AstroTrac 360

[melsky]

Richard certainly knows how to produce beautiful products and the new Astrotrac 360 looks very tasty but a bit pricey, hopefully they will be offering the single arm unit for sale as an option as well, the polarscope arrangement looks a lot more robust than the TT320X-AG.

Mel

https://www.astrotrac.com/

[clarkpm4242]

Will a PoleMaster fit..?

It does seem to be a stunning piece of kit...

...the price made me gasp though.

Cheers

Paul

[Jkulin]

Beautiful piece of kit, if only they made it to carry heavier systems.

[prangster]

Does anyone know where you actually attach a DSLR camera and lens?

i think this has been one worst launches ever. The countdown timer just for a really beautiful piece of engineering to decorate the mantle piece. There are no photos or videos showing this mount in use. How can you judge what the mount is like from what are essentially a collection of photos that really do nothing to demonstrate how this mount works. To me they look like the pre advertising proof of concept images. I also understand it has been out being tested. Where are the reports, photos, videos of the experience. I cannot understand anyone committing a £1000 deposited for what is at the moment a piece of fancy alloy. Then to stump up the the £1400 balance without an actual date of delivery.

[clarkpm4242]

On 4/3/2018 at 20:39, prangster said:

Does anyone know where you actually attach a DSLR camera and lens?

You can submit questions via the website.

Looks like in 2 axis mode a ball head can be mounted on the DEC 'circle' with all the holes.  This is where the RA arm is attached to the wedge.

Cannot see anyway to do it as a single axis mount though...

...Paul

P.S. It will take a PoleMaster with an adapter...

[davew]

On 03/04/2018 at 20:39, prangster said:

Does anyone know where you actually attach a DSLR camera and lens?

i think this has been one worst launches ever. The countdown timer just for a really beautiful piece of engineering to decorate the mantle piece. There are no photos or videos showing this mount in use. How can you judge what the mount is like from what are essentially a collection of photos that really do nothing to demonstrate how this mount works. To me they look like the pre advertising proof of concept images. I also understand it has been out being tested. Where are the reports, photos, videos of the experience. I cannot understand anyone committing a £1000 deposited for what is at the moment a piece of fancy alloy. Then to stump up the the £1400 balance without an actual date of delivery.

An interesting opening salvo.

Are you less than impressed ? If you ask them instead of us they may answer all your enquiries.

[The Admiral]

Well I for one would like to have seen some pictures of it actually in use, carrying some equipment and on a tripod, rather than floating in space! It took me while to work out what goes where (assuming I've got it right), and would fully have expected to see a dovetail clamp somewhere. I would agree it is not exactly selling the product; you shouldn't need to ask questions in my view, that isn't marketing. But as you say, a curious first post, but not necessarily wrong for being that! Interesting user name!

Ian

Edited April 11, 2018 by The Admiral

[StuartJPP]

Looks quite interesting to me. 

Although it appears quite pricey if it delivers on its promise I think it will be a very good option for people on the go.

Things that appeal to me is that it can break down into component parts making airline travel much easier. 

You have the option of using it as a tracker (single arm) or goto (dual) which again helps immensely for travel.

No need to guide is a major plus if the tracking accuracy claims are true.

What would also interest me is current consumption, if it can run off a small 12V power bank for an evening, it is a major plus for me. The original AstroTrac consumed very little power.

Not requiring a PC has its benefits, but I am so used to focusing, polar alignment and plate solving that I am not sure I could live without one....plus you can view the quality of the subs straight away and no touching the mount at all...

Will have to see how it performs, a lot of nice features that ticks a lot of boxes for the portable imager.

[Space Hopper]

I like Richard a lot and have a lot of respect for him and his products.

I love to see innovation and i really like the modularity aspect of this mount.

I've put a deposit down for the basic tracker. 

BTW : the prices shown exclude VAT.

[buzz]

Is there any news on availability? The website is unchanged for several months now and it feels like the days of the Sinclair QL 

[melsky]

I’ve heard the first production units will start to become available Dec / Jan but there should be an update with photo's of it in use appearing very soon.

[The Admiral]

There is a paucity of technical info, just pretty pictures. I see that there are now pictures of the dovetail clamp in use, but there needs to be more than just  'newspaper headlines' accompanying them. A downloadable manual would be of use, not least a review or two. Who would cough up a grand deposit on the basis of this?

The 10kg capacity is claimed to be the imaging capacity, so it may be better than taking most mounts' capacities and dividing by 2 .

Ian

PS. Odd website! https://www.astrotrac.com/  I've just discovered a bit more information by continuing to scroll down. Doh!

Edited November 10, 2018 by The Admiral

[The Admiral]

This bit is intriguing:

"Forget quirky handpads and software installation. Control your AstroTrac 360 from your familiar browser environment out of the box."

"Future software updates will include GOTO and support for popular 3rd party software such as SkySafari and TheSkyX." (My emphasis)

So exactly how does it work? Still an unfinished product then.

Ian

[buzz]

Some new news  on their website now. Looks like its electrical interface has developed. I'm guessing if you can control a modem or printer via a HTTP webpage, there is no reason why you couldn't do the same with a mount to align it and point it in the right direction. Full robotic control (via ASCOM say) would be the icing on the cake.

[The Admiral]

5 hours ago, buzz said:

Some new news  on their website now. Looks like its electrical interface has developed. I'm guessing if you can control a modem or printer via a HTTP webpage, there is no reason why you couldn't do the same with a mount to align it and point it in the right direction. Full robotic control (via ASCOM say) would be the icing on the cake.

Can you link to it please? All I can see on the November news are pictures.

Ian

[buzz]

I think that is about it , the link in the subscription email showed the same-  Teleskop Express informed me they would be getting units next month.

[RobertI]

Has anyone received one of these new mounts yet?

[The Admiral]

TS say on their website that delivery, according to the manufacturers, is end of August. It's a pity that the Astrotrac website is very slow to update its newsletter.

I would ignore Rother Valley saying that it is available and generally in stock!

Ian

Edited May 31, 2019 by The Admiral

[RobertI]

Crikey, that’s a lot later than originally planned, must be costing them a small fortune to get to market. Fingers crossed because it looks like a great product. 

[The Admiral]

1 hour ago, RobertI said:

Fingers crossed because it looks like a great product. 

It does indeed, but what we really need of course are the early adopters to give us some info on how it performs .

Ian

[RobertI]

2 hours ago, The Admiral said:

It does indeed, but what we really need of course are the early adopters to give us some info on how it performs .

Ian

Lol, if I find myself at a pecuniary advantage when the product is available, I shall gladly oblige. 😉

[alintolea]

has anyone received any actual news about this? i still want one if it performs as advertised, but will definitely not shell 1000 pounds at this point with all the delays. show me a product already.

 

Alin

[Space Hopper]

Its about to go into production, so they say.

So things are happening there......

Deliveries expected between mid August - end September.

 

[lrt75914]

Is there any news on the Astrotrac 360? A lot of vendors here in Germany switched the
delivery time from '1 - 2 weeks' to 'unknown'. Seems to me that they missed their delivery date.

Edited October 18, 2019 by lrt75914

[RobertI]

They have missed several delivery dates from what I can see, I was told they would be available early February 2019, still no sign. The scope of the mount (excuse the pun) is way beyond anything else they have produced from what I can see and I always felt it was high risk for them -  I really hope they pull it off.