maybe too much, that I bought here on Astromart for $1100.00, used. But I don't know if its big enough for a 10" Newtonian(?) reflector are we talking? A G11 is probably more what you are looking for, unless you don't MIND 5 seconds to settle down after each time you turn the focus knob, and pray you NEVER have wind. You might investigate the Synta EQ6. I don't know where it's at in it's evolutionary cycle now. Last I knew there were still some bugs to be worked out. But it do for you. I would look for reviews of it on places like www.cloudynights.com.

Randy

I don't know how good they are, but these are in your price range:

http://www.johnsonian.com/

Note that this site refuses to load in any readable fashion at all in Netscrape 4.7x. Looks fine in Internet Exploder, though.

Richard,
Check out the following website:
http://eqplatforms.0catch.com/
This guy (Art) sells wood equatorial platforms for between $349-$500 plus shipping. They are made of unfinished wood-- you need to lightly sand and varnish it, but I understand that they are fully functional right out of the box. I exchanged numerous messages with him when I was trying to decide how to add tracking to my 16" Dob, and found him to be very accomodating-- he was willing to make me a custom-size for my 225 pound scope for no more than the standard size price. The only reason I didn't buy one was because any platform would add enough height (6+") to mess up the custom dimensions of my scope (I can see through the eyepiece at zenith flat-footed). I ended up going with a Dob Driver 2 instead, since it doesn't affect the eyepiece height and gives you "GO TO" capabilities as well, if you want to use 'em. Of the various equatorial platform options on the market, though, Art's seem to the the cheapest alternative to building one yourself. Good luck! Jim

If you are the least bit handy with tools/woodworking, you can build one yourself for less than 100.00. I have built two in the past couple years and have had up to 15" dobs on them with no problem. Go to http://www.stellafane.com Look under "Scope Gallery", and the pic of the tracking platform. Basic info is there.

Walt