Trippelforge

It's fine for visual but junk otherwise... I had a similar one years ago and they can get a bit shaky even in light breezes. I ended up hanging a weight from mine, letting it barely touch the ground to keep it from swinging, it did help with stability.

Can you posts some photos of the patio and sightlines? I know you said you were happy enough with what you can see, but I am just curious what it looks like. If it were me I would probably use a heavy (100+ kg) block of concrete sitting on a very firm rubber pad for dampening. You could make one using a form / concrete mix in it's permanent location. Obviously sitting on the patio with a hole in the decking.

Quick question, how do these connect to a dedicated camera? I never gave that much thought as currently I am using a DSLR so it's obviously a standard t-adapter and ring. Oh and why do they make some of them without grooves for safety reasons?

Oh OK, thank you for the help!

Thanks and I forgot everyone here lives in Europe... lol. I am going to try and search for those in my area.

I have been searching around for a few weeks trying to find a compatible focal reducer / field flattener for my scope. The problem is everyone of them that I find points out it only will work with "X" manufacturer / model. My scope (Barska) is pretty rare and hasn't been in production for many years. So finding anything that directly says it's compatible has been impossible. My scope is a 80mm f/7 triplet, is there anything that "should" work OK with it? Thanks for the help!

Thank you!

So is that being cause during the stacking process or raw camera output? I just wanted to check as I have been really close to pulling the trigger on the Uranus.

Wow that is pretty noticeable... why is it doing that? I hadn't seen any other examples with it being so bad.

I am outside with my son sharing the hobby so we will have to get pilot headsets to communicate. 😁 That is a good idea though if you want it peaceful, I can imagine as you said the ears stay pretty warm as well. I am crossing my fingers I get lucky like a few here and it's not screaming loud. But if it works well it's kind of the only option out there. EDIT: My unit is now in transit! I forgot all about needing a power supply though... lol

Ya I think you probably just nailed home on how much the units vary. I wonder why they are so different? I just ordered one two days ago so I guess I will find out first hand. Luckily I only do AP so it won't be the end of the world. How long ago did you purchase yours? Just curious if Alex has improved it any.

Ya that was probably one of mine and I do have a CG-4. And you are also right I my scope is an 80mm and is pretty light. I think between the scope and camera I am sitting around 9lbs maybe? OK so I think I get it now, it gives the capability of the tracking system to adjust and fine tune itself. You can get a fairly low cost guiding camera can't you, something from ZWO listed as planetary? Currently I have the Celestron branded dual motor drive setup. It does not however have a guiding port or any type of external connection capability. Just a simple hand controller. That is one of the reasons I was looking at purchasing the drive system. That and the fact that it also will allow me to go-to and is compatible with the asiar (if I got that route eventually). It just seemed like a nice add-on from a convenience standpoint. Anyhow so getting a guidescope for long exposure imaging is going to be a huge plus due to improving my scopes tracking capabilities?

Oh ya, I can't hear anything at work, I had forgot to listen to your post at home. I guess there is a niche enough market that they aren't going to dive into clearing that up. But then again they make each unit custom I believe? I wonder if some are louder than others, I didn't mind what I heard on the review. But they way you making it sound it's horrible... I guess at least it works well. lol

Is it high pitched? I watched a video of a guy reviewing it and when it was running it sounded like a moderate whine. I am sure it's a lot different in person, but from the video being cranked up it seemed less loud than I thought it would be. And why can't this be eliminated anyways? Considering it's mentioned the PRO version isn't as loud, it's obviously an issue.

I have been wondering this lately as someone suggested to me that it would be a good upgrade. However I am not sure what it does when you have an automated tracking system. For instance I am looking up at buying this today as a XMAS present for my son. And assumed it had the capability to align and track. So I was hoping someone could explain to me why guide camera's are used. Thanks

I just noticed in the description that the PRO version has the advantage of it not being as loud as the non-PRO version. 😬 Wow... lol

I did take a look at this site and these models: https://www.astrogear.net/collections/astro-dslr-cameras But I had a hard time figuring out which one would be the best price vs performance.

My son and I are purely targeting DSO images, pretty much any objects that are reachable for us. So far we have gotten typical things like Andromeda, dumbbell, whirlpool and a few open clusters. So pretty much anything bright enough that we can capture. I am using a 80mm ED Triplet (f/7), on a motorized CG-4 with a Canon 500D (w/NINA). Originally I was looking at the "planetary" Uranus-C and it's ZWO equivalent (non-cooled). My budget got bumped up a bit due to XMAS, but still is only around 800. So I am not sure if anything is even reachable yet for us. I have looked through ZWO, Player-one and SVBONY. Although it seems like SVBONY isn't as highly regarded as ZWO. The one thing though that I have been told is to simply skip out on a dedicated and go with a newer DSLR (modded). I really didn't want to do that but it kind of seems at this point that I may not have much choice if I want to upgrade my camera.

I kind of flipped through some stuff on AB and noticed that the more affordable options were pretty capable. The only companies I really had checked out were ZWO and Player One. You mentioned saving some cash? What other companies are worth checking out?

So if I am extending my tube and hitting the limit while focusing, I would need to put in spacers to "extend" the tube farther. This explains without any spacers why I only have about an inch of extension left.

Back focus is extending the focuser "tube" correct? Sounds like I dumb question but I am almost out of it. I have nothing connected though but a DSLR. I keep noticing so many people talking about needing spacers so I just wanted to make sure. That raises the question, if I only use a dedicated camera will that make it better or worse?

I planned on only using mine for AP also, but then again I will be outside near it. What sucks is that there are no other options outside of the Celestron branded one (I have the dual axis). It's so silent that I have to touch it to make sure it's running. I am going to assume those are not step motors?

I currently am almost out of back focus somehow and all I have on my scope is a DSLR. So does that mean that a focal reducer will actually help me out in this case?

There is no way something dedicated was made for my scope. So finding one myself is going to be a task for sure. How did you match something generic up that you had a good feeling would work?

Your Canon obviously is a step up from my 500D, I think I might go ahead and give the Uranus a shot. Thank you!