Anvil Basher

Cheers. I see them now. I think it is handy.

Yes, so there is one. Excellent. I have bookmarked that link page. I shall be a purchaser in the near future..............job sorted. ?

Good point. The easy answer for these mount and goto companies is to offer a gps module as an extra or aftermarket buy. We can already buy gps modules for cars @5 notes, the pcb boards are cheap as chips, and adding a routine into the software should be a sinch. So the real reality of cost is not that high. They could do that very quickly, all the products are out there available. It does not need to be fitted, just put it on the ground..........a standalone item. The important part is writing in the new routine and adding an outlet on the handset for connection to mobile. Wi-fi can be another optional extra but not necessary. They could even offer a deal to those with a goto system to upgrade the handset only, so they can still sell the ones without. I think most of us would take up such an offer of upgrade handset, even though we might initially not, it will become the norm. I also think that the cost would be affordable to all.

Right o.........I shall start calling.....not ? Honestly.........are you serious? You have me cracking up right now with laughter. Why would I start phoning companies? This is a forum......I believe.......and my question was not to get a petition up or form a grievance committee, it was simply a question to start a chat about it. You may not like my questions, so you need not answer, but the question will not go away. I am sure there are others that enjoy a chat over something we have interest in, and give their opinions, not links to websites. Why did you join this forum? to give answers such as above? To me, you are being sarcastic. You know you are being sarcastic. Anyone reading your answer knows. I joined to have a chat, talk about our hobby, ask questions..............did I do wrong thinking that?

Again, this is not available.........but should be. I should easily be able to connect my phone to the controller via usb, and download the data. None of that is really going to cost much. I expect the usual reason is they have to sell all the ones without gps first, rather than be left with warehouses full of them. They will bring them out when stocks of the old are dwindling, because if it's available they would sell few without it.......and I bet they have the prototype already with updated software.

Hi. Although I am new to astrophotography, I am not new at software, computers, or digital cameras, (to a certain degree). Many years back when sports cams and webcams were the must have, I remember buying this sports tube cam, and I could swear blind it used the sharpcap software. Sharpcap seemed to come with all the cheaper stuff where image manipulation was concerned. I also had photoshop. So was sharpcap written to cover a mass marketplace mainly in the cheaper domain? Was it written by the Chinese? Just odd that it should come into my head, it did pretty much the same as the sharpcap we use on telescope cams. So I suppose what I am getting at is, are the software vastly different between packages? are the purchased ones able to produce better results?

Hi all. Just a question about the goto systems. Why do we need to input our location into the handset when we have gps? Why are they all not set up with gps as standard? We can get gps on our mobiles that cost next to nothing, but not goto's........unless of course there are.

Lens for a refractor scope?

Another thing worth mentioning with the eq5 upgrade is to be very careful lining up the motors. The set comes with 2 new cogs. I noticed on the ra motor that if you tighten the long allen bolt too tight it locks up the cogs. Plus the cog supplied is nearly touching the mount. On the dec one, again the bolt should be carefully tightened, the motor has a bit of side play and if not held correctly it will mis-align the cogs causing them to either lock up or not catch sometimes. Apart from that, the only part I did not think clever was putting all the cabling in the 2 sided plastic mount where you connect those 2 din plugs, on the same side so you have to sort of squish the 2 sides together to screw them up. Anyway.........any luck?

I want it as a guider. It can still take video through the spotting position. I want my dslr in the eyepiece for pics dso. Apparently, I need to change my spotting scope to one that accepts 1.25 lenses, etc. So I have purchased one. Thanks.

Very similar to myself James........thanks. Bill

Yep, aint that the bitch ?.......you still end up upgrading!

Cheers Adam, reassuring to read. I was thinking of doing the ir glass removal myself, done a few before. I know there's a utube video showing how, so I will watch that a few times. Yes, sometimes people have excellent kit but simply never reach it's potential. I do not really want complicated.......as some of these cameras are, for us laymen. I just need what is required to do a fair job. Bill

I originally bought the scope with very little knowledge in mind. I did my oh so important searches relating to scopes and mounts. Finally went with what I have so as to not need to upgrade either. I wanted eventually to do the astrophotography, so that was part of choice. The moon, (ours), has always fascinated me, I love looking at it..........but did not realise that my scope would be quite big for the moon alone. So I am making the best of what I have basically. Finding out if I can do x,y,z,...........Pleased with my choice, I have the room for it, (in my man-den), and I now have the rest. I guess the moon through the spotter/guider should be smaller, (or put on the reducer), so I can use that for video, and the camera for pics utilising the spotter one as a guider. Am I correct in my thinking? or have I missed something out that I need to get started? Oh, I see you ask about the scope. 1000mm f.l., 200mm dia.

Thanks Dave. That indeed was an honest, friendly, reply. Dave,.......if I read anymore my head will start spinning ? ..........honestly, that is all I do mostly.....read. Trouble is most everything on the net is based around marketing. One reviewer thinks it's good, another does not. Same with reviews written by so-called individuals, it ends up like marmite..........you either love it or do not. Yes, I have very little light pollution, I am in the country area. I have decided on my kit myself.......and god help me! I have the skywatcher 200mm on an eq5 with goto. I purchased a new spotter scope so I can fit the usb camera to it, I went with the Altair gpcam2 290C Colour Camera/Guider, and a start off dslr the canon xsi. So I will soon be trying it all out.........when it gets delivered. Been cloudy here the last 3 weeks with no let up in sight. When the sky is clear it is fantastic just by eyes alone, but with the scope.......pretty cool. Bill