Please Help Me Upgrade My Mount...

[Tim]

1 hour ago, PhotoGav said:

 I am a step closer to being happy to spend much less on the Skywatcher Esprit. 

Sadly I don't own an Esprit 100, yet, but I have had it's biggest brother working tirelessly in my observatory since just after they were released a few years ago. Like Sara, I like things to just work, and work well. I hate spending time mucking about with gear instead of using it. In every way the Esprit 150 has lived up to that ideal. Great telescopes!

[PhotoGav]

2 minutes ago, Tim said:

Sadly I don't own an Esprit 100, yet, but I have had it's biggest brother working tirelessly in my observatory since just after they were released a few years ago. Like Sara, I like things to just work, and work well. I hate spending time mucking about with gear instead of using it. In every way the Esprit 150 has lived up to that ideal. Great telescopes!

Thank you Tim, further fuel to help me not spend everything on an expensive scope I don't need. The Esprit is looking ever more like the right option, which means I am not as far away from a new mount as I might have been! Now, which mount - Mesu 200 vs Skywatcher EQ8... there's only one way to find out........!

[kirkster501]

My Mesu is fabulous too.  Another thumbs up. If I were pressed and had to express a concern about Mesu it would not be regarding the mount per se but would be that we are very dependent on one man to sort us out if we have problems.  I have little doubt that he would be so willing but it would be his capacity to do so.

[kirkster501]

@RayD  How did you get the C8 balanced with the smaller scope?

[Tim]

Just now, kirkster501 said:

My Mesu is fabulous too.  Another thumbs up. If I were pressed and had to express a concern about Mesu it would not be regarding the mount per se but would be that we are very dependent on one man to sort us out if we have problems.  I have little doubt that he would be so willing but it would be his capacity to do so.

This is what worries me too, given the considerable investment we make in our gear. A feeling reinforced by the recent demise of a premium CCD camera producer that was heavily reliant on a particular individual. There are many aspects of astronomy, for observing and imaging, that rely on the genius of individuals, and sadly, like the rest of us, they are mortal. Amateur UK large  mirror makers is another example, you can probably count them on one hand these days :s

[swag72]

Just now, Tim said:

This is what worries me too, given the considerable investment we make in our gear. A feeling reinforced by the recent demise of a premium CCD camera producer that was heavily reliant on a particular individual. There are many aspects of astronomy, for observing and imaging, that rely on the genius of individuals, and sadly, like the rest of us, they are mortal. Amateur UK large  mirror makers is another example, you can probably count them on one hand these days :s

I think this is a VERY good point..... The sad lack of production of the QSI's due to the passing of the main man does make me question the attraction and following support should anything happen to a smaller outfit. I guess we are just adding to the different things to contemplate when buying new gear.

[RayD]

11 minutes ago, kirkster501 said:

@RayD  How did you get the C8 balanced with the smaller scope?

With 3 Losmandy dovetails and an awful lot of patience Steve .  I had to balance in 3 planes, and needed to focus both first also.  I think I will change the layout as if I change it for visual use it has to be rebalanced, which does take a little while, but at the moment I am only using the C8 for planetary video so it works pretty well.

[PhotoGav]

It is a very interesting point and worthy of consideration. Thinking about QSI for a moment, have they completely stopped making cameras for astronomy now and what happens should service for an existing instrument be required?

[swag72]

1 minute ago, PhotoGav said:

It is a very interesting point and worthy of consideration. Thinking about QSI for a moment, have they completely stopped making cameras for astronomy now and what happens should service for an existing instrument be required?

I can confirm that the hardware repairs can be done on the QSI's in the UK...... David Jackson of HitecAstro is an authorised Mr Fixit. However, he can't do firmware fixes and these would need to be returned to the US. On the Yahoo group and CN, QSI are saying that they are repairing if needs be...... whether they will ever make any more camera's is anyone's guess. Who would have thought that it could go so wrong so quickly  

[kirkster501]

1 minute ago, RayD said:

With 3 Losmandy dovetails and an awful lot of patience Steve .  I had to balance in 3 planes, and needed to focus both first also.  I think I will change the layout as if I change it for visual use it has to be rebalanced, which does take a little while, but at the moment I am only using the C8 for planetary video so it works pretty well.

Thanks Ray. Yes, I am struggling with this. I have my FSQ+G2-8300 and TEC140+Atik on a Side-by-Side and it all works superbly.  I spent ages getting this sorted out and balanced and it is now brilliant.   For lunar AP and observing I need my C9.25 - great scope.  Not sure what to do.  Get a HEQ5 and leave the Atik/G2-8300 rig alone, or find a way of getting the whole lot on the Mesu side by side..... That is very difficult to balance without counter weights.  I have tried and failed.  Not sure whether to try again...

[kirkster501]

1 minute ago, swag72 said:

I can confirm that the hardware repairs can be done on the QSI's in the UK...... David Jackson of HitecAstro is an authorised Mr Fixit. However, he can't do firmware fixes and these would need to be returned to the US. On the Yahoo group and CN, QSI are saying that they are repairing if needs be...... whether they will ever make any more camera's is anyone's guess. Who would have thought that it could go so wrong so quickly  

Ian King basically said forget it when I wanted to buy a new QSI 683 - I waited three months for the situation to resolve but it didn't.  Extremely unlikely they'd make any more or develop that side of their business further QSI told Ian.  They are refocusing their business onto medical imaging.  There is little money in such a niche as amateur astronomy.

[RayD]

1 minute ago, kirkster501 said:

Thanks Ray. Yes, I am struggling with this. I have my FSQ+G2-8300 and TEC140+Atik on a Side-by-Side and it all works superbly.  I spent ages getting this sorted out and balanced and it is now brilliant.   For lunar AP and observing I need my C9.25 - great scope.  Not sure what to do.  Get a HEQ5 and leave the Atik/G2-8300 rig alone, or find a way of getting the whole lot on the Mesu side by side..... That is very difficult to balance without counter weights.  I have tried and failed.  Not sure whether to try again...

I think the trick is that the 'scopes either side of the centre need to be similar weights Steve.  The C8 full loaded isn't a mile away from the Esprit 100, so whilst it is off centre, it isn't far enough away to need additional weights.

To be honest I don't do any DSO stuff with the C8 so I will probably drop this off and use it on my AVX as it is really only used for video, so doesn't need spot on tracking.

[PhotoGav]

Thank you for the QSI information Sara & Kirkster. It is a tragedy. My QSI camera is my most favourite thing, and I have a lot of camera gear! I have my fingers firmly crossed that it keeps going for a long time yet.

[steppenwolf]

In a niche area like ours, it is not surprising that some of the great, innovative products that we have available to us come from the smallest of operations. Who would have thought that such a good and popular camera as the QSI range would meet its end this way? With QSI, it was not so much that they were a small outfit, more that there was no succession plan in force!

The Mesu situation is different and I can understand some of the concern as the Mesu company IS Lucas Mesu from a mechanical point of view but this is only part of the system, let's not forget that the SiTech controller is used by several other high grade mount manufacturing companies including PlaneWave Instruments. You also need to balance this against the example set by Lucas when what should have been an upgrade to the encoders turned out badly and he visited each client in turn to replace them on site - that's worth a lot to me and not many companies could match that quality of service!

As for the EQ8, this mount had a short period of bad press followed by years of solid sales and not a murmur of discontent to be heard so it has to be a serious contender.

I suspect that Gavin would be pleased with either the Mesu 200 or the EQ8.

With regard to the Tak v Esprit argument, I couldn't be happier than I am with my Esprit (150 ED) and I'd find it very hard to justify the additional cost of the Tak 106 ED over the Esprit 100 ED.

[ronin]

Going to ask Why?

Unless the imaging intention is to use the Edge HD 800 more the other 2 scopes are well within the capibilities of the HEQ5. Which leads to the question of how easy do you find hauling the Edge HD on and off a mount - assumes it is not to be permanently mounted. If it is then what are the others to be used on?

Might build a pier for the mount and not use the Edge HD a lot however it seems you could be considering a fair outlay on a mount for one scope that may not get a great deal of use.

 

[RayD]

I have the Esprit 100 Gav and for the money think it really is excellent.  

[PhotoGav]

Steve, thank you for your input on this, your opinion is always worth listening to. Your example of Lucas having to visit every owner of his product to make it work fills me with horror as much as admiration! While I can't imagine Skywatcher offering that level of service - it would definitely be a case of send product back to them for repair - hopefully the situation wouldn't arise as thorough testing would have been carried out prior to the upgrade. The truth is that I have been very happy with my Skywatcher HEQ5 mount, but am approaching the point when I need something with a greater payload and more accurate tracking.

This thread is slowly moving me towards a situation where I could have a new beefy mount and a new telescope for less than just the expensive telescope option. And, I suspect Gavin would be pleased with both mount and telescope!

[PhotoGav]

3 minutes ago, ronin said:

Going to ask Why?

Unless the imaging intention is to use the Edge HD 800 more the other 2 scopes are well within the capibilities of the HEQ5. Which leads to the question of how easy do you find hauling the Edge HD on and off a mount - assumes it is not to be permanently mounted. If it is then what are the others to be used on?

Might build a pier for the mount and not use the Edge HD a lot however it seems you could be considering a fair outlay on a mount for one scope that may not get a great deal of use.

Sorry Ronin, is this one aimed at me? There is quite a bit going on in the thread now (which is excellent and very informative) and I'm easily confused!!

[RayD]

4 minutes ago, PhotoGav said:

Steve, thank you for your input on this, your opinion is always worth listening to. Your example of Lucas having to visit every owner of his product to make it work fills me with horror as much as admiration! While I can't imagine Skywatcher offering that level of service - it would definitely be a case of send product back to them for repair - hopefully the situation wouldn't arise as thorough testing would have been carried out prior to the upgrade. The truth is that I have been very happy with my Skywatcher HEQ5 mount, but am approaching the point when I need something with a greater payload and more accurate tracking.

This thread is slowly moving me towards a situation where I could have a new beefy mount and a new telescope for less than just the expensive telescope option. And, I suspect Gavin would be pleased with both mount and telescope!

You could probably get a reasonable second hand EQ8, send it off to Dave Woods at Darkframe (I just did this with my AZ EQ6 and the difference is significant) and get an Esprit 100 and end up with a very, very good outfit for the price of the Mesu 200.

[PhotoGav]

Just now, RayD said:

You could probably get a reasonable second hand EQ8, send it off to Dave Woods at Darkframe (I just did this with my AZ EQ6 and the difference is significant) and get an Esprit 100 and end up with a very, very good outfit for the price of the Mesu 200.

Absolutely, even new the EQ8 is only a bit over £2.5k and Esprit 100 around £1.5k, whereas the Mesu 200 is around £6k, so I would have change to play with too. However, the question is: while the EQ8 & Esprit 100 might be a 'very, very good outfit', would a Mesu 200 & Tak FS106 be the 'perfect outfit'? I am beginning to think that it wouldn't be the 'perfect outfit' as the cost of somewhere north of £11k would not be significantly evident compared to the results for south of £5k... Thank you to everyone who is contributing to this discussion.

Meanwhile, the cost of clear skies remains priceless. The kit is whirring away out there, but conditions don't seem to be great, my guiding is a bit erratic at around 0.75" pp - or is that just the struggling HEQ5??!!

[steppenwolf]

30 minutes ago, PhotoGav said:

And, I suspect Gavin would be pleased with both mount and telescope!

Don’t tell me ‘Gav’ isn’t short for Gavin ......

 

[swag72]

18 minutes ago, PhotoGav said:

....would a Mesu 200 & Tak FS106 be the 'perfect outfit'?....

Is there really such a thing? 

[PhotoGav]

5 minutes ago, steppenwolf said:

Don’t tell me ‘Gav’ isn’t short for Gavin ......

Of course it is. Your phrase was spot on and made me chuckle, I had to use it again.

[PhotoGav]

3 minutes ago, swag72 said:

Is there really such a thing? 

Quite - especially with the skies we 'enjoy' in the South of England...

[steppenwolf]

3 minutes ago, swag72 said:

Is there really such a thing? 

NO!!!