NEW Sky-Watcher AZ-GTi Wi-Fi Alt-Azimuth mount

[SpaceBass]

Hi @FLO. Is it true that the AZ-gti has been pushed back to June too?  Cheers, 

 

Edited April 16, 2018 by SpaceBass

[FLO]

On 4/16/2018 at 18:39, SpaceBass said:

Hi @FLO. Is it true that the AZ-gti has been pushed back to June too?  Cheers, 

The AZ GTi WiFi Alt-Az Mount is scheduled to arrive May but the Mount+Tripod option won't be here until June. 

HTH, 

Steve 

[TSRobot]

Hi. I'm quite close to buying one of these dinky mounts. As it says it can run on voltages from 7.5 to 14, does this suggest it will happily run on AA rechargeable batteries? They would add up to 9.6V. A while back I had a nexstar se mount which didn't like rechargeables one bit ofcourse.

[Bogdan Alecsa]

Hi FLO,

Any news regarding mount head (no tripod) availability?

How soon can we have it?

 

[FLO]

12 minutes ago, Bogdan Alecsa said:

Hi FLO,

Any news regarding mount head (no tripod) availability?

How soon can we have it?

We'll see what we can find out  

[FLO]

25 minutes ago, FLO said:

We'll see what we can find out  

Someone is going to call me tomorrow with an update. 

We are quietly confident it will be made available head-only, we are just not sure when. 

Steve 

[TSRobot]

Delivery during June I've been advised by Martin today. It's to be expected I reckon. They're quite popular.

[SpaceBass]

1 hour ago, TSRobot said:

Delivery during June I've been advised by Martin today

...and mid to late June, according to SW USA.  I've given up and ordered an AZ5!  Still interested in the GTI though and hopefully it won't go up in price before late June.

https://www.cloudynights.com/topic/586532-new-skywatcher-az-gti-goto-wifi-mount/?p=8550747

 

 

Edited May 1, 2018 by SpaceBass

[Ande]

Keep an eye on the classifieds. I’m probably selling mine soon. Bought not long ago from FLO, but I’ve since purchased an EQ5, so can’t see me using  it much. 

[GavStar]

I’ve had this scope since it was released last August and really like it (apart from the dovetail clamp and the issues re connecting it to sky safari ?).

However I had another slightly odd issue at the weekend. I was using it to take short exposure (10 second) exposures and if I just let the scope goto the target and didn’t touch it further, the 10 second photos gave very good round star shapes.

However if I then adjusted the position of the object to be in the centre of the fov and then took a 10 second photo then I got some star tails as if the tracking was not quite right. This happened even if I pressed ok on the centre object button on the synscan app.

Has anyone got any ideas how to sort this out?

[Stu]

3 minutes ago, GavStar said:

I’ve had this scope since it was released last August and really like it (apart from the dovetail clamp and the issues re connecting it to sky safari ?).

However I had another slightly odd issue at the weekend. I was using it to take short exposure (10 second) exposures and if I just let the scope goto the target and didn’t touch it further, the 10 second photos gave very good round star shapes.

However if I then adjusted the position of the object to be in the centre of the fov and then took a 10 second photo then I got some star tails as if the tracking was not quite right. This happened even if I pressed ok on the centre object button on the synscan app.

Has anyone got any ideas how to sort this out?

I assume you mean mount Gavin?  

I suspect this might be a backlash issue. Does it vary depending on which direction you have just centred the object? It could be that the gearing lash is just unwinding before picking up the tracking again? Does that make sense?

[GavStar]

5 minutes ago, Stu said:

I assume you mean mount Gavin?  

I suspect this might be a backlash issue. Does it vary depending on which direction you have just centred the object? It could be that the gearing lash is just unwinding before picking up the tracking again? Does that make sense?

Well I guess I do have odd issues ?

But yes my mount was playing up as well. Sometimes it was worse than others but always there. Backlash makes sense but wouldn’t this sort itself out after a few seconds? Even if I waited a bit it still shows dodgy stars...

[Stu]

1 minute ago, GavStar said:

Well I guess I do have odd issues ?

But yes my mount was playing up as well. Sometimes it was worse than others but always there. Backlash makes sense but wouldn’t this sort itself out after a few seconds? Even if I waited a bit it still shows dodgy stars...

 

Yes, it should settle after a few seconds if it is backlash I think.

I do wonder if I have seen this effect too. It might be that the tracking works ok if you just goto but somehow gets turned off if you recentre the object. I need to check it out next time I use the mount.

[TSRobot]

Yippee dee doo dah. Just received the email from FLO. AZGTI mount (head only) is dispatched a month earlier than expected. 

[FLO]

40 minutes ago, TSRobot said:

Yippee dee doo dah. Just received the email from FLO. AZGTI mount (head only) is dispatched a month earlier than expected. 

Sshhhh! It wasn't a large delivery. We aren't sure how much longer they will be available 

[25585]

1 hour ago, FLO said:

Sshhhh! It wasn't a large delivery. We aren't sure how much longer they will be available 

The new wifi Star Discovery AZ mount is probably taking over, so maybe GTi has been discontinued.

[Grant]

1 minute ago, 25585 said:

The new wifi Star Discovery AZ mount is probably taking over, so maybe GTi has been discontinued.

They are very, very different products - I doubt very much one will replace the other!

[avtaram]

Received mine today, thanks FLO.

[Telescope40]

Hello. Been following this and other threads re this mount.

Got the e mail from FLO, thank you, about stock but I’m still hesitating at the trigger pull. 

Looks exactly what I need for my 4 in Borg achro but there still seems to be issues, more user than mount might venture ?? 

Ponder, ponder some more 

regards. John 

[Stu]

10 minutes ago, Telescope40 said:

Hello. Been following this and other threads re this mount.

Got the e mail from FLO, thank you, about stock but I’m still hesitating at the trigger pull. 

Looks exactly what I need for my 4 in Borg achro but there still seems to be issues, more user than mount might venture ?? 

Ponder, ponder some more 

regards. John 

Really John, it’s a great mount. You know it makes sense  

[GavStar]

3 hours ago, FLO said:

Sshhhh! It wasn't a large delivery. We aren't sure how much longer they will be available 

I’m guessing you mean that the current stock will likely sell out soon, rather than skywatcher completely discontinuing the mount?

Its a great mount and it’s only been available less than a year?

[FLO]

9 minutes ago, GavStar said:

I’m guessing you mean that the current stock will likely sell out soon, rather than skywatcher completely discontinuing the mount?

Its a great mount and it’s only been available less than a year?

Sorry. Yes. I meant there aren’t many remaining from the latest shipment. I think another shipment is due June/July. 

It is a great mount. And a popular one! Apologies for the ambiguity. 

Steve 

[25585]

2 hours ago, Grant said:

They are very, very different products - I doubt very much one will replace the other!

Please can you explain the differences, apart from obvious shape.

[Grant]

Just now, 25585 said:

Please can you explain the differences, apart from obvious shape.

lol - explain the difference but ignore the obvious difference the shape, which is the whole point of the difference?

The GTI is a much smaller, lighter and neater package so ideal for travelling. The wireless is built into the GTI whereas the Discovery mount comes with a separate SynScan wireless dongle - not a big deal but again it's something else to carry, remember plugin etc...

Mechanically the payload is the same and I imagine the tracking specs etc.. will be very similar to.

The other major difference (which is why I have a GTI arriving tomorrow to play with) - The GTI can be put on a Star Adventurer wedge and turned into an Equatorial mount, in my view it has the potential to be one of the lightest, portable and best value for money, full goto equatorial mounts out there. I plan on putting a Sky-Watcher 72ED on it, a finder guide and an ASI1600MC for a grab-and-go galaxy hunter

Also, the Star Discovery mount is a fair bit older than the GTI mount now - it's been recently revamped by removing the handset and adding in the wifi dongle instead but the GTI mounts are the newer generation so if anything, I would expect the Discovery mounts to be discontinued in favour of the GTI's (note - I had no indication this is going to happen anytime soon, just pointing out the GTI is newer..).

Don't get me wrong, I've used a few Star Discovery mounts and they work well - I think as an Alt-AZ starter setup or even as a solar mount they are great but for imaging, I'm going with the GTI

 

 

[Telescope40]

I know it makes sense guys. That’s is issue too  

Watch this space. Lol

John