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Mesu mount - upgrading to SiTech controller?


NigeB

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7 hours ago, kirkster501 said:

What are you going to do about the mount then?

I'm still on the fence, but tipping towards an upgrade... having read the manual for the SiTech and seen the satellite tracking interface, I'm really attracted to it; it also looks like you can drive servo-based focus motors (anyone tried that?) directly from the controller. And I didn't realise that you could plug an Argo Navis in and get the best of both worlds.

It's not a cheap upgrade and you could argue that the benefits over a ServoCat+SequenceGeneratorPro combination are marginal. But I'm unlikely to ever need/want any other mount, so spread over the amount of time I'll be using it, it's not so much for the extra finesse that features like PointXP and SatTracker bring (not compared to how much I shell out each year to keep my tin box on the road).

7 hours ago, kirkster501 said:

P.S.  I used to semi-pro cycle around Olly's place 30 years ago, very undulating and big, big cycling climbs not far off.  When I did Ventoux a few years back that is only 20 odd miles from his place

Then we really were close - we did Ventoux on a CBR400 and ZX9-R, then on a later holiday in a '7. It was such a good ride, we went around twice on one occasion...

7 hours ago, steppenwolf said:

On the other hand, the Argo Navis version already works for you and apart from the glitch resulting in you returning it to Lucas it ain't broke so why fix it?

I love connecting my computer to stuff. It drove my amateur radio station, it allows me to change the engine parameters of my Westfield Speedsport for road or track, it drives my studio camera and finally     it drives my automated observatory and Mesu mount so I am a little biased! For me, the upgrade to SiTech would make the most sense and give you some future-proofing.

And that's the thing I'm trying to rationalise - I really like the ServoCat-AN method of working, and I don't need to fire up a PC. But now that I know you can plug AN into this, it's less of a problem. I think it's that future proofing that is swaying me. I will say that I'm a little bit put off by the fact that all the SiTech info on the company website seems to be very out of date, which cast some doubt in my mind - but based on the recent threads on the RA jump problem it seems that they're still actively supporting.

Nigel

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21 minutes ago, NigeB said:

.... I will say that I'm a little bit put off by the fact that all the SiTech info on the company website seems to be very out of date, which cast some doubt in my mind - but based on the recent threads on the RA jump problem it seems that they're still actively supporting.

Dan certainly does offer support.  He worked with me to get my meridian flip working, and this included sending me new .exe files to test on a daily basis (I am sure he sent me two versions one day).  I think the current versions of SiTech.exe and the firmware are pretty reliable.  Indeed, I wasn't even aware of the latest firmware, until I read that same thread as you.  I am still on an old version of SiTech.exe.  

There is always a potential concern with one man operations, but as far as I can tell Dan is sound as a pound.  (Even though the pound may not actually be all that sound at the moment.) :icon_biggrin:

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It's more like 50 miles to the top of the Ventoux from my place. (Stickler for detail!!!) I have never done it as a round trip from here and probably never will now, except in the MX5. There are several other significant bumps in between which would need doing both ways. I did race against Jeannie Longo up one of them once - and now for a real surprise - I didn't beat her! Well, naturally, you are very disappointed in me!

Sorry, where were we? Put me back on the mount.

Olly

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