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Ioptron AZ PRO GOTO

Pig

By Pig
in Discussions - Mounts

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SteveNickolls

SteveNickolls

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On 27/05/2016 at 05:27, Pig said:

Thank you, I have bought one now.... it should be arriving today :hello:

Hi, will you be doing a first light report on the mount? I'm also contemplating on getting one once funds become available. I would be doing the unthinkable and using it for alt-az imaging ;-) Particularly interested in its accuracy in go-to and tracking. My SkyWatcher Synscan gives me 60 second tracking and I'd hope the iOptron would give more.

Have fun with the mount.

Cheers,

Steve

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Pig

Pig

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3 minutes ago, SteveNickolls said:

Hi, will you be doing a first light report on the mount? I'm also contemplating on getting one once funds become available. I would be doing the unthinkable and using it for alt-az imaging ;-) Particularly interested in its accuracy in go-to and tracking. My SkyWatcher Synscan gives me 60 second tracking and I'd hope the iOptron would give more.

Have fun with the mount.

Cheers,

Steve

Steve,

I will be doing a first light report and as luck would have it my friend also wants to know the tracking capability for AZ for imaging purposes, he will be bringing his cameras over to try it out so hopefully our next opportunity wont be too long in the waiting. I will of course let you know how it turns out.(I was going to wright "develops" but it reads a tad cheesy) :drunken_smilie:

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Stu

Stu

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Looks very nice Shaun. I've been tempted by iOptron mounts before but have held off after seeing mixed reviews on them. On paper this one seems ideal so I look forward to seeing how you get on with it

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Pig

Pig

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1 hour ago, Stu said:

Looks very nice Shaun. I've been tempted by iOptron mounts before but have held off after seeing mixed reviews on them. On paper this one seems ideal so I look forward to seeing how you get on with it

It took a few conversations with 3 other users to make the decision a little easier Stu and from what reviews I have read, from previous model Ioptron owners, it seems they have listened to their customers and have got it right. However, time will tell.

I must admit though first impressions are very positive from me, balancing both scopes was a breeze and the build quality is notably better than the three other goto mounts I have owned. There are a couple of plastics bits in places but none of them will affect performance as they are small trim components.

I will be back home tomorrow and even if the weather doesn't play ball I should be able to at least try the wifi, GPS, some limited tracking and noise etc....

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The Admiral

The Admiral

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It looks an interesting concept and I look forward to hearing how well you find it works.

Like Steve, I have an interest in Alt-Az mounts for astrophotography (I know, I know, it isn't what most would recommend for AP, but I've found it to work well for the sort of result I'm after!). So not only would I be interested in how well it'll keep station on the target over the imaging session, say 1-2 hours, which is what visual observers would require, but also how fine the tracking movements are that could give rise to star trailing over exposure periods of, say, 30-60s or more. I'm hoping that given the price of the mount these movements are smooth and steady and don't result in 'staircase' trails. If you get the opportunity to try it out, any comments on that would be most welcome.

I'd also be interested in how you find the clearance between the 'scope and tripod, as the Cloudy Nights thread did suggest that can be a problem. I should think your Esprit should be fine, but what about the 110ED for example? I'm not sure that there is a pillar extension available for this mount* if it is a problem though.

Do please keep us posted on how you get on, and let's hope for some decent observing weather before long!

Ian

*Edit. There is a pier extension for the Minitower but I don't know if that fits the AZ PRO. The iOptron site also shows a package of the AZ PRO head with a "Tri-pier" (a cross between a tripod and pier), but I'm not sure that combination is available in the UK.

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Stu

Stu

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1 hour ago, Pig said:

It took a few conversations with 3 other users to make the decision a little easier Stu and from what reviews I have read, from previous model Ioptron owners, it seems they have listened to their customers and have got it right. However, time will tell.

I must admit though first impressions are very positive from me, balancing both scopes was a breeze and the build quality is notably better than the three other goto mounts I have owned. There are a couple of plastics bits in places but none of them will affect performance as they are small trim components.

I will be back home tomorrow and even if the weather doesn't play ball I should be able to at least try the wifi, GPS, some limited tracking and noise etc....

Thanks Shaun. I really hope it turns out to be good. In theory they are great mounts, but in the past some of the details of implementation have been a bit flakey. Hopefully they have got on top of that and they work reliably.

Having something like this would be great for solar and planetary observing and grab and go use, which is I'm sure why you've bought it!

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Pig

Pig

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Tracking Solar and Lunar were my main considerations for the mount Stu, I also got a bigger refractor to do some double star observing and obviously the GoTo will aid finding them all :hello: The tripod is very sturdy and the legs are larger than the Hd AZ4 Stainless , the scopes weights fall around the midpoint of the payload limits so nothing should be overworking.

new scope2.JPG

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Lostparticle 07

Lostparticle 07

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Hello, I am new to this forum and I thought I would ask for some guidance.  I recently purchased the iOptron AZ Pro and the balancing of the CW's/second scope has me a little confused. From the manual:  A simple and safe method to determine the CW and its position is by calculating the torques (weight times the distance to the center) of the payload and CW, and making them equal or close.  Ok, I take it the weight is the actual weight of the CW or second scope, times the distance to the center.  My question, the center of what?  Thanks in advance, I am familiar with the workings of an EQ mount, but this Alt/Az thing is new to me. 

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Pig

Pig

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Hiya there and welcome to SGL, it literally means the centre position of the mount. You could even explain it as the centre of point the tripod when looking down from a birds eye view.

Does this help ?

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Lostparticle 07

Lostparticle 07

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Question for those familiar with this mount; Have you noticed any play in the Altitude lock: I noticed while I was putting the OTA on (8" SCT) if this lock/knob is not tightened, I mean tightened down enough the weight of the OTA will cause it to loosen and prepare for a "swinging" scope.  Anyone out there noticed this?

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Pig

Pig

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Mine hasn't moved at all since I did it up :happy7: it doesn't take much of a pinch to stay in place. I don't know why silly things like this get missed, cash is not an answer as even something simple like a slightly bigger wheel would be fine.

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Pig

Pig

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5 hours ago, fireballxl5 said:

Errrm, this or Skywatcher AZ EQ5-GT?

Two very different mounts you will need to determine what you want to do with it, my main requirements were, payload, dual mounting, built in power supply and Goto Precision.

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The Admiral

The Admiral

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10 hours ago, fireballxl5 said:

Errrm, this or Skywatcher AZ EQ5-GT?

Yes, I think that is my line of thinking as well. Somewhat cheaper too. The $64000 question though is how their performance compares, particularly for the AZ-EQ5 when in Alt-Az mode, as my current interest is astro-imaging using Alt-Az mounting (don't ask, that's a whole new topic :icon_biggrin:) and astro-photographers don't normally run their mounts this way. The one advantage of the Skywatcher is that at the end of the day one can switch to EQ use if that's how ones interest develops. You pays yer money and you makes yer choice!

Ian

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