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EQMOD - why? Must resist the urge to tinker....


Whippy

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A week off of work plus wall to wall cloud has given me lots of spare time (probably too much!). One things that I keep on coming back to is EQMOD. Here's my conundrum:

Will it help me set my imaging kit up any quicker? - Not that I can see. If anything, having to connect a few more wires and fire up one or two more apps would make the process longer, albeit only a little :).

Does it provide me with better software than I currently use for image capture and guiding? - No.

Will it provide me with more accurate GOTO slews? - Probably but I've never found it to be a huge problem.

I do like my technology, but I'm not into technology for technology's sake (that's my wife's job :) ). Controlling my mount from a gamepad would be fun but is it going to be a real help? I can't see it.

I understand that some people are even using it to control their mounts whilst observing. Unless you've got magic eyes, surely you'd lose your night vision everytime you look at the screen wouldn't you?

I've got a couple of mates who are real advocates of it, and I can see some benefits if you've got a permanent setup in an obs but for me, it's a bit of a gadget and what little time we get under clear skies right now, I want to be productive rather than experimenting and troubleshooting.

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Depends what you want out of it i guess Tony , for me working with my hand set it takes no more than 5 min tops to set up. i,m happy with that cus me and puters dont get on lol .

so i shall stick with what i have ,

Have seen Daves ( Centroids ) set up , he controls his through the puter , so i cant knock it in anyway , looks very good .

But not for me i,m afraid.

Rog

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I wish I could give you an "experienced "point of view, but I can't. I've only been using it, no, let's say used it( due to adverse weather) a few times. Like all new kit and in particular s/w there are always little niggles but on the whole I have to say it has simplified things. No H/set, therefore no worries about it getting damaged whilst outside from whatever source, just one cable from lappy to mount and that can now go ( courtesy of the TTL232R) into any USB socket or hub and always remains the same comm port- find any star or planet to align on etc...

If part of your sky is obscurred , like a fair bit of mine , then it's a big advantage having a planetarium to choose from- but I accept it is going to be horses for courses, perhaps you might change your mind ??

The software offers just so much- areal boon if the mount was perm. set up in an obsy .

Karlo

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That's my thinking Rog, I can't see how it makes life easier than using the handset epecially when you haven't got a permanent setup.

I can see what you're saying Karlo, and I can imagine that if you have an obscured view, using Stellarium (for example) rather than just a fairly arbitary (seems to me anyway) selection of stars to choose from would make your life easier but how has it simplified things other than having a better choice of stars for alignment?

Hopefully, I'll have a look at a few people's setups at SGL4 and perhaps I might see the upside, I guess we'll have to see...

Tony..

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I reckon you should find quite a few folk with loads more experience with it down there. I like the fact that the goto pointing accuracy is much better and improves each time you use it ,or can do if you save your alignment data. I also like the fact that I can pulse guide thru it too and keep an eye on it and tinker as you go along. Sorry, I'm going on.

Karlo

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For me it meant I could save over 100 pounds on the mount as I bought the EQ6 with no goto, an FTDI lead for 10 pounds and am using EQMOD for all the control. If I already had a goto setup then I would agree with you that perhaps it is not required.

I am hoping to also try out the alignment software at some point and that gamepad is very tempting.

For me EQMOD is an excellent addition and the gamepad would be required for control near to the eyepiece something which I would have thought is not required for you with the hand controller!

Neil C

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