SirLancelot4711

I noticed that the RA clutch was getting a little bit of play after just 3 nights of using. Shortly after, I ended up experiencing the same problem again that I had with the first one (which I mentioned earlier in this thread). The problem was that tightening the RA clutch would have no effect anymore and you'd be able to move it by hand easily 😱 I finally did get some help though and fixed it and wanted to post it here in case any of you run into the same issue: Underneath the black sticker mentioning patents, there is a little hole with a screw. You can use a 2mm allen key to tighten the screw, which tightens the backlash. Not sure if this was something super obvious for some of you guys but for me it was like a eureka moment 😀 That fixed it for me and all seems to work as it should now. Let's see if it does so on the next night out.

By the way, update on this: I did eventually get a replacement. Long cloudy spell prevented me from properly playing around with it earlier but I did so the last few days and wanted to check a few things with you guys (going from low to high in terms of how concerned I am about them). After polar alignment, when I used the GOTO function on the first SA GTI to align to my first star, it generally went more or less into the right position and I only had to finetune, which was great. This one however goes completely off and I have to move it significantly to put into the right direction. Once the first star is aligned, the rest works. Was I just lucky with the first few times and is it typical that the first alignment is totally off? After doing a 3 star alignment, I tried to focus on Andromeda, but the app told me it's out of reach, despite being right above me. Has anyone experienced this? It did find other stars correctly so I would have presumed that my alignment was correct. Location and time were also correctly set. Did you experience any of the above and have any advice?

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Do any of you have experience with this mount when simply using a DSLR & lens, so fairly lightweight? I’m asking because I’m struggling to balance it properly. The provided counterweight is too heavy, even when moving it as close as possible to the mount so I believe I might need to get a lightweight one just for this use case but I understand the rod is slightly thicker than on previous SA’s. Does anyone have any recommendations?

Great to hear. Yeah I think so. I generally loved it while it was working and think it's a good piece of equipment. I'm currently reading through/viewing everything about the star adventurer AZ GTI (to work in equatorial mode) as an alternative (£259 at FLO seems very appealing), although looks like I'd need to get a ton of extra stuff as well to make it work and also switch to using a guide scope, ASI air etc, so might end up being more of a faff. I think the star adventurer GTI might be perfect for me at this stage. I just want an ultra portable kit for a DSLR+lens (switching to a small scope at some later point) that will help me find targets super quick, and it looks like this fits the bill.

Thanks for starting this thread. I meant to ask about an issue that I had with mine. I received it a few weeks ago and tried it out at home (just with the DSLR mounted) and all went as expected. I then went out (15mins from my home) for a proper test and I thought it behaved well but I only got a few shots in before clouds ruined the evening. All worked fine - the polar scope illuminator was rather bright as well but I figured out later that it was set too high and I couldn’t find the setting on the app to lower it while I was out. Anyway, next time I went out I had a clear sky and did my polar alignment which worked brilliantly now that I had the light setting adjusted. However after mounting the camera and tightening both clutches, I noticed that despite tightening the RA clutch, it was still loose. The motor would not move it when I set a target. I’ve sent it back and FLO had a look at repairing it but weren’t able to so they gave me a refund as they were out of stock. I presume none of you had a similar issue? I couldn’t find anyone mentioning a similar problem so I guess I just had a faulty one. I still wanted to double check that it’s not a general issue with this mount, as I really liked it and want to purchase it again. I saw some other vendors have stock.

Hi all, I've just recently rediscovered my love for the stars. Used to have a crappy department store refractor telescope many years ago but bought myself a half-decent dobsonian just recently. I managed to take some photos of the moon through the eyepiece with my smartphone a few days ago when there was a brief gap in the clouds. I can't wait for a proper clear night with this thing. I would love to get into astrophotography but want to take it slowly and not buy a ridiculous amount of equipment before even knowing what to do with it. I have access to my wife's Canon EOS 600D on a basic mount and standard lenses and will start playing around with that and then upgrade as I go. If there is anyone from the Mid Sussex area, I would love to get some recommendations on viewing spots in the area - I think I read somewhere that Ditchling beacon might be a good spot. Thanks