Skywatcher Virtuoso Mount- Where to buy?

[cuivenion]

Hi, I've been looking for the Skywatcher Virtuoso mount to buy, without an accompaning scope. I've tried google but can't seem to find it anywhere. Does anyone know how much the mount would be by itself and where I could buy it.

[pete_l]

It's also rebadged as the Orion Starblast Autotracker and has a scope-free option.

[happy-kat]

Could buy it and sell the scope afterwards perhaps?

[ronin]

The Orion mount is sold by SCS but it is £162, the mount and a scope from FLO is £175.

SCS add £10 for P&P so total is £172, for the extra £3 you may as well get one with the scope.

Not sure who else sells Orion items in the UK.

[cuivenion]

The Orion mount is sold by SCS but it is £162, the mount and a scope from FLO is £175.

SCS add £10 for P&P so total is £172, for the extra £3 you may as well get one with the scope.

Not sure who else sells Orion items in the UK.

Yeah might as well go with the mount and scope then at that point. The plan was to attach it to my eq2 tripod and use it with my 130p for imaging, if possible.

[happy-kat]

The mount tracks but does not allow for field rotation when I was considering one. There is a member who uses one with his heritage 130p there is a picture in the gallery.

[cuivenion]

The mount tracks but does not allow for field rotation when I was considering one. There is a member who uses one with his heritage 130p there is a picture in the gallery.

That's a shame, would it still be ok for planetary imaging though?

[cuivenion]

Just read this:

http://stargazerslounge.com/topic/169773-new-skywatcher-heritage-virtuoso-telescopes/page-3

Bottom post saying there is an equatorial tracking mode when on a eq mount, does this mean that it will allow for field rotation after all?

[pete_l]

Just read this:

http://stargazerslounge.com/topic/169773-new-skywatcher-heritage-virtuoso-telescopes/page-3

Bottom post saying there is an equatorial tracking mode when on a eq mount, does this mean that it will allow for field rotation after all?

I guess you could always mount it on a wedge, providing you have one that will attach via a 3/8inch single bolt. Can't say how good the tracking would be though.

[happy-kat]

There is a post on this site where a member shares their tracking experience, the better the alignment the better it stays in view to observe but that is not the demands of imaging.

What do you want to do observe/visual or is it imaging? But for planets would that be movie clips? Is it Registax for movie image processing?

[cuivenion]

There is a post on this site where a member shares their tracking experience, the better the alignment the better it stays in view to observe but that is not the demands of imaging.

What do you want to do observe/visual or is it imaging? But for planets would that be movie clips? Is it Registax for movie image processing?

At the moment my imaging would be planetary videos with a webcam and registax for stacking etc. I also enjoy observing. If at some point this mount could be used for imaging dso's that would be great,

[happy-kat]

Dso are out unless you can get accounting for field rotation addressed in some way...

I looked at getting this mount for planets and the camera use capability but ended up staying with a manual base.

There are quite a few threads on the virtuoso if you fancy reading more on it. I even saw a thread where jessops had it significantly reduced.

This thread is running now.

http://stargazerslounge.com/topic/224551-skywatcher-heritage-90-virtuoso-telescope/?fromsearch=1

[cuivenion]

Dso are out unless you can get accounting for field rotation addressed in some way...

I looked at getting this mount for planets and the camera use capability but ended up staying with a manual base.

There are quite a few threads on the virtuoso if you fancy reading more on it. I even saw a thread where jessops had it significantly reduced.

This thread is running now.

http://stargazerslounge.com/topic/224551-skywatcher-heritage-90-virtuoso-telescope/?fromsearch=1

Thanks I sent FLO a question about the equatorial tracking, here's the conversation:

Does this mount correct for field rotation when in equatorial tracking mode (mounted on eq mount) as described in the manual?

Hi Kieran, When the heritage is attached to the EQ mount it will be as per EQ mount, we are not really sure how accurate the mount is when used like this, but it should follow the orientation of the object eliminating field rotation. hope this helps

Regards

Steve

Hi,

To clarify, would the EQ mount need it's own motor to do this or would the virtuoso mount, being polar aligned by the EQ mount in theory be able to eliminate the field rotation itself. I'm still a novice on learning curve so thanks for the help.

Regards

Kieran

Hi Kieran, In theory this should work as you are tilting the scope to 50 degrees which is where polaris is give or take a degree or so for different locations and the the heritage would track in RA Right Ascension with it's own motor to track with the earths rotation, but as I say we are not sure how well this works.

Regards

Steve

Look like it does correct field rotation depending on how accurately polar aligned the EQ mount is, in theory anyway.

[happy-kat]

Could treat it like an advanced barn door tracker.

Stick the vertuoso on a wedge of wood/base cut to your latitude stick on a level table/floor, polar align it point camera at object and see.

My uneducated guess would be you might get 2 minutes before errors crept in.

[acidmouse]

You might as well have mine. Tried to power it up for the first time this evening with the AA compartment full of shiny ultras. Nothing. I could have saved myself the wedge of cash and gone for the flexitube handraulic version. A present from the wife last month who I hope has kept the receipts etc. Nothing ever works for me. Pee'd off.

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[happy-kat]

With recipes should hopefully get that resolved easy :-)

[cuivenion]

You might as well have mine. Tried to power it up for the first time this evening with the AA compartment full of shiny ultras. Nothing. I could have saved myself the wedge of cash and gone for the flexitube handraulic version. A present from the wife last month who I hope has kept the receipts etc. Nothing ever works for me. Pee'd off.

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That sucks, you should be able to get a replacement though.

[pete_l]

That sucks, you should be able to get a replacement though.

Yes, it should be a straightforward return under warranty just phone them up. You don't need receipts, just proof of purchase and either the credit card statement or the email from the supplier is sufficient for that. (They should even pay the cost of shipping  it back to them.)

[acidmouse]

Hope so.

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[happy-kat]

I would try the supplier first especially if you bought from a shop and not a no face online outlet. A shop might do a exchange for another new one and deal with the return themselves.

[acidmouse]

Nah - it was a surprise, bought by my wife online. Thanks for the thought happy-kat. Anyway I've derailed this thread enough. Apologies to cuivenion.

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[happy-kat]

cuivenion did you make a decision? What did you get?

[cuivenion]

cuivenion did you make a decision? What did you get?

Hi Kat, I'm going to dropping some big hints and hopefully get it for my birthday in November. As well as observing I want to do some planetary imaging (webcam) so this mount would be quite good for that I would of thought.

[happy-kat]

Not long to November

Why not get a planisphere now and if you have binocculars could start having a look up.

Stellarium is free and can be installed on a Windows PC.

I reread from the begining and spotted about puting it on the eq2

Why do you want to use the virtuoso mount on your eq2?

I quick search shows posts with a motor attached to an eq2 and a quick search finds a motor for £31 at FLO giving tracking on the RA axis and going up in price for the deluxe one.

Found this on a search on posts on here.

http://stargazerslounge.com/topic/193506-motor-drive-for-eq2-skywatcher/?fromsearch=1

What is the carrying weight of your Eq2 mount you want to use with it?

Though I guess this virtuoso is useable being sat on a table and quick to set up.

You mention you already have a 130p is that the 650mm long one, I have seen a 650mm heritage 130p attached to the Virtuoso but have not spotted your scope attached.

Can't recall the maximun payload of the virtuoso mount but it would be worth checking that the scope you want to use if it is light enough?

From my really basic knowledge you wont need tracking to use a webcam for planetary imaging as you take video clips and each clip I think would not be longer than say 2 minutes in length anyway and then you use free programme to stack the good frames from within the video.

Is it the virtuoso 90 mak you would chose?

This has a much longer focal length then your existing 130p perhaps this will give higher magnification for planets?

I guess I have typed way too much.

[cuivenion]

From what I've read you can set it up on an eq mount same as on a wedge to set the latitude and engage the equatorial mode. That way it accounts for field rotation. I have spoken to someone else on the forum who uses my current scope with the virtuoso and he hasn't had any problems.

My thought was to use the 130p for observing and the 90 mak for planetary imaging.

There's a lot I like about the virtuoso; the way you can upgrade to goto or control it through Stellarium, and also if for some reason you lose power it can still be used as an unpowered alt-az mount. I guess I just really like the mount, I do like my gadgets.