guiding advice

[geordie85]

I own a skywatcher 200p synscan upgraded and image with an astro modded canon eos 600d. I'm wanting to start guiding and have been looking into the orion off axis guider and orion starshoot autoguider. Does anyone have any experience or advice they can give before I rush out and waste money.

Thanks

[Altais]

I don't know anything about off axis guiding, but I recommend that you take a look at the QHY guiding cameras. I think the Orion starshoot is basically a QHY5. You can get a QHY5 II, which is an improved version of the QHY5, for about the same price as the Orion starshoot.

[sloz1664]

If you are intent on using an off Axis Guider I recommend using the QHY5L II mono version as the minimum spec.  OAG guiding uses a small portion of your field of view to obtain a guide star and you will require a decent spec guide camera to obtain a guide star.

You could also look at the SX Lodestar and Lodestar II. Also, when guiding using an OAG I use binning at 2x2.

Steve

[Jokehoba]

I guide using the Orion StarShoot mini package and it is fine for short to medium focal length scopes. However it's not so good on my 8"SCT. An OAG for focal lengths beyond about 1500mm seems to be the recommended option.

The StarShoot will be fine for your SW200P at 1000mm and it will be easy to find a suitable star to guide by. By their very nature, I understand that it can be a challenge to find suitable guide stars with an OAG, depending on your target.

John

[geordie85]

Thanks for all the advice.

Steve, i'm not intent on using an off axis guider. I just thought it would be the best, easiest option for my eq5 due to weight. Unfortunately I can't stretch to a lodestar at the moment as I have a little one on the way and only have a budget of £300.

John, I have recently been looking into the mini package myself and it looks to be a good option. I've also been looking into getting a 50mm orion guide scope and using a QHY5-II.

Even with my low budget there does still seem to be many choices out there.

[sloz1664]

I use a  50mm SW guide scope and  QHY5L-II with my TAL 200K. You will have no issues finding a guide star using the QHY5-ll

Steve

[Pompey Monkey]

Thanks for all the advice.

Steve, i'm not intent on using an off axis guider. I just thought it would be the best, easiest option for my eq5 due to weight. Unfortunately I can't stretch to a lodestar at the moment as I have a little one on the way and only have a budget of £300.

John, I have recently been looking into the mini package myself and it looks to be a good option. I've also been looking into getting a 50mm orion guide scope and using a QHY5-II.

Even with my low budget there does still seem to be many choices out there.

I use a QHY5 (version 1) on the back of a modified 9 X 50 guide scope. Weighs just under a kilo, including my home made rings, and cost a total of about £150. Works a charm