Paramount MX+ Problems

[Liquid360]

AND WE HAVE LIGHTS AND POWER!!!! Nothing's on fire!!!

[Tinker1947]

That's a result then......

[Scott]

Good to hear. Glad everything is sorted and will look forward to seeing some images soon

[Zakalwe]

Out of interest, why is it so difficult to produce almost perfectly QC checked mounts? The extreme precision we demand? The high IT dependency? Something else?

Things can still fail even after thorough QC checks. A dry solder joint can fail, a chip can fail on powering up, a  bump during transit can loosen a chip or cable in a socket. Nothing that is manufactured can be made with a 100% success rate.

Even in multi-billion $ environments things can fail. The Apollo 14 LM had a serious failure when a tiny blob of solder inside a switch caused the computer to think that the Abort switch had been thrown. NASA's contractors had to X-Ray every switch following this to ensure that a repeat couldn't re-occur

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apollo_14#Lunar_descent

If you expect 100% success then you are dooming yourself to disappointment. The measure though is how quickly the retailer solves the issue. I'm glad that the OP is getting it sorted.

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

Glad to hear the problem seems to be sorted.

[BlueAstra]

I have had a PMX for over 6 months. It's a magnificent mount and any queries I've had have been answered by the SB community on their forums (either by users or SB themselves). I had an issue recently that may involve one of the motors. SB sent a motor within a few days direct from the USA at their cost (the UK dealer was informed and will support further if necessary). Any piece of complex equipment can have problems, it's how the dealer/manufacturer respond that matters and in this case I have been more than happy.

[alan potts]

One or two have mentioned quality control, well no system is perfect and I know this form years of experience however there is a matter of degree of checking, how far do they go , do they batch sample or do they 100% check each mount. At the price I would hope that the latter should be done, sadly in this case it appears not.

There is something that they do here that I have not seen anywhere before and I have been around more than most. Be it a hair dryer, camera, or laptop, the shops here in Bulgaria plug the thing in and show you it works, don't you think there is a fair chance that if such a simple test was carried out before shipment the problem could have been detected? 

Alan 

[Liquid360]

For those who've criticized Bisque for my problems, I can't imagine you've ever dealt with this mount first hand. Your reaction might be to say that for this sort of money there should never be a problem. I say to you, seek out others with one. See it first hand. See it at work. This idea that any product will always work 100% of the time upon arrival is asinine and certainly being into science you must know this. The word precision gets thrown around a lot.... but should the opportunity arise, seek out a paramount. I'm not saying buy one. I'm saying give one a look. It's brilliant. If you truly love astronomy, it'll blow your mind what this thing does! It really will!! Don't discount a company which stands at the pinnacle of what we all want and strive for. Heavy sigh...

[ollypenrice]

I can't speak for the other posters but it was towards this which I was mainly reacting;

'They require a $300 deposit to send back a new one. I do completely understand the reasons for this, but it's a tad tough to swallow after having spent a total, for mount/tripod/battery, of $12,000USD.' My italics.

I think you were extremely tolerant in accepting this and for more tolerant than I would have been. My atttitude would have been, 'I'dlike the new box in the post by tomorrow and I'll send you the original back as soon as I've done the job.'

Again, speaking only for myself, I find it surprising that so many premium mounts need to be returned or given major transplants. This is not to say that the odd product will appear with a problem. Of course it will, as you say. There is no question about this.  But I know, personally, ten people who have had problematic premium mounts (only two of the Paramounts) from new. I think that's a lot. It's rather more than half the premium mount owners whom I know personally. Of course this is anecdotal but I am surprised all the same. I don't include my own Takahashi EM200 in the 'Premium' category but that, too, had to be returned. Include it and the number goes up to 11!

The Paramount is a great bit of kit. I'd like to be crystal clear that I agree with you there. I'm sure you'll be hauling in the photons in no time.

Olly

[Scott]

I think this thread has run its course and is now in danger of going 'round in circles so we have decided to close it.

Thank you everyone who has contributed and I'm glad that the O.P. is now up and running with what is surely an excellent mount