Sky-Watcher EQ6-R Pro Review: Worth the Money?
The EQ6-R Pro is the point where a deep sky imaging rig stops being limited by its mount and starts being limited by your sky. Buy it if you are imaging with a refractor or Newtonian in the 15 to 25 lb range and you are tired of throwing away subframes. Skip it if you carry your gear more than a short distance from the house, because the head alone is heavy enough to make a second trip mandatory, and a Star Adventurer GTi will do wide field work for a third of the money.
The mount most people end up buying after they stop fighting a lighter one.
Sky-Watcher EQ6-R GoTo SynScan Equatorial Mount
~$1,899
A belt-driven German equatorial mount with a 44 lb payload rating, SynScan GoTo across a 42,900 object database and a steel tripod.
Check price on AmazonSpecifications
| Type | German equatorial GoTo mount |
|---|---|
| Payload | 44 lb of telescope and accessories |
| Tracking | Two axis tracking at sidereal, lunar and solar rates |
| GoTo database | Over 42,900 objects via the SynScan hand controller |
| Alignment | One star, two star or three star |
| Dovetail | Accepts both Vixen style and Losmandy style plates |
| Tripod | Steel tripod with accessory tray |
Specifications above come from Sky-Watcher's published specifications. Treat pricing as approximate, since Amazon pricing moves.
What it does well
- The payload rating is honest for visual use and generous enough that a typical imaging train sits well inside it, which is where tracking quality actually comes from.
- Belt drive rather than a pure gear train, which is the single reason its guiding behaves better than the EQ6 generation it replaced.
- It takes both dovetail standards, so a Losmandy plate on a heavy Newtonian does not need an adapter.
- SynScan is unglamorous but reliable, and the mount is supported by every serious imaging package including ASCOM, INDI and the ZWO ASIAIR.
Where it falls short
- It is heavy. The head is a two handed lift and the counterweights are separate again, so a setup that lives in a garage and rolls out is very different from one carried to a dark site.
- The published payload is a visual figure. For imaging, plan on loading it to roughly half of the rating if you want guiding you do not have to think about.
- Polar alignment is still your job. The built in polar scope works, but the mount does not correct a lazy alignment for you.
- The supplied hand controller is dated. Most owners end up controlling it from a computer or an ASIAIR and leaving the controller in the case.
What owners report
The pattern across published owner reports is consistent and unusually boring, which is the compliment a mount wants. People describe guiding settling into a range they stop checking, and they describe the belt drive as the reason. The complaints are almost never about tracking. They are about mass, about the counterweight shaft catching a shin in the dark, and about the learning curve of polar alignment rather than any defect in the mount.
The second recurring theme is that owners who bought a lighter mount first almost always describe the EQ6-R as the purchase they should have made at the start. That is worth weighing against the price, because a mount that gets replaced in a year is more expensive than one that does not.
Who it suits
- Deep sky imagers running a refractor or Newtonian with a camera, filter wheel and guide scope attached.
- Anyone who has outgrown a star tracker and is losing frames to periodic error.
- Observers with a permanent pier or a garage setup where weight is a non issue.
Who should skip it
- Anyone whose imaging is wide field with a camera lens, where a Star Adventurer GTi does the same job at a third of the price and a fifth of the weight.
- Travellers and hikers. This mount rewards a fixed observing spot.
- Visual only observers, who get far more aperture per dollar from a Dobsonian.
Alternatives worth considering
Sky-Watcher Star Adventurer GTi Mount Kit with tripod and pier extension
~$679
A full GoTo equatorial in a package you can carry in one hand. It will not hold an imaging Newtonian, but for a small refractor or a camera and lens it produces genuinely comparable results for a fraction of the outlay and the effort.
Check price on AmazonCelestron Advanced VX Computerized German Equatorial Mount
~$1,099
Eight hundred dollars less for a 30 lb payload rating. It is the right answer for a lighter imaging train, and the wrong answer if you already know a heavy Newtonian is in your future.
Check price on AmazonKeep reading
- Dobsonian vs equatorial mount, the decision behind this purchase
- Mount payload calculator, check your tube against the rating
- Sky-Watcher Star Adventurer GTi review
- Celestron Advanced VX review
- ZWO ASIAIR Plus review
- How to set up an equatorial mount
This review draws on published specifications, manufacturer figures and the consensus of verified owner reviews. We have not tested this product ourselves, and we say so rather than implying otherwise. As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases.
Frequently asked questions
Is the EQ6-R Pro good enough for deep sky astrophotography?
Yes, and it is the mount a large share of amateur deep sky images are taken on. The belt drive reduces the periodic error that a pure gear train produces, and with autoguiding most owners report tracking that is limited by seeing rather than by the mount. The practical requirement is that you keep the imaging load well under the rating and that you polar align properly.
How much weight can the EQ6-R Pro actually carry?
Sky-Watcher rates it at 44 lb. That figure is realistic for visual observing. For imaging, the usual advice among experienced imagers is to load an equatorial mount to about half its visual rating, which puts a comfortable imaging payload in the low twenties of pounds. Our mount payload calculator will do the arithmetic against your specific tube and accessories.
Do I need to autoguide with an EQ6-R Pro?
For exposures of a minute or two at short focal lengths, often not. For anything longer, or at focal lengths beyond about 500mm, guiding is what turns a good mount into a reliable one. The mount has a standard ST-4 guide port and works with every common guiding setup.
EQ6-R Pro or Celestron Advanced VX: which should I buy?
Take the Advanced VX if your imaging train is light, your budget is fixed and you want a full size equatorial for around a thousand dollars. Take the EQ6-R Pro if you own or expect to own a tube heavier than about fifteen pounds, because the extra payload and the belt drive are what stop the mount becoming the limiting factor. We put the two mount styles side by side in our Dobsonian versus equatorial mount comparison.
Is the EQ6-R Pro portable?
Not in any meaningful sense. The head, the tripod and the counterweights are three separate carries, and the head is the awkward one. Owners who observe away from home almost always describe a routine built around a car boot and a short walk. If you need to hike with a mount, this is the wrong product category.
How we choose: we compare published manufacturer specifications, optical figures we can verify, and reviews from owners who have used the equipment under real skies. We do not test gear in person. Never point any telescope, finder or binocular at the Sun without a certified full-aperture solar filter fitted over the front of the instrument.
Recording your own eyepieces, exit pupils and sessions? The Observing & Astrophotography Planner is the paid version of these pages: 8 printable worksheets you fill in with your own numbers, plus the full PDF, $29.