I’ve had enough of ZWO

[centroid]

11 minutes ago, rnobleeddy said:

Out of curiosity, are there any more local options that produce comparable modern CMOS cameras, within say 130% of the price of ZWO? 

Altair Astro. I have the Altair Hypercam 294c Pro Tec. It does  "what it says on the tin", and hasn't let me down yet.

Chinese made of course.

Edited December 24, 2021 by centroid

[gilesco]

4 minutes ago, centroid said:

Altair Astro. I have the Altair Hypercam 294c Pro Tec. It does  "what it says on the tin", and hasn't let me down yet.

I know that some of the thread here is talking about support etc.. and as Altair Astro has a UK presence then you're likely to get more timely support from them.

However, I believe that Altair Astro cameras, are essentially re-badged OEM cameras from Touptek, another Chinese company.

So really this is about, if you're happy to pay the premium of getting good support from Altair, leaving them to deal with a Chinese company then that's fine. I guess if you're not happy to pay that premium and buy from a ZWO reseller to save a little money, perhaps leaving you with not great support (I've not ever needed support for a camera, to be honest), then that's OK too.

It depends what you're looking for during the life of the product I suppose.

[nephilim]

🤔 No comment 😂

[gilesco]

37 minutes ago, nephilim said:

🤔 No comment 😂

Well, the pre-order price on the ZWO website is $1,999. A comparable product is perhaps the Rainbow RST-135. Which is £3899 on the FLO website. A new product, so wait and see is my usual stance on this.

But once again, they're working on the price-point again, and that will introduce new competition for these types of mounts (I guess some manufacturers will compete on Support Quality too, not just price) - but we've discussed that already. Having a manufacturer which consistently challenges the cost of similarly spec'd equipment can only be a good thing for all and sundry.

Edited December 24, 2021 by gilesco
typo

[Swoop1]

I work in the bicycle industry and mine, along with many others, rely totally on the Far East manufacturing bloc. Bikes of all price points come through with stickers saying Assembled in the UK/ Assembled in Germany (other EU locations are available etc.

The truth is, they ARE assembled in these locations- out of components made in China, Japan etc. Very few components are made in Europe/ USA  (there are some exceptions- Hope technology in the UK, Chris King in USA etc). 

What the consumer is willing to pay is what leads the manufacturing market. Until consumers stop hunting the cheapest deal (I'm as guilty as everyone else), cheap Far eastern manufacturing will remain king.

[nephilim]

1 hour ago, Swoop1 said:

I work in the bicycle industry and mine, along with many others, rely totally on the Far East manufacturing bloc. Bikes of all price points come through with stickers saying Assembled in the UK/ Assembled in Germany (other EU locations are available etc.

The truth is, they ARE assembled in these locations- out of components made in China, Japan etc. Very few components are made in Europe/ USA  (there are some exceptions- Hope technology in the UK, Chris King in USA etc). 

What the consumer is willing to pay is what leads the manufacturing market. Until consumers stop hunting the cheapest deal (I'm as guilty as everyone else), cheap Far eastern manufacturing will remain king.

I fell into the whole 'Hope' thing when I first started mountain biking & ended up paying a premium for what in reality is pretty standard stuff (Their brakes are a total rip off). On my latest build due to many parts not been available all thanks to leaving the EU 🙄 I decided to stick with uk manufacturers as best I could (apart from the SRAM drivetrain) I chose Bird for the frame & Hunt for the wheels, I'm so glad I did as the quality is outstanding & although pretty expensive (Nowhere near Santa Cruz prices though, then again I'm not one for buying a 'name' anymore) this bike will last me a long long time.
Apologies for the non astro related reply but as you know, us MTB'rs dont need much of an excuse to show off our bikes 😂

Steve

Edited December 24, 2021 by nephilim
Spelling

[Swoop1]

N+1?

[Geordie mc]

4 hours ago, Stuart1971 said:

Best wishes for 2922, you say, hmmmm, I don’t think so….😂😂😂😂😂

Ha, well spotted! Date fixed now. If only my camera was🙁

[nephilim]

52 minutes ago, Swoop1 said:

N+1?

@Swoop1    S-1 I'm now single 😂

[kirkster501]

Ooooh dear.  All of my ZWO cams - and I have four of them - have been top notch.  I have 2 x 120MC, 1 x 224MC, 1 ASI174MM.

Your mileage may vary I suppose.  Just like any other purchase. 

[centroid]

Just my personal experience of course,   but in 12 years of asro imaging (pre 2014), I had several SX camera, and with the exception of a light leak into the SXVR H16, they were 100% reliable. 

Terry at  SX always provided excellent technical support, and also sorted the light leak very promptly. 

When I wanted my H9-C converted to mono, he did it for the cost of the CCD.

Having returned to imaging after an 8 year hiatus, CCD is now very much yesterday's technology,  with CMOS now being the in-thing. Albeit we have to concern ourselves with establishing and setting the correct gain, and black point, something that was not necessary with the CCD cameras.

If SX were to move to CMOS, I wouldn't have to think twice about going back to SX.

That said, as yet,  I have no complaints with the Altair 294c Pro Tec, but in fairness, it is early days yet.

Edited December 24, 2021 by centroid
Typo

[tomato]

I guess this thread will run and run with folks posting their good or bad experiences, so here are mine:

I use four ZWO cameras, an ASI 120 mini guide camera, an ASI 120 MC-s in an All Sky camera, and two ASI 178 mono cameras retrofitted with Peltier coolers. I’ve happy with them all, the AllSky camera is out there in a sealed box 24/7, the 178s get a tough time, they are dripping with condensation (externally) after each session,  but are now well into their  3rd year of operation.

The only criticism I have is the flimsy nature of USB connection on the 120 mini, but that was easily fixed with a Velcro strap.

I have no experience with the ASIAir, but I bought a cheap ZWO OAG and was impressed with the quality, given the asking price.

[StarryEyed]

On 24/12/2021 at 15:22, Swoop1 said:

.... cheap Far eastern manufacturing will remain king.

You make a good point but Chinese stuff is not king. For example. 

ZWO 10 years and cameras means nothing, SBIG have been around for more than 25 years. I owned a SBIG 2000XM some fifteen years ago (about when I sold  it) and the quality even back then was a different class to what typically comes out of China now. There are exceptions and quality products are coming from China of course but they typically are not the cheapest option. 

Sadly the case with the whole market. 

Edited December 27, 2021 by StarryEyed

[tomato]

SBIG were one of the pioneers, still have my ST-4 from their first production run, but you rarely see their cameras mentioned on SGL now.

[Chris]

35 minutes ago, tomato said:

SBIG were one of the pioneers, still have my ST-4 from their first production run, but you rarely see their cameras mentioned on SGL now.

We used SBIG cameras at Uni, circa 2000 ish, and I don't think they were new cameras then so they must have been making cameras in the 90's. 

I seem to recall a model with a second sensor on camera for guiding?...I don't think I dreamt that part. 

[tomato]

You’re correct, they did produce a dual sensor camera.  If I recall correctly I purchased an ST-4 from SBIG in 1991, I actually got a call from them asking if I wanted to be their UK dealer! There was one of the cross roads moments in my life path.😊