I’ve had in my possession a Celestron Advanced VX (my first astrophotography mount), an iOptron Cube Pro as a visual grab and goto mount, and a Sky-Watcher Star Adventurer Pro. The AVX has a 30 lb capacity, which makes it fairly capable with scopes under 5”. I’ve had a lot of fun imaging with it. The Cube pro isn’t really capable of imaging as it’s an Alt-Az type mount incapable of star tracking for imaging. But I did manage to get some planetary shots with the mount. And the Sky-Watcher Star Adventurer is super easy to use, great at tracking, but lacks goto, and with no dithering capabilities, leaves a lot of fixed pattern noise in your images.

When I learned about the Rainbow Astro RST-135, I wanted one from the very first day. It has spot on GOTOs, 30 lb carrying capacity, requires no counter weights, can switch between equatorial and Alt-Az modes, and is super portable. I managed to sell off all three other mounts to get this one. It’s pricy, so not within reach ofor most, unless you have deep pockets or a desire to try something new and cool. It’s also a bit experimental, as it uses a new strain wave gear, the same used in advanced robotics. The gearing system is able to bear the weight of the equipment without issue. It’s got a built in mount area on the front for a QHY Polemaster to polar align. Unfortunately I can’t see Polaris from my own yard, making polar alignment tricky. But when traveling a Polemaster or any software than can polar align using the imaging camera will work great.

My current setup here consists of:

Telescope is a William Optics Redcat 51.
I’ll also be using my Explore Scientific FCD100 102mm scope.
I’m running a StellarMate as the portable imaging computer (connected to my Mac in the house, or MacBook Pro in the field).
An Astrozap dew heater for the scope and guide scope.
I have the ZWO Mini guide scope hooked up with the ZWO ASI290Mini guide cam.
For the main imaging camera a ZWO ASI1600MM-Pro with 8-slot filter wheel.

The mount and scope fit in a backpack. And the tripod zips up into a nylon bag. I can carry both over my shoulder and put this setup just about anywhere. It should run a full night with a decent lithium battery, maybe even two nights with a larger one. Of course, if I’m within reach of AC power that works too.

The StellarMate and AC bricks to power everything.

I’ve yet to swipe my Pegasus Astro Ultimate Power box off my other setup, so I have a huge tangle of wires right now. I’m strongly considering trying an ASIAir Pro with this setup to cover power and dew control, but it requires I also get a ZWO EAF for focusing instead of my Moonlite focus motor. I might do that, and take the focus motor off for use with one of my Canon lenses. But for now, this is how I’m set up. Tonight is my first night out testing everything, so no images yet. But if I get all the issues sorted tonight, I’ll be imaging soon enough.