Skywatcher HEQ5 v HEQ5 Syntrek v HEQ5 PRO

A quick summary of the differences between the three versions of this popular Skywatcher mount.

(Please note the regular HEQ5 and HEQ5 Syntrek are now discontinued). 

 

 

Skywatcher HEQ5  Features built-in motors, a polarscope and manual handset. Best suited to visual astronomy.

Skywatcher HEQ5 Syntrek  Adds higher quality stepper motors and a new mother-board and ST-4 autoguiding port for astrophotography.

Skywatcher HEQ5 PRO  Same as HEQ5 Syntrek but supplied with a Synscan GOTO handset, not the manual handset.
 

The regular HEQ5 can be upgraded to full PRO spec using the optional Synscan PRO GOTO Upgrade kit.

If you plug a Synscan GOTO handset into a HEQ5 Syntrek it becomes a HEQ5 PRO.

The Syntrek and PRO models can be controlled from a laptop using a Lynx Astro FTDI EQDIR USB Cable and the popular EQMOD software.
 

Hope that helps.