Olli

If anyone else stumbles across this I had to order a eqmod cable (as mentioned in the thread) from flo in the end for the Az-gti and the firmware installed instantly. Appreciate everyone’s help. Finally got it sorted !

So I have been eyeing to get a decent planetary scope for a long time and have been looking at the Skymax 127 for the last couple of years and decided to finally take the plunge the other day from Flo. Once again the service was great and the scope arrived within 2 days. Who would have guessed it would be clear skies (ish )! Upon unboxing the build quality seemed great as always from Sky-Watcher scopes it came with two eyepieces and a red dot finder it. Which unfortunately when mounted on my az5 it is unusable due to the finder shoe being on the bottom left so as a result I decided to Mount my telrad for the time being. This also made the focuser fairly uncomfortable as well. I was surprised how lightweight and small this scope was and seemed like a great grab n go planetary setup which is my intended use for it. Once set up , I was expecting it to be a pretty cloudy night however I was pleasantly surprised when dusk hit as the clouds started to appear. I left the scope out about 15 minutes prior as due to the scope needing a cool down and this seemed to do the job. My main target was Saturn as it was fairly high and was in between the clouds. Once located in the telrad I then used the focuser, so far I am not the biggest fan of this and did find quite awkward after being used to the traditional focuser. Will definitely try it with a peg next time. once I finally looked through the eyepiece I would be lying if I was not blown away by the views. After viewing it previously with my frac It was no more than just a disc with some definition of the rings. Though with the Mak and a 14mm eyepiece I could clearly see the rings in detail with a hint of the Cassini divisions and could see great detail of the planet itself. Overall apart from the fiddly focuser and getting used to the field of view . I’m super excited to try this on Jupiter and also the moon . clear skies!

Thanks for the help. My phone won’t even connect to the mounts Wi-Fi now so something is definitely wrong as it’s showing a different ssid. I think I am just going to leave it for now as it’s driving me loopy. Thanks again.

Thanks for the help, I have updated the drivers as suggested ( forgot about that) and it now doesn’t have the orange warning . After checking the device again it is now showing com3 and selected com3 on the loader. Unfortunately still the same issue.

This is what happens when trying to connect via a rj12 to usb.

So I have made some progress. The Wi-Fi is now showing on my pc. Though it only lets me connect momentarily. Whilst it’s connected I tried to install the firmware but shows that it couldn’t connect to the Mount. I tried toggling find devices off and on in the settings and this seemed to make it appear..though the Wi-Fi shows no signal and sometimes doesn’t allow me to connect at all.

Fantastic images !

I did too , I kind of regret turning it into an Eq Mount but hopefully I can get it fixed. Have contacted FLO to see if i can send it in to them if worse case scenario. Thanks for the help.

How do I check the com port? And what settings would I need to change on the app? Thanks.

Hi , thanks for the reply. I will give this a go tomorrow sounds like a good idea. I am pretty sure that I am missing something completely obvious…

Thought I would reply back to this post instead of creating a new one, I am unable to still connect via Wi-Fi and ordered a rj12 to usb cable to think that I would be able to update via usb however it is still not working using the non Wi-Fi loader from skywatchers website. Is there a specific cable that I need to purchase? Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Hi all, I am currently in the market for a new tripod. I have been using a skywatcher tripod ( white and black ) that usually comes with all of its scopes and the star adventurer for around 5 plus years or so which I’ll still keep for visual.As I have now finally got a portable imaging set up going with the az gti and Zenithstar 73 , I was looking to buy something Lightweight and stable around the £100 mark. I am not too sure in what to look for these types of things so I am hoping you guys can advise me in the right direction. Many thanks . Olli

Hi everyone, I am trying to connect my pc (windows 11) to my Az gti to update the firmware however for some reason the synscan connection isn’t showing up on my pc? I have tested my phone and appears on there as normal. I have been watching videos on how to update it and unfortunately failing at the first hurdle restarting both devices and disabling Ethernet which I am currently connected to. Is there a way to manually add it on the pc with the ssid? any advice would be helpful!

Thanks for the link and advice. The cool-down time was my only concern as I usually tend to observe for short sessions. I saw a post on here in a thread ( can’t remember who it was) but they had a clothes peg in a hard case with the mak and it made me chuckle.

Thanks all for the responses. It seems like a overwhelming praise for the 127!

After looking at the clear outside all yesterday I was presently surprised to see all greens! So this time around I made sure to make a list or at least some targets that I would like to try this evening. Which were m31 and M13. As well as testing out the new binos. Starting around 9:30pm or so I knew it still wasn’t quite dark enough and the flight path seemed to be incredibly busy which didn’t help things. First starting off with m31 which was east/north east this evening. Before starting I tested the opricon WA 10x 50 binos to make sure I was in the general areal which showed surprisingly clear and crisp views of the stars. Next after locating Mirach with the binos I then went up vertically with my scope following the second two stars. I found a grey smudge which I am now certain it has to be m 31 as it was the same thing I saw the other night, when focusing it didn’t seem to focus like the stars but seemed to get longer in shape. It had a whiteish core in the middle. next I wanted to test my binos and went to Jupiter just as a quick look, and was very impressed though they seem to be a bit shaky ( maybe it’s just me !) though was very small I could make out the gap between the rings and was framed beautifully with the other stars. lastly my main target tonight was m13 which I could just about see with the naked eye. Though starting with Arcturus and working my way up diagonally using Alphecca and Kornephoros as guides I could see a small faint hazy glow. The main focus on tonight was trying to improve my star hoping and knowing the constellations better which I’m very pleased with. Hopefully I can get out more and do longer sessions to make it worth while!

My first pair of “proper” binoculars. Opticron WA 10x50. Excited to try them tonight!

Hi everyone , I am considering saving for a second scope to go with my refractor and have wanted a Mak for such a long time due to it being known as a planet killer which will be its primary use. How much of a difference is the Mak127 compared to the 102 and also the physical size? As I’m trying to keep it small and lightweight as possible. The 127 is unfortunately a bit more than I’d like to spend though if it is a noticeable difference then I will consider. Is the 200mm difference in focal length also noticeable? any advice would be appreciated!

Thanks I must of admit it was probably the worst night for viewing it. I have seen it before in a dob. But that was ages ago. It was half and half with viewing with the naked eye and scope hopefully will be better next time!

Just a short session tonight but My main target was to try and observe M31. After having a quick browse on sky safari I managed to locate the andromeda constellation fairly easily finding the tail end of Matar and going down until I could find Mirach, Unfortunately the moon is still fairly bright in its wearing gibbous stage so I was unable to locate the uAnd stars above mirach and was trying to go in blind. I thought i did see a small grey fuzzie but I was not 100% sure that it was m31. Though I knew I was in the general area but the moon and small layer of clouds did not help. After deciding to not waste my session I moved over to Saturn as previously it was badly positioned though this time it was in prime position to view from my spot. After locating it with the red dot finder and the 24mm eyepiece I swapped to my 14mm and could easily make out the rings as well as possibly Rhea? On the left hand side though it was quite difficult to see. I think I am slowly becoming obsessed with planets ( even more so than before ) which is making me want to get a mak ! Overall a very enjoyable session even if I could not locate M31.

Thanks, I remember seeing m31 in my first scope and it still blows me away. I will have a look at those clusters.

Hi Stu, I currently have a Zenithstar 73 and for eyepieces I have a 24mm 68 degree eyepiece and a 14mm 76 degree eyepiece. After looking at the clear outside app it says I’m in bortle 4. I was pondering on the idea of uhc filters but wasn’t sure if they would be worth splurging on. Thank you for the suggestions above I will have note those down. Hopefully I get to have another crack at m31 before it disappears behind my trees!

Hi everyone , As the title suggests I am currently looking for some targets to fulfil the potential of my scope. I’ve currently only used it on Planetary objects such as the moon and Saturn and have been really pleased with the results given its size. However I have only been using large reflector scopes observing DSOs up until now so I’m not really sure how far this can go. I went to try andromeda but unfortunately clouds cut the session short. Any advice on what to observe would be great and would love to know what are some of your favourites to look at for those with similar scopes. TYIA

Hi everyone, I am currently in the market for some binoculars under £100 which will be using for nature and astronomy, but hoping to find something quite lightweight and won’t cause fatigue. I was looking at the Celestron Outland or even something similar to the Helios star field binos but not sure how well they’d be for non astronomy use. Hoping any of you could give me some advice or if you have had any experience with the above. TYIA

After many frustrating nights trying to set up my az gti ( though thank you to those who tried to help) It finally got the better of me and decided to purchase a Az5 Mount to use with my WOZ73. Today was a miserable day weather wise until late evening and the clouds finally gave way . My main target was just going to be the moon to test out the Mount to see how it feels. I’ve previously have used a as pronto so the slow mo controls were very familiar however the Mount itself seemed extremely well built and stable. I also decided to attach my telrad finder to the scope, though it does look a bit ridiculous on such a small scope but it just fits and is one of the easiest / best finders I’ve used so wanted to give it a whirl. After having no problems with setting up I set my eyes on the moon first using the 24mm ES eyepiece. Once again this scope never fails to amazed me with crystal clear views of the craters and also the terminator. The I swapped out the eyepiece to the 14mm Morpheus which revealed even more detail , though started To blind myself from the moonlight. Need to invest in a filter.. Decided to give the family a viewing and their reactions were priceless as always. I then noticed that Saturn was still visible so once again using the telrad finder and slow mo controls to locate the object unfortunately Saturn was behind some trees so did not have the best of viewing angle . However it was still visible and showed great sharp views using the 24mm and 14. Though definitely need to invest in a 5mm eyepiece, overall a short session due to clouds and a bad concert being played at a local pub. But a very enjoyable one. Will hopefully get the gti working one day.