astrotrac anyone??

[proflight2000]

anyone seen one of these yet? shame they dont have one to hold a skywatcher. http://www.altairastro.com/astrotrac.htm

[Helen]

Saw it at Astrofest - looked really neat and very easy to use. If I hadn't just bought a new scope I'd be very tempted as it looks like the simplicity of Alt Az with the benefits of EQ.

Helen

[Greg]

I think it would be fine for a smaller scope or a camera..

There wouldn't be much point if you already have an motorised mount..I think it's a tad expensive for what it is..

[Beyond_Vision]

Hi,

Just recieved mine today at the original price of £299 which i was quoted at Kelling Heath in April. I think the new price is a tad too high including a polar scope it comes to £499. By the time a decent tripod head is added to the cost it comes near to the price of some goto dedicated equatorial mounts. The real point of this though is the portability and the fact that you can use your normal tripod. This means that you can use the tripod for normal photography by day and turn it into a equatorial mount by night. Brilliant for using at dark skies sites/star parties or on holiday.

[MartinB]

I would love one of these for holidays. I have am now having some regular sailing holidays in Greece where the skies are superb. It would be great to be able to get some wide field images. Agree about the price though. That will put a lot of people off esp since the polar scope is going to be a bit of a necessity - who wants to be drift aligning after getting in from the local taverna :?

[Kai]

I should think it will be on display in Kelling in a few weeks at the Star Party,I would be interested to see how well it tracks.

[blinky]

I saw one of these in Kielder this year. At first I thought it was great, looked easy to use and the results looked amazing.

But when you look at the price, then add a polar scope, a tripod, a head, the cost is likely to be as much if not more than a HEQ5

Also I am not sure exactly how easy it is to use. I think being that small and light and using standard camera tripod's etc it would be a nightmare to polar align, especially drift alingment.

It does look a good piece of kit but for what it is I would say it is very overpriced, esentially it is a barn door tracker! For £300 I was expecting the full thing, but all you get is the actual unit itself.