SkyFi capable of star alignment?

[tehmac]

I'm looking at getting SkyFi for my HEQ5 Pro mount as it looks a lot more user friendly. However, I see that you need to plug it into your SynScan controller, so does this mean you still need to do star alignments via the SynScan handset etc before I can use the SkyFi and Sky Safari app, or are they capable of doing this also? 

[mikeyj1]

Hi I got one for Christmas, it does plug in as you say, and i use it with Sky Safari 5+  

The full alignment function is only available with Celestron wifi scopes.  With Synscan, the 'Align' button is used to get rid of any offset between the scope position and the screen position.

So you do have to polar and star align first.

I have to say, it's a very cool piece of kit, and using that software for setting up viewing lists and just touching 'GoTo' on the app works a treat.

I will do a full review on here soon, but hope that helps for now

cheers

Mike

[cjdawson]

I've got one that I use with my Meade LX-90. Again the SkyFi plugs into the handset.  On my scope, I need to perform the alignment manually.  However, SkySafari does send location and time to the scope when it connects.  Helps to simplify the alignment process.

The issue that I have with the system, is that I'm also looking at running Ascom from a laptop, this demands that I need to connect the scope to my laptop via Serial, and I can't plug in my SkyFi anymore

[mikeyj1]

6 hours ago, cjdawson said:

The issue that I have with the system, is that I'm also looking at running Ascom from a laptop, this demands that I need to connect the scope to my laptop via Serial, and I can't plug in my SkyFi anymore

i have it running with ASCOM and PHD2, but it connects: PC-USB to Camera and ST4 to scope.

Screws up the guiding when you command it to go somewhere else though! 

[cjdawson]

16 minutes ago, mikeyj1 said:

i have it running with ASCOM and PHD2, but it connects: PC-USB to Camera and ST4 to scope.

Screws up the guiding when you command it to go somewhere else though! 

True that.  I tried WifiScope as a replacement for the SkyFi, however it doesn't support every feature that's needed to make everything work properly.  (At least for my Meade LX-90).