souls33k3r

Yeah been there, done that, got the T-shirt with the NEQ6 mount. It did help me guide better but the itch for better guiding, having tight round stars and eventually leading to sharper images led me to sell that mount and go for the CEM60-EC. I would've spent on Avalon mount but FLO didn't stock them and even if they did, it was slightly above the price of the new mount I was hoping to pay and limit myself (Trust me, it wasn't easy limiting myself to a sensible spend). But I've heard good things about the Linear mounts. Vixen mounts are something I personally have not seen much in the AP business and I wonder why. Might do a few searches on astrobin. Cheers mate, that unfortunately is just too much money to spend on a second hand mount. I'd be happy to pay for a second hand if FLO offered them on their offers page as a second hand. At least this way I will have peace of mind about a reputable supplier such as FLO.

Following this thread with interest because I'm in the same boat as yourself buddy but on a lighter payload.

Hi All, I'm potentially looking at an alternative mount for astrophotography within £2500 range which should last me a good 5 - 10 years without much maintenance and hassle. I already have a CEM60-EC but that has caused me a lot of issues with guiding and even though my Total RMS has always been between 0.6" - 0.9" but has failed to produce round stars. Because I trust FLO, it will have to be from FLO themselves. What is your experience with either the CEM60 or EQ6-R mounts or any others that come within this price range? Any issues? How long you've had the mount for? Please be brutally honest about your mount because I wouldn't want any hidden issues that I might later find. I've had my NEQ6 Pro which served me well for a good 3 years before I stupidly decided to sell it. My two scopes that I will be using are Esprit 100 (550mm FL) guided using 60mm guidescope and Celestron EdgeHD 8" (1422mm FL with reducer and 2032mm FL without reducer) again with guidescope or an OAG at some point. I don't plan on using any more than 5 - 10min exposures. Thank you in advance.

Good stuff mate. All the best with the build and I hope the rain doesn't stop you from carrying out this task

I'll double check what it says on the handset tomorrow. Worth a look. Ah ok makes sense. Cheers mate. Cheers John. Well I ended up using a M4 screw and that fixed the rotation of the polemaster for sure. I think I might have fixed the jumping of the star issue but I will hold that secret close to my heart for now because if it doesn't work, then I will have to eat one of my hats. I just need a few hours of clear skies to try and test a few more things and will report back to my supplier who have been nothing short of brilliant so far helping me resolve my issues.

I'll do it for free AND make coffee 😇

Here's a short video of the polemaster adapter which is not secure enough to hold the polemaster in position and starts rotating with a slight force. I've never had such issue with the QHYCCD (red colour) adapter VID_20190909_140148.mp4

Cheers for the kind words mate. I do hope I get this sorted out before October as well mate. I think that sounds like a good plan, I'll bring out the mount shortly and listen and feel. I really am not sure what else can I do. @FLO might be able to advise something?

Hi mate, thank you for your input. I'm not sure what the handset is able to provide that the direct connection from the mount to my laptop using FTDI cable and iOptron Commander wouldn't? Yes I can confirm that the GPS coordinates were showing correct. I found the coordinates from the iOptron Commander and also verified that on my phone.

Since the forecast for the next few days looks very cloudy, are there any tests that I can perform indoors?

I'm sure it's a great mount, im just not so confident with what I've got is. I won't be the first. The whole reason why I paid for the lynx Astro FTDI cable was to get rid of the handset. It's one less cable to connect and take care of.

Am guiding the same way as I have always been. Guide scope attached at the top of the main scope. The formation has not changed from when I was getting round stars to this. I will be using OAG but only on my SCT but that comes at a much later stage. Am happy to listen to whatever advice tbh because I am out of ideas and patience now

Yeah I'm sure it does tell you that on the handset but let me see if I can find it from the pc software because I need to get in the loft, take out the box and take off the seal from the handset Ouch! How long ago was this? I've heard that their QC has improved but I'm only telling you what I've heard

Cheers Alan. I have no doubt in my mind that they will. I will just have to wait for them to come online tomorrow because I wouldn't want to bother the good folks at FLO over the weekend

Like Anne mentioned, there's a thread which I started on CN a while ago whether I should buy the CEM60 or the EC version which has morphed in to issues with the firmware. I stayed well away from doing any of the upgrades but clearly so many clever cogs are on it and have issues. I understand not nearly half of what those guys talk about but can clearly see that there is an issue with firmware. I don't even know what firmware I'm on but at least I know I haven't changed it. You've said it all Dave, at least I have the assurance of FLO brilliant customer service which is why I'm hopeful that my issue will be resolved.

Cheers for the kind words mate. The thing is that having a night to deal with issues which is clearly not something you've created are more frustrating than others. I do agree, there will be plenty more frustrations to come but as long as I know it's not my new gear I'd happily deal with them. Also most issues last for a session rather than soending days trying to sort. We hardly get clear skies and on those nights you want things to work. I've literally exhausted all my efforts trying to get this mount to work and unless I know I have a mount that will work, I'm not sure how I'll relax

Exactly my thiught mate. I'm glad I made a video to show what's going on. And possibly could be the cause of a lot of the issues that I'm having. I will get @FLO to take a look at this thread as well and see what they think.

When I used to do PA on my NEQ6 Pro mount, I was told that I was somewhere between 10 - 15 arc minutes out but my stars always used to come out fine. I did do guiding assistant at least 3 times in different part of the sky and at different times of the night but it didn't really solve my issue. Cheers Gary. I noticed polemaster moving within the adapter last time when I was out so knew for well that it does that so this time like I said above, I tightened it with force so that the only thumb screw that hold it down doesn't start to slip. Also I'm not sure if this adapter should come with three thumb screws or just one because if it was 3 screws (because it's got 3 holes so thinking that it's for adjusting the placement of the single thumb screw for easy access) that would make sense and would better hold the polemaster in place. I really am out of ideas now mate Do you mean PoleMaster software or the camera altogether? I did use the polemaster camera with sharpcap which like I said showed me my PA was excellent. I think I can try doing Sharpcap using my guidescope (or main imaging scope if one can do that. Not sure but will have a chat with Alex as he's very much clued up with Sharpcap stuff). The way you're saying this, I'm sure I can align my main imaging camera squared to the sky. But truth be told I feel like there is a mechanical issue with the mount in RA otherwise there is no reason for the star selected to jump out of the line and then swing right back only to jump right off and then come right back. This issue might also relate to why my guiding is just pants unfortunately and why my image drifts. There's a massive thread on CN about the firmware issue which iOptron so far has been unable to fix but I don't think I have the patience any more given the amount of hours I've spent to take the mount out and set it up again to test. I bought this mount to image with less hassle but only to have more issues than just one of those nights very disheartened mate.

I didn't check through the scope but it sure was bang in the middle of PoleMaster camera.

Cheers mate. Like I said, I literally am on the verge of falling out with this mount. I regret selling my NEQ6 now but at least it performed far far better than this mount. PA as suggested by PHD was 30-50 arc min off using pole master and slightly less when doing PA routine using sharpcap. I used to see drift with longer focal length but never saw it with the Esprit 100's 550mm FL which I'm seeing now. Drift alignment I'll start working on it once I've got the rest of these issues sorted out.

Yes mate, my OTA is balanced in all 3 axis. I've been in the habit of balancing my scope like this for about 2 years. I checked and re-checked it twice. I used to do the age old polar alignment routine by looking through the polar scope back in the day when I was doing visual but when I jumped in to AP business, I bought polemaster and never looked back. I've never had issues using PoleMaster in the past and expect the same. I am just not familiar with other methods so will leave them aside because that is just me adding to issues for now but will look in to them at a later stage when I don't have to battle the issues that I've been having I'm not sure where the issue lies but there IS an issue and it's not helping whatsoever.

I agree Alan, there is something wrong there and cut the life of me I don't know what is. FLO have always been nothing but awesome and they really look after their customers but before I put it to them, I wanted to reach out to the community to see if there was anything else that I can do because like I said I've spent so many hours on this to validate my efforts. Anne, this is not the first time this star issue has happened, it happens every single time. I have used handset and moved the mount manually and still see the star jump. Last night I was getting some help from a friend on using SharpCap for Polar alignment and he too noticed that. It's like something on the RA axis that is causing it to do that. I have been using PoleMaster for nearly 2 years and I've polar aligned in rubbish skies but never saw the star jump at this stage. Yeah the polemaster adapter comes with one thumb screw which doesn't seem to be holding the polemaster tight enough and will easily start rotating. The adapter has three holes for the thumb screws to hold the PoleMaster tight but it only comes with one. No I haven't contacted iOptron yet but there is no place to find older versions of firmware. Mine still is on the same firmware as it came out of the factory. I'm not big on using beta because it potentially has issues so I will hold off until there is a proper release but not sure I can live with a mount that doesn't guide for God knows how long. Cheers for your input Francis. No I haven't done drift alignment because I'm not familiar with the process (I know what it is but don't know how it's performed). Yes my stars are the same across the screen and change from sub to sub as my image drifts. As for guiding out the phd errors, that's the thing, the numbers are good but the graph doesn't look good at all. Both lines are on either side of the middle lines. I seriously am thinking that the normal CEM60 would've been a much better choice because even iOptron are having issues producing a firmware that makes this version of the mount work. I know I paid extra just to get rid of hassles but this mount has been anything but

Plenty of great ideas here. Keep them coming peeps if you have any more to share.

Hi All, I thought it's time to seek some serious help because i am on the verge of calling quits with this mount as i've spent nearly 4 (spending nearly 30hrs) clear nights given to me on this mount. It is a brand new mount bought from @FLO and i have only now managed to get a chance to fully test this and reporting it (because i was waiting on the pier to be set up). As much as i love the mount for how it looks, it just isn't performing how i have been expecting it to be. I will list out issues accordingly. (Both RA and DEC are perfectly balanced in all 3 axis) Polar Alignment I have performed polar alignment using PoleMaster for a while now and am familiar with the process. For those who aren't, i do apologise if this doesn't make sense. Before i explain what the issue is, i find that the adapter for Polemaster is super bad. My polemaster comes loose because all what is holding it down is one thumb screw and the Polemaster starts rotating. It does become somewhat find if i put herculian force behind the thumb screw but that's just about it. Any way, after selecting Polaris, i set up the template and choose a star. When i choose a star and move it slightly more than 30 degrees i noticed the star jumps outwards when the mount moves. It does the exact same things when i reselect the same star and move the mount. When i select the star for the third time, Polemaster software draws a line on which the star needs to stay on and i ask the mount to move back to the home position. When moving back, the star can be seen jumping (see video below): polar alignment issue video.mp4 The polar alignment error shown in PHD2 is somewhere around 30 - 50 arc minutes. Since the above video, i also tried SharpCap and got to the point where it said "Excellent". PHD2 After polar alignment, regardless of whether i did it with Polemaster or SharpCap, the guide graph makes me scratch my head. I tried to calibrate on the object but did not see the change in behaviour of the guide graph. I tried to calibrate at Dec 0 and still the same issue. The DEC stays above the line even though PHD is sending corrections but it would still stay above the line. All the corrections are in one direction. RA does the exact same thing but in the opposite direction. The total RMS is somewhat reasonable and i have seen as low as 0.5". I have been tinkering with the numbers but nothing seem to make any difference. My bullseye looks like this which then equates to another issue ahead Issue with collected Subs Ok, i could ignore the PHD2 numbers but i can not because all of the above that i have mentioned results in elongated stars. Ok i must admit, i am pixel peeping but that's where i can see what the issue is. My small stars are showing elongation and i can clearly see from sub frame to sub frame that my image is drifting which also shows in the above bulls eye as well. Below is a crop of the same image with 5 minutes difference. I have spent so much time with this mount and trying to tame this and figure it out and i can not seem to get it. I'm not sure what else to do now. Please help because i literally can not afford to be losing any more nights with this mount . It seriously is putting me off using this mount completely and that's not what i paid for. Thanks in advance.

Cheers for kind words Adrian. I literally am on the verge of falling our with this new mount. Seriously, i've wasted (including tonight) 4 clear nights trying to dial in issues but i'm still no where near. I will be starting a new thread and get some expert opinion on a lot of the issues that i've been having because if not, then this mount is going back because i can not afford the hassle this mount has caused me so far.