Anyone use Alignmaster? Any good?

[Black Knight]

Well, I've got totally fed-up with egg-shaped stars from inconsistent PA with my imaging. One day it'll be fine the next bordering on abysmal.

But until I get an obsy, I'm gonna have to make do with what I have, and figure out a better way of getting a more reliable and consistent PA, and easily too. I'm not really doing anything different each time, just the same routine I have done for ages: I set the scope up in the same place each time, and PA using EQMods PA tool, and drift align using APT's built-in DARV tool.

In the past I have used a variety of methods including WCS. EQAlign I can't make any sense of, and when I tried it using it with the EQMod Ascom simulator, it sent the "scope" below the horizon, which worries me ever so slightly!

Anyway, I recently came across Alignmaster. Does anyone use it? What are the results like? Is it good enough for imaging? Are there any problems/issues with it?

[Stephen]

For the cost of it I purchased based on lots of positive reviews, but I've not had chance to use it anger yet due to weather / stripping mount.

You can get a trial for it though, just fill in the form and he will get you a key in a day or two?

[Black Knight]

Yeah, I got the demo key last night. Haven't had the chance to use it yet either! . Way things are going my 30-day trial will probably expire before I get out again!

[malc-c]

I found that it suggested my mount was way out, even though I'm obsy based and all other methods suggested good alignment... having made the corrections suggested I had to start from scratch again and now wouldn't touch alignmaster with a barge pole.

[Black Knight]

I found that it suggested my mount was way out, even though I'm obsy based and all other methods suggested good alignment... having made the corrections suggested I had to start from scratch again and now wouldn't touch alignmaster with a barge pole.

Crikey, so that's not an endorsement then? I don't have an obsy so I have to setup from scratch each time anyway. And I'm willing to try anything which might help my consistently inconsistent polar alignment. At least once!

[malc-c]

Andy, Have a read through this http://stargazerslounge.com/discussions-software/163245-alignmaster-gps-dongle-4.html

Seems to conflict the advice that an EQ mount doesn't need to be level.

[Black Knight]

Thanks Malc, I'll have a read

[malc-c]

I like the program, and the concept, just that it didn't work for me, and as a result I upset my setup and had to start from scratch again. You may be lucky and find it works 1st time ?

[BlueAstra]

I use Alignmaster every time I set up my equipment (no observatory). I've found it very works very well and in two passes I have much better polar alignment than my previous method with polar finder and the polar scope (eq6). I now never have any guide issues. Sometimes tricky picking a pair of stars in view, and camera orientation can lead to diagonal star movement, otherwise brilliant bit of software.

[Black Knight]

Thanks for your input BA. Interesting about the diagonal star movement. I'll probably be using APT which has a rotatable reticle, so hopefully that shouldn't be a problem.

Malc, because I have to setup and tear down my rig every session anyway I'm in no danger of upsetting a permanent arrangement, so I might as well give it a go .

[malc-c]

Andy, I'm not saying that the program is pants... any utility that makes things easy and gets the results is worth having. Just for me, rightly or wrongly having followed suggestions as to how to correct the diagonal movement resulted in having to re-build my setup. There was nothing in the "manual" that covered what to do when things don't go right, nor support from the developer.

You asked for peoples comments, so I offered my view based on my experience. Give the app a go, and see how you get on. Everyone's set up is different so you may find it does exactly what it says on the tine for you.

[RogerTheDodger]

You could try EQalign, it does a similar thing and is free.

[Black Knight]

Well the weather gods are smiling ATM, so the plan is to give Alignmaster a go tonight. Depending on how that works out, I might give EQAlign a go too, although after dry-running it a few times, I'm still not sure I've got my head around it!

[MarsG76]

I just got a copy of Align Master to try to get a accurate PA in my obsy... hopefully it works, otherwise back to drift aligning.

EQAlign seemed to give me less accurate PA than drift aligning.

 

 

[Martin-Devon]

For the last couple of years I've used Pempro software for PA and had spot-on results. It's more expensive than Alignmaster though, but is a much deeper package and offers many other analytical tools including backlash measurements. Before this I did use Alignmaster though for my PA and it worked just fine. As mentioned above it can be tricky choosing two stars that are easily visible, but if you scroll down the list for each then usually there's always a good pairing to be found. It's quick to run, and a second run may well sharpen up the PA even further. For the price, I think it's good value. There's a very nice youtube video from Dion of AstronomyShed showing how to use it.

Martin