Word of warning!!!

[Jiggy 67]

Hi Darren, I have found your email (recieved Saturday).

Unfortunately the bolts are rather soft. We are told they are designed that way so when someone forgets to loosen one before tightening another the bolt bends before the thread on the mount strips.

Replacing a bolt is quite easy, I'll phone when we reopen tomorrow

HTH,

Steve

Thanks Steve......ever wish you hadn't started a thread

[SplintUK]

After reading this (and the other thread from astro baby) I've put my order in.

Top tip if you want both alt and az replacements, it's £46 all in via eBay (astro developments have an eBay shop), but 2 separate £25 items on their main site.

£4 saved might not be massive, bit its £4 more towards some other bit of kit...

£46 includes shipping btw.

Search for "HEQ5 Pro Mount Latitude & Azimuth Bolt Upgrade Set" on eBay...

[Ibbo!]

Not having got a SW mount

but my guess is when its says move to 70degs it means the telescope not the mount

as I said I have not got a SW or the instructions

Steve

[Stephen]

After reading this (and the other thread from astro baby) I've put my order in.

Top tip if you want both alt and az replacements, it's £46 all in via eBay (astro developments have an eBay shop), but 2 separate £25 items on their main site.

£4 saved might not be massive, bit its £4 more towards some other bit of kit...

£46 includes shipping btw.

Search for "HEQ5 Pro Mount Latitude & Azimuth Bolt Upgrade Set" on eBay...

Good spot, they didn't have the "set" when I ordered mine.

[Ant]

I'm pretty certain that my mount latitude scale doesn't go up anywhere near to 70... But I could be wrong.

SW mounts are amazing value for money - certainly when you get to the HEQ5 and EQ6's there is nothing that can touch them in a similar price...

If you need to invest in another £25 - then so be it... it won't be the last £25 you spend, that's for sure .

Ant

[johninderby]

If you don't like it, don't read it, simple.

I simply said trading standards is not far away if he had any problems, not my problem if you get your nickers in a twist over it.

There's no call for an attitude like that on this forum. This is an exceptionaly polite and civilised place to visit so please keep it that way.

John

[Tim]

Well I have had three SW mounts, (HEQ5, EQ6, another HEQ5) and never had a problem with the bolts. They aren't always the easiest to adjust the way they are especially when you get close to the polar scope, but by going easy on them and gently tightening and loosening by hand there shouldn't be too many problems. At any rate, i'd rather the bolt bent than the alloy of the head get its threads stripped or crack, but as I say, no problems like that here. I have seen the replacement bolts on plenty of scopes at star parties etc. Are they really £25 each?

We can leave the "trading standards" and associated comments alone now, I guess the OP realises in hindsight that the post was uncalled for and churlish.

Cheers

TJ

[ollypenrice]

This is a bit heated. FLO have made lots of friends and so have SW. Give it a moment to get sorted, as it surely will be. I have had a heck of a lot more to put up with over a 5000 pound mount from Takahashi (and not fropm FLO) I can promise you!

Olly

[MikeWilson]

Surely with this many problems someone at SW must work out this is damaging their reputation?! I can buy a better bolt for a couple of quid, so why can't they just use decent materials in the first place?

SW Alt-Az adjustment bolts bend all the time! I've got my latitude bolts replaced but the altitude bolts are still the originals and haven't been replaced yet although I've heard more stories of bent bolts than I have fingers and I've only been in the hobby a year.

Sky-Watcher are a very interesting company who sell pretty good kit at a reasonable price point but appear to have absolutely no Quality Assurance department whatsoever. It seems it's either that or they like their cheap screws.

The first Mak 127 that was shipped to me this time last year from OVL had a fair amount of dust inside it (FLO sorted this out with their usual flair) and most recently I have a Quattro on my desk missing the tube rings as they forgot to make them the right size for the tubes (effecting all 8" CF customers, not just me). Needless to say, FLO are on the case chasing this.

Worry not :-)

[Moonshane]

Sorry Moonshane, you have read my post wrong. I am talking about BALANCING the scope. The instructions in the manual state that for best results when balancing you should set the altitude bolts to a certain setting (nothing to do with post set up when the the alt remains at 53 degrees for my location). The instructions state "For dec balancing...for best results, adjust the altitude of the mount to between 60 degrees and 75 degrees if possible" ....now I know it says "if possible" but I have been able to set it above 60 degrees and then it jams....this is the issue, the materials are not capable of screwing the bolt in that far. Also to correctly balance you need to have scope and all accesseries fitted

in which case I apologise and agree that the instructions are a bit mental.

[Parus major]

If you don't like it, don't read it, simple.

I simply said trading standards is not far away if he had any problems, not my problem if you get your nickers in a twist over it.

The thing about customer service is that there's two kinds. One is the minimum required by a company by law and the other is what company's do for their customers and these two levels can be very different.

Being snippy, rude and threatening is exactly how you get a fompany to do the very bare minimum required by the law and can be the difference between a company going beyond the call of duty to help you or being told to take a hike.

specialist hobbies tend to have vendors who try at least to go the extra mile to maintain a customer base but if the customer publically threatens you with trading standards over something you have no control over because you didn't respond to an email in an hour and a half you might think they just aren't worth the while and do just enough to satify the law and let them be some other vendor's problem from now on.

[Ant]

I think that this thread has been hijacked enough now.

Maninthemoon is being sorted by FLO, so is Jiggy67 - so hopefully everyone is/will be happy.

What have we learnt from this thread? The latitude bolts on SW mounts are soft and can bend under stress - this is deliberate as it is far cheaper and easier to replace a bolt than the mount head.

I'm locking this thread now as it doesn't serve any puropse and the issues have been resolved.

Cheers

Ant