Star Adventurer....GTi?

[Ags]

I am quite interested in this, although I am a bit disappointed the payload capacity is still 5 kgs. The RA gear is upgraded vs the star adventurer, polar alignment is much simpler, the wedge is integrated (good if it is good, bad if it is bad!), and it can ge used in AZ mode too. Most important for me is that the software has to be right this time, AZ-GTi has been unforgivably glitchy.

[Ratlet]

Sky-watcher have a new product announcement stream lined up on the 15th of April.  Fingers crossed that it'll be the mount.

[AstroNebulee]

14 hours ago, Ratlet said:

With any luck I'll be able to give a "nuggets eye view" of this when it releases.

I'm starting out in the hobby and have held back on buying a mount because of this potential mount.  For me I like the look of it more than the az-gti aesthetically, and it is also designed for use in equatorial mode so there will be a level of actual support officially.  That's a big sell for me.

Honestly though there is going to be an element of rolling the dice.  It could be mechanically worse than the az-gti, or it could be better.  I'm hoping for better.

But yeah, I'm pretty excited for this mount lol.

 

Look forward to your findings with it when you get it 👍

[DaveS]

FLO have an announcement

 

[Ratlet]

Looks like sky watcher have listened to people.

That little thumb screw above the polar scope?  Hold the battery cover on lol.

Edited April 7, 2022 by Ratlet
Spelling

[Ratlet]

Some of the penguin botherers have gotten a hold of early access copies of the mount.  Looks a decent bit of kit.

Might be the shotgun mic for the video, but sounds like someone throttling a ferret when it slews.

https://youtu.be/czGytWApguI

[AstroNebulee]

1 hour ago, Ratlet said:

Some of the penguin botherers have gotten a hold of early access copies of the mount.  Looks a decent bit of kit.

Might be the shotgun mic for the video, but sounds like someone throttling a ferret when it slews.

https://youtu.be/czGytWApguI

Not the best video to show the mount off, just him gushing at it. Will wait to see a proper review of it, having a search of his channel there are a couple more videos on the mount 

Edited April 15, 2022 by AstroNebulee

[Elp]

They've kept the size quite small which is good. It does sound similar to an azgti when slewing.

[Pixies]

Brief 'unboxing' type review, here:

 

[PadrePeace]

Just posted by Alyn Wallace. 

 

[AstroNebulee]

There's a product announcement live on this skywatcher webcast now here. Maybe the star adventurer gti?? 

 

Edited April 15, 2022 by AstroNebulee

[AstroNebulee]

46 minutes ago, AstroNebulee said:

There's a product announcement live on this skywatcher webcast now here. Maybe the star adventurer gti?? 

 

Astrobackyard and nebula photos are doing reviews on YouTube after this 

 

 

Edited April 15, 2022 by AstroNebulee

[Ratlet]

Looks very promising.  First time I've considered pre ordering something!  Hopefully get an idea of cost soon

[AstroNebulee]

2 minutes ago, Ratlet said:

Looks very promising.  First time I've considered pre ordering something!  Hopefully get an idea of cost soon

Probably in the region of £480-560 I'd think, going on the usd price, but could be wrong 

Edited April 15, 2022 by AstroNebulee

[badhex]

Was just chatting with @AstroNebulee in the live chat for the Skywatcher webcast, looks like a great little mount! Obviously focused primarily on imaging so not much use for me but still very cool 🙂

[AstroNebulee]

9 minutes ago, badhex said:

Was just chatting with @AstroNebulee in the live chat for the Skywatcher webcast, looks like a great little mount! Obviously focused primarily on imaging so not much use for me but still very cool 🙂

Nice chatting too Joe 👍. 

Nebula photos review on next 

 

 

[Ratlet]

13 minutes ago, badhex said:

Was just chatting with @AstroNebulee in the live chat for the Skywatcher webcast, looks like a great little mount! Obviously focused primarily on imaging so not much use for me but still very cool 🙂

I'm thinking about getting this and a mak 127 for some visual.  Though they had it paired with a c6 in one photo.

Dont want to image with those scopes (strictly 200mm takumar for me to start) but the visual astronomers have me convinced that I probably want to be able to actually look at stuff and since I spent £40 on my lens I probably deserve a visual scope

[badhex]

6 minutes ago, Ratlet said:

I'm thinking about getting this and a mak 127 for some visual.  Though they had it paired with a c6 in one photo.

Dont want to image with those scopes (strictly 200mm takumar for me to start) but the visual astronomers have me convinced that I probably want to be able to actually look at stuff and since I spent £40 on my lens I probably deserve a visual scope

I reckon that would be a great combo. Prior to the AZ-GTi I was using a very small old manual EQ with a Skymax 102 and never saw the point of Alt-Az until I got one! So much quicker to set up. That said, the Star Adventurer GTi could potentially tempt me back in the future. 

[badhex]

3 hours ago, AstroNebulee said:

Nice chatting too Joe 👍. 

Nebula photos review on next 

 

 

Cheers Lee. Got those two reviews lined up to watch tomorrow! 

[AstroNebulee]

Could be the death of the az gti 😔

[happy-kat]

The azgti has size, weight and portability on it's side.

[PadrePeace]

10 hours ago, AstroNebulee said:

Could be the death of the az gti 😔

I doubt that at half the likely price of the SA GTI. The AZGTI is a great mount for imaging with short focal length scopes and is 1 kg lighter in your back pack. The real threat is to the EQM25 at nearly £700 though that can carry slightly more gear. 

Edited April 16, 2022 by PadrePeace

[badhex]

Plus the AZ-GTi still has a big following and fills a niche for us visual types who don't need the tracking accuracy of an EQ. Also I hope they don't kill it off, an SA GTI won't fit in my astronomy travel kit backpack! 

[AstroNebulee]

5 hours ago, PadrePeace said:

I doubt that at half the likely price of the SA GTI. The AZGTI is a great mount for imaging with short focal length scopes and is 1 kg lighter in your back pack. The real threat is to the EQM25 at nearly £700 though that can carry slightly more gear. 

Sorry I should of added in EQ mode, I think as @badhex says in az mode it's a no brainer, I shall never get rid of my az gti, even when I am able to afford an eq5. (when I've won the lottery) I will keep my az gti to do lunar and planetary imaging with a small mak or easy quick set up visual, like how I started out with it. 😊

Edited April 16, 2022 by AstroNebulee

[Ratlet]

21 hours ago, happy-kat said:

The azgti has size, weight and portability on it's side.

Yeah, plus the az-gti can do alt alz which the sa GTi can't.  Ultimately I think you're right, I think it is a much bigger threat to the eqm35 than the az-gti.  You only get just under 2kg more capacity with the eqm with a mount that is twice as heavy and more of a mess of cables.

We'll need to see how people get on with the sa GTi.  It could be riddled with problems.  Though it seems that they have put a fair amount of thought in its design, taking criticisms from the sa pro (externally) and fixing them.  Hopefully the internals reflect this too.

I'm also hoping that someone is going to push it to the limits early on lol.  One of the early access dudes had a c6 hyperstar (wonder if it was cuiv the lazy geek).

Personally I'm hoping (in a dim and distant sort of way) that it'll manage a 130pds.  That would be a deadly setup I think.  I'm almost tempted to order a 130pds with the mount to see lol.