EQ8 gone!

[martin_h]

That's it the EQ8 is coming off the pier and the NEQ6 is going back on. for 2 nights in a row my imaging has ground to a halt after a meridian flip and I couldn't work out why, in the morning the scope was parked in a strange position. so last night i sat and watched......... after the flip when the mount is plate solving the mount wouldn't centre.........DEC binding!! so i left it in that position and slackened off the dec worm a tad...... great! movement again, but now it wont guide in the east - to much backlash......sod this - its coming off.

What a pile of junk, it has one job to do and it comes no where near doing it.

[Dr_Ju_ju]

How old is it ??  if still in warranty  period the supplier may be able to do something...

[martin_h]

9 hours ago, Dr_Ju_ju said:

How old is it ??  if still in warranty  period the supplier may be able to do something...

Nope, apatrently Dec backlash is not a warranty issue.

[Dr_Ju_ju]

To my mind, if it doesn't perform to its published specification, then it doesn't matter what the supplier says, its not fit for purpose & should\must be repaired and or replaced....

Other than that, there are tuning services available, or youtube instruction videos for stripping & tuning. 

[Astroscot2]

I feel your pain,   I was in the same position a good few years back with my EQ8, I spent clear night after clear night trying to get my EQ8 to perform  I could not calibrate guiding nor dither between shots, I sold the mount to a visual guy who was not bothered too much about accurate guiding.  I had an early version mount and assumed the Dec issue had gone any with the newer versions ?

 

Hope you get this resolved, at least you have another option in the meantime.

Mark

[newbie alert]

Backlash isn't a warranty issue?

Skywatcher made the mount to track, use guiding equipment etc , they put the mount together, if something is wrong then that seems like a cop out...

Anyway the transaction is between you and the shop you got it from, not direct with skywatcher

The backlash issue has been well documented 

Edited March 28, 2020 by newbie alert
Added info

[Starflyer]

On 27/03/2020 at 14:54, martin_h said:

Nope, apatrently Dec backlash is not a warranty issue.

I agree, but if the worm wheel is that out of true that you can't set it up with acceptable backlash then it's a 'not fit for purpose' issue and you should reject the mount.

Your contact is with your supplier not with Skywatcher.

[FLO]

On 28/03/2020 at 16:11, newbie alert said:

Anyway the transaction is between you and the shop you got it from, not direct with skywatcher

On 28/03/2020 at 22:08, Starflyer said:

Your contract is with your supplier not with Skywatcher.

They are both right.

You should discuss this with your supplier. Your supplier is responsible for after-sales support. Ask them to check your mount is performing as it should.

The majority of EQ8 owners are very pleased with their mount. 

HTH, 

Steve 

[Zakalwe]

On 27/03/2020 at 14:54, martin_h said:

Nope, apatrently Dec backlash is not a warranty issue.

Send it back as it's not fit for purpose. You have legal rights regardless of what the vendor/manufacturer tries to bamboozle you with.

 

Any production made device can have errors. You don't want to hear about the issues that I and others have had with Mesu mounts and the dreadful after-sales "support".