SW 127 Mak AZ with GOTO?

[Paulus17]

Well folks after only recently selling all my asrto gear due to financial reasons mainly,my daughters want to get me another scope and i have been looking at the Skywatcher 127 Mak with GOTO.

I like it because its small and more compact than my last set up and easier to set up i have been told.I had a HEQ5 Synscan GOTO last time with a 200 pds.

Now i do have an eye condition which since i have been gazing i think does restrict me on what i can see,hence the need for GOTO, so would bigger aperture be more beneficial to me?

[Paulus17]

Are they good scopes?

[JamesF]

The 127 Mak is a very nice little scope, especially for lunar/solar/planetary viewing and imaging. It's not going to compete with a 200PDS though.

As to whether you'll need more aperture I'm really not sure what to suggest. if you need brighter images to be able to see them more easily then perhaps longer focal length scopes aren't a great idea. If you need larger images to be able to pick out detail then perhaps they are. The ideal I guess would be to get along to a local astro meet and try a few out to see how you get on.

James

[Macavity]

The merits / demerits of Maksutovs are probably widely enough cited?

My only caveat:The mount is adequate for the standard setup. If you are

thinking of adding stuff - Optical finders, cameras, it will struggle a bit.

For bigger apertures you'd probably have to go the Celestron SE route?

http://www.firstlightoptics.com/se-series.html

[Paulus17]

Thanks for the replies folks

Well i went for the Skymax 127 with GOTO and i have had two clear nights with it from the off so looking good.

FOV is narrow with the supplied 25mm EP,but is summat i will just have to live with for now,but it felt great getting back out in the freezing cold and seeing some wonderful sites of the night sky,so i have my daughters to thank

Setting up was done in just a few minutes and the GOTO worked straight away which is a first for me,both on the two star alignment or brightest star.

I used the supplied eight AA batteries on the first night for about 3-1/2 hours of slewing around a lot and they still had some life left in for the next night out,last night,but they were starting to fade after about an hour of more slewing round,so i used the Deben powerpack i bought with the scope but that went flat after a few minutes, it had been on charge and showed fully charged,so not sure what happened there??

Only problem i found was last night when i was carrying the assembled set up back in was that the OTA moved quite easily on the mount.

I took the mount off and saw a nut,as in the piccy,which i could move with my fingers.Does this have to be tight so the tube doesn't move at all??

Overall though so far i am very pleased with this set up which is quick and easy enough for me to be set up in the back garden in a few minutes and would recommend it.

[badboybubby]

I've tighten that nut before myself as I also had the problem of the Scope 'slipping' on the ALT axis. I have to say that despite tightening up, it stil slips occasionally. I'm too scared to overtighten it in case I break the thing!

[lennylovit]

yes give it a good nip dont go too mad

[lennylovit]

and i use a bike battery hanging from the undertray to add some wight to the tripod and dont extend the legs all the way out to make it more ridged

[Paulus17]

Thanks both.

Overtightening is what i am worried about as the nut is a nyloc so shouldn't come loose,but it does seem too loose when the scope is on??

Is the tray strong enough to add weight to as it seems flimsy to me,i also have to extend the legs fully to get in a comfy position for viewing.

Would an RAICF 9x50 finder be ok on this set up?

[lennylovit]

get an ironing chair sit and get comfy , i hang the battery from the supports to the tray

[brucen]

I always put a bag of sand on the tray to improve stability. Not that elegant but it certainly helps.

[Paulus17]

I do have a chair from when i owned a Dob so will get that back into action.

What sort of weight are you talking about brucen.

My battery/power pack i have now is only a small one and weighs very little but i did hang it from one of the legs but doesn't make that much difference.

Does anyone know if i could use the mount with a cameraattached for tracking,without the tube??

[xyz]

I've bought a SW 127 MAK GoTo AZ a short while ago and whilst I readily admit that I'm still climbing the learning curve I have a few issues with it:

· The accuracy is not impressive – requiring PAE correction after each new target (using 32mm eyepiece = 46x)

· The SynScan handset would be significantly improved by a soft, shock-absorbing and non-slippery exterior finish

· The RJ-11 style connectors are not designed for repeated connection and disconnection (especially when it’s sub-zero temperature)

· The power input socket needs a retaining mechanism – the plug can pull out too easily

· The bubble level embedded at the top of one of the legs is way off level and as it cannot be easily removed and re-seated it is simply useless

· The SynScan software freezes if a re-alignment is attempted whist it is controlled by external computer – the only exit is a hard re-boot by de-powering – ( note to self - must remember to disconnect before mid-session re-align)

· The thumb screw handles for the tripod legs are awkward to grip and to turn

· The straight through finder is fairly impossible to use at high elevations

· The right angle finder I replaced it with gives little room between it and the eyepiece (I splay them out at odd angles to create more room, but this does not make it easier to obtain alignment – up and down and side to side commands create diagonal movements in the view finder)

Like I said, I'm still learning but some of these issues could be resolved at modest cost by SW. The GOTO accuracy is a bit disappointing, maybe it's due to user error, but I'm pretty sure I have all the usual variables correct (level, location, time, offset, etc. etc.) perhaps a reticule eyepiece would help.

[Paulus17]

Having only used mine now for three times i haven't encountered any of your problems,but i can see a problem arising viewing when looking directly up but the EP holder can be rotated round to suit,and perhaps a RAICF would be better for the finder?

My synscan has been fairly accurate compared to the HEQ5 i had before,with the object been visible in the finder and jsut a bit of slewing needed to center it.

Are you using a mains supply as i can see how you could catch the cable and pull it out but i use a power pack which i tuck under the tripods legs out he way,so no loose cables sticking out.

[brucen]

The power socket on the AZ GOTO also needs a longer than standard plug to ensure that it does not come loose. I have never had a problem with mine using the longer one.

http://www.firstlightoptics.com/power/skytron-power-supply-cable-for-skywatcher-celestron-mounts.html

[xyz]

Maybe I expect too much from the goto - getting the object "into the finder" is OK if the object is reasonably bright and can be seen in the finder - some of the objects are very hard to see in the finder (just too faint) and thus it's not so easy to centralise them in the finder get them into the eyepiece view. I'll check if the mains supply unit I have has a shorter than normal 12v plug but I think it's pretty standard. As I say I still have a learning curve to climb and the very limited number of clear nights recently does not help that learning process.

Thanks for the comments !

[brucen]

Maybe I expect too much from the goto - getting the object "into the finder" is OK if the object is reasonably bright and can be seen in the finder - some of the objects are very hard to see in the finder (just too faint) and thus it's not so easy to centralise them in the finder get them into the eyepiece view. I'll check if the mains supply unit I have has a shorter than normal 12v plug but I think it's pretty standard. As I say I still have a learning curve to climb and the very limited number of clear nights recently does not help that learning process.

Thanks for the comments !

It's not that it is likely to be 'shorter than normal', the one they use for the AZ GOTO is 'longer than normal'. Mine is 15mm on the special lead but only 10mm on the standard one.

[Paulus17]

Well after owning this new scope now for eleven days and managing to get out with it on the first three nights and enjoying using it trouble free,i went out in the back garden Saturday night and had nothing but problems with it.

The power pack was fully charged and i set up as i have done on the previous occasions but alignment was way out after the initial alignment set up which the synscan was saying successful,even saying Jupiter was below the horizon when it clearly wasn't.

So after about half a dozen attempts of trying outside i brought it all back indoors and left it for about half an hour while i was trying to see what i had done differently but couldn't ,so went back out and tried again but this time it worked first attempt,but the targets were not quite in the EP and i had to slew to each one i chose whereas before on the other nights they were near enough center???

So was it the gremlins playing up or summat wrong with the GOTO,Synscan??

On one occasion after aligning it just went off on its own and pointer straight up and went round and round until i stopped it??

[knobby]

That sounds like power problems, I know you say the power pack is OK , but define OK?

The power connector is prone to being ifffy on these.

try ' stressing the cable ' slightly... Pull it lightly down and tape the leas to eliminate any undesired movement.

Good luck

[Paulus17]

Thanks Knobby.

I just phoned the shop back where i bought the kit from and he agrees,or he read your post

I never gave the battery a full charge since i have had it,as i was follwing the instructions re charging but it seems it needs the full eleven hours even when the green light goes out,it apparently goes onto a trickle charge.?

So the battery pack is on charge for the eleven hours.

The pack is the Deben 7ah from Sherwoods.

[jambouk]

I love my mak 127 on goto mount.

If i do a really hood set up, make sure the tripod is level using an extra spirit level and not just the bubble, and power the scope up with it also level and pointing north before doing the alignment, and doing the alignment with a reticule eye piece, then the alignment and tracking is pretty good. It was tracking Jupiter at a star party the other weekend for over two hours!

Weighting down the tripod helps with stability.

I put tape around the power lead as i too find it can easy become disconnected.

I've never had the hand set freeze on me, but agree a rubber exterior would be nice.

I don't have a problem with the screws on the tripod legs, but i also agree about the straight through finder!

On the whole, its pretty good kit for the price, i don't think you can complain on the whole.

James

[Paulus17]

James-where do you put the level if you don't use the bubble fitted to the stand,on the tray??

[Russty]

James-where do you put the level if you don't use the bubble fitted to the stand,on the tray??

I level my tripod with a separate level before fitting the motor unit to the tripod. Not sure if this is the way James does it but it works for me.

[brucen]

When I first checked mine I found that the tray was also level when the top of the mount was. I now only use the level on the tray as I prefer to have the mount at full weight when getting it level in case anything moves when it is being assembled. I have assumed that the tray has not moved since and as I find it holds tracking well I think it is ok. I use a 12" level and check it across the tray in several directions whilst adjusting the legs.

[jambouk]

I level on top of the tripod before fitting the mount. This works well if the ground it's standing on if rock solid, if the ground has any give in it, the legs and whole tripod may move when attaching the mount and scope. If the ground is soft and has give, i try and avoid it, but in my garden i have three plastic feet which i got off ebay for £20 which spread the load, and which have holes in he edge so they can be fixed to the ground with tent pegs, and which have a depression in the centre for the points of the tripod legs. I think caravan feet could do the job for cheaper but you'd need to drill various holes yourself. I keep meaning to buy a second set for out and about use.

I also use a spirit level which has various bubbles in and it checks how level the tripod is in various planes. I have found getting it dead level makes a big difference; using the bubble supplied gives ok results but the goto is less accurate and tracking less good.

If i can get off the sofa i'll take a picture of the feet on the lawn; just don't laugh at the state of my grass!

James