Both the mounts that I bought are Japanese. Not the cheapest of mounts but when I went looking at gear initially, these were always rated so highly. (I was well aware that the mount is perhaps the most important single piece of equipment in astrophotography). I was drawn to the Takahashi EM 200 by exactly the same forces that drew me to the Takahashi FSQ 106 scope; the imagers, whose work I admired at the time, seemed to be using them. Could I afford to go out and buy one - because I had seen nice pictures on the internet?  No way. Did I want to buy cheaper; same answer, no way. So I waited until I saw what I wanted second hand and in fact bought the EM200 Temma 2 from Portugal months after I knew I would actually buy one.

After about a year and a half, further weight was being loaded on the mount and although it still handled it admirably, I thought about upgrading. A natural progression I suppose. Always wanting bigger and better maybe! But having made several enquiries (over quite a long period - as these items do not show up too often), I eventually bought an EM 400 Temma 2 mount, second hand, from the U.K. At this stage I was very happy to stick with Takahashi - just wanted the bigger payload capacity of the bigger mount. I was planning ahead (and still am) - thinking of heavier scope and more equipment on top of the mount. In early 2017, I replaced the 2nd hand EM400 Temma 2 with a new EM400 Temma 2M.

One thing about these Takahashi mounts is that they are so smooth. They just seem to get on with the job - no fuss. If I had to give a bonus point, it would be for the polar scope (especially the bigger one on the EM400). Polar alignment in seconds once one gets used to it. I have done drift alignment with this mount and then went back to do it with the polar alignment scope again - it's just so good.

As it stands, I never did sell the EM200. Ideas of using it as a  'Grab & Go' mount still float about in my head.

Click on the links below for further info and photographs of the mounts.                            
Takahashi EM 400 Temma 2                                                              Takahashi EM 200 Temma 2