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Skyline

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Posts posted by Skyline

  1. Another interesting note is the quality improvement of the optics. Don't get me wrong Sky-Watcher has still got to improve on their QC. One thing I did notice, there is no Spherical Aberration appears around the stars, which I noticed on the stars when used with previous Sky-Watcher Newts which I owned. However my Celestron OMNI XLT 150 Reflector does not exhibit any Spherical Aberration as well, I would say the coatings have improved.

    • Like 1
  2. 8 hours ago, Whistlin Bob said:

    Short review it may have been, but it helped me decide to pull the trigger- and I'm very happy with the decision. Hope you don't mind me adding to your thread, but I thought it would be more helpful than starting a new one. 

    Interested to know whether your experience matches, this would be my summarised view. The good:

    - f3.45 is terrific, really noticeable step up from my f4.5 130pds

    - Optics in general are really good.

    - I'm impressed with the included coma corrector stars are a good shape to the edges of a 4/3" sensor and no chromatic or spherical aberration to speak of.

    - focuser is better than the 130pds too, and can hold a mono asi1600 + filter wheels with no tilt.

    The bad:

    - chronic light leaks from the bottom (fixed with a shower cap)

    - internal reflections galore (fixed with blackboard paint on all non black internal surfaces)

    - noticeable diffraction from the mirror clips (fixed with a primary mirror mask)

    Others also report huge difficulty in getting the secondary collimated, and staying collimated, but that hasn't been my experience. 

    My verdict would be that it's a good scope and with a bit of tinkering (which you shouldn't really have to do) it becomes superb. 

    I share your thoughts and you have some wonderful images you have produced with this scope. I believe the Quattro 150P will become another winner like the 130PDS, with the improvements.

    Just to add further comments:

    - The tube is rigid and and components are pretty stable, however I have not had the opportunity to use the scope in the winter months as yet to comment further.

    - The upgrades which are available from  Backyard Universe I have held back on as I do not think it warrants me as yet to change anything I need to. However if i do change something in the near future possibly the CNC machined secondary spider which is offered by them.

    There is a carbon fibre tube available, but I cannot see me buying unless the tube temperature fluctuations really are noticeable.

    - As mentioned before in my short review and from your experience. You need to cover the rear with a shower cap or in my case I 3d printed a cover which clips into rear mirror cell.

    - I have not needed to flock or paint the inner tube, not to say it will not be effective. But not experienced any reflections as such or that I have not noticed.

    - Maybe you have noticed the secondary spider assembly seems to be a better improvement over what generally is offered. I always seem to have a problem with slightly twisted vanes but I have found the vanes on this scope a fraction slightly better/stronger, which is a good thing. Maybe to a square secondary holder instead of a circle perhaps?

    - Secondary collimation, no problem there as well, once set, hardly need to touch it, same with the primary. If need be a tweak now and again on the primary, but otherwise very stable. Laser collimators  do not cut it for me, nor have they for a while. I use a 2" Concenter Sight Tube for any secondary adjustment and Cheshire Tube for the Primary.

    I think people just see its like any fast newt but they are not appreciative that you need to take time in collimation and understand the change of dynamics of a newtonian anything faster then f5, dramatically changes.

    The mirror cell is better then the GSO variants and also I have noticed the mirror cell springs are better.

    - Newts always need tinkering, a short travel focuser, which the draw tube does not intrude in the light path. So no hacksaw needed. Even the premium newts you will need to tinker to some degree.

    - For better balancing definitely upgrade the dovetail, balancing on a HEQ5 Pro I am using a 11" ADM Vixen Dovetail.

    Just a few updated thoughts.

    • Like 1
  3. Nearly a year is approaching, since buying this scope, apologies to everyone who read this short review and was expecting me to feed back much sooner.

    Due to a very busy year due to a house move and personal/work commitments, I was only able to get out on a few occasions, but not enough to warrant any proper imaging with the scope.

    However since purchasing a new cooled camera, I have been using the scope more often lately.

    Taken with a SVBONY SV405CC Camera inconjuction with the SVBONY SV220 Dual Band Filter I imaged the Veil Nebula a couple of nights ago. A quick process as I am playing with data of  36mins and some darks at f/3.5, I hope you like?

     

    Veil_v2.jpg

    • Like 4
  4. I use Kstars/Ekos on a mini pc and stellarmate on a rpi 4 8gb, without any issues, both have strong antennas running on a 5ghz network. The pi had to buy an external one and the other for the mini pc is built in. No problems so far re image capture even remotely controlled with a windows pc using kstars 😆

    I am sorry you have had a bad experience but I just find using linux based software like kstars/ekos a lot less clunky then windows.

    NINA is a good bit of software better then APT in my opinion. But still relient on other dependent software to work with it.

    Just my 2p's worth.

    • Like 1
  5. On 24/07/2023 at 18:41, adyj1 said:

    Well, I took the plunge and bought one... 

    I wanted to like it, I really did but before it had seen first light I had problems with darks. Both banding (which I've seen reported in other reviews) and amp glow... 🤯

    The reason for buying it from Amazon was the easy return policy, so I didn't pursue any sort of lengthy remedy with Svbony and just returned it to Amazon. 

    https://stargazerslounge.com/topic/411875-is-this-amp-glow

    I had the same issue with my SV605CC, which I just returned to Amazon and opted for the SV405CC. I had a 5mm spot glow in the corner of my frames and the banding was horrendous.

  6. Stellarmate X OS is good as well.

    It is Ubuntu based with Stellarmate running on the top which can be installed running a AMD/Intel mini pc.

    I also have a RPi4 running Stellarmate  purely linking my gear together with an external wifi antenna and have a laptop indoors which is windows based to capture the data.

    Usually the free stuff is the best.

  7. I actually found the linux Ekos/Indi system a lot more accommodating for my range of equipment. Atik, Canon, ZWO and QHY drivers on the mele.

    The mele pc is great with linux as is not that power/resource hungry compared to Windows.

    I noticed with windows the mele would get quite warm in operation.

    However I do use a windows netbook with Kstars and/ or with xrdp to link into ekos on the mele while imaging remotely.

    I just find windows clunky and not really stream lined for astronomy automation (my 2p's) worth.

    Why do you think the ASIAIR works well, it has a linux OS underneath and user friendly. Very similar to how stellarmate works. Which ZWO's idea more then likely came from.

    All credit goes to Jasem Mutlaq.

  8. I use a Mele Mini PC with USB 3 ports loaded with Ubuntu and Ekos/INDI, its universal support is a better option instead of something locked down to just ZWO. You can also run the same setup using a Raspberry Pi 4, the mini pc does run a lot smoother though.

  9. On 18/03/2023 at 09:15, Chriske said:

    In the early days of Thingiverse I had about 75 different project uploaded to Thingiverse.
    Later on I erased them all due to personal reasons.
    These days here on SGL I often get requests from 'members' registered just minutes before and later on never heard of again. The only goal of these people is harvesting the work of other members. As a matter of fact I never reply to these people let alone send files to them. Most of them are from one particular country that like to copy all kind of things.

    Regular members here on SGL I do send files from time to time, but not by PM. I always send files by mail or Wetransfer.
     

    This I will be doing - deleting my prints from Thingiverse and hosting on my own site, which you can order via the website or freely order should you want to print yourself.

  10. 36 minutes ago, Gfamily said:

    Let's not have this derailed - got to keep focus (apologies)

    I'd suggest including an embedded copyright message in any 3d designs you submit in future (says someone who has no idea how these things work - but kind of think the last few layers could leave an indented message)

    All my designs have my name indented on them.

  11. You make something and you contribute to the community freely, not that someone makes a buck from it.

    There are some astronomy IoT products in the market, the idea/products are freely available before an alternative came along, but there are others which are quite happy to take the idea and make it proprietary only to their products only to be sold under a different name, with no thanks to the open source community which helped to establish the original product.

    I can understand if you designed them yourself and wanted a small charge to cover the material and postage charge, not say they are made by Farpoint Astronomy!

    I use this licence attributes for my 3d printed astronomy.
     

    Licence.jpg

    • Like 1
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