Wow, this looks very interesting….🤔

[Stuart1971]

Saw this the other day, and wondered if there were any real world users of one, looks almost too good to be true for a true friction drive mount, cheaper than any of the retail mounts in this weight category…by a long way….🤔🤔

A €100 deposit secures one for October delivery, balance to be paid before despatch….

https://www.jtwastronomy.com/products/p75-trident-friction-drive-mount

Edited August 29, 2022 by Stuart1971

[Craney]

Indeed..... I was expecting   Deposit = €100    Balance = €8K +

That will give EQ8's... Ioptron 70's,  120's a run for their money in terms of working payload.

Hopefully it will be class leading and excellent mount without having to upgrade 🤔

I'm gonna need a bigger pier !!

 

Edited August 30, 2022 by Craney

[Stu]

Have a search on the forum for JTW mounts. Not sure if it is this one or a different model?

 

[Stuart1971]

11 minutes ago, Craney said:

Indeed..... I was expecting   Deposit = €100    Balance = €8K +

That will give EQ8's... Ioptron 70's,  120's a run for their money in terms of working payload.

Hopefully it will be class leading and excellent mount without having to upgrade 🤔

I gonna need a bigger per !!

 

Yes me too…

i currently have an EQ8, but looks a decent upgrade….👍🏻

[Stuart1971]

7 minutes ago, Stu said:

Have a search on the forum for JTW mounts. Not sure if it is this one or a different model?

 

Thanks…

Looks like a slightly bigger one with 100kg payload, maybe they have altered the design, but I think I will wait for some actual user feedback, before I jump in…it’s all well and good seeing them lined up on a workshop bench, but how well will they actually perform…time will tell I guess…

[Stuart1971]

Well, here is a first review from @peter shah sounds very good….

https://groups.io/g/jtw-astronomy-users/topic/initial_testing_and_first/92874029?p=,,,20,0,0,0::recentpostdate/sticky,,,20,2,0,92874029,previd%3D9223372036854775807,nextid%3D1658764230413680447&previd=9223372036854775807&nextid=1658764230413680447

[newbie alert]

3 hours ago, Stuart1971 said:

Saw this the other day, and wondered if there were any real world users of one, looks almost too good to be true for a true friction drive mount, cheaper than any of the retail mounts in this weight category…by a long way….🤔🤔

A €100 deposit secures one for October delivery, balance to be paid before despatch….

https://www.jtwastronomy.com/products/p75-trident-friction-drive-mount

Ask the early adopters that waited more than 3 years for this to actually become a reality what they would think of  a 100 euro deposit paid for now late August to have delivery in Oct... Many of the original 10 or so had enough and pulled out and only got reimbursement after a new customer paid for their mount... Which I'm fairly positive they still haven't got

Not really sure what planet mark is on but to my mind you have an idea, build the mount, test it thoroughly, iron out the flaws and see how it can be improved, then once you feel like you could have a commercial product viable for sale then put it out there for sale

Marks idea was have an idea, sell people your idea, think of as many excuses as possible to reflect why these mounts aren't made, make up more excuses and blame everyone else, make up more excuses and ignore multiple emails, still blame everyone else and dream up even more elaborate excuses.. after 3 years of this going on release a couple of mounts to customers and let them workout how to run these as the motors are running backwards, release the info on Facebook to glorify his achievement even thou he had nothing to do with setting it up( that particular mount was sold and sent back for various reasons, and back in marks possession for at least 2 months before passing it onto another customer in the same running backwards condition.. I'm not so sure that the encoders that mark continues to sell can be used with the Onstep system as Onstep themselves say atm they can't as it's not supported at this present time

Mark decided to actually get his Bottom in gear and get these mounts out in the astro community as his early backers were pulling out as they was so fed up with waiting, 5 in a week I heard..and even then he's added a few add ons just to stretch that waiting time a little further

So instead of just seeing how fabulous these mounts are they was all funded by people that put their absolute faith in mark and the Trident only to have nothing in return after such a long time... All isn't as it seems

 

[newbie alert]

As a add on, this could have all been avoided if mark had made a prototype in the first place, and put it through a rigorous testing, then sold after the testing was complete

[Stuart1971]

3 minutes ago, newbie alert said:

Ask the early adopters that waited more than 3 years for this to actually become a reality what they would think of  a 100 euro deposit paid for now late August to have delivery in Oct... Many of the original 10 or so had enough and pulled out and only got reimbursement after a new customer paid for their mount... Which I'm fairly positive they still haven't got

Not really sure what planet mark is on but to my mind you have an idea, build the mount, test it thoroughly, iron out the flaws and see how it can be improved, then once you feel like you could have a commercial product viable for sale then put it out there for sale

Marks idea was have an idea, sell people your idea, think of as many excuses as possible to reflect why these mounts aren't made, make up more excuses and blame everyone else, make up more excuses and ignore multiple emails, still blame everyone else and dream up even more elaborate excuses.. after 3 years of this going on release a couple of mounts to customers and let them workout how to run these as the motors are running backwards, release the info on Facebook to glorify his achievement even thou he had nothing to do with setting it up( that particular mount was sold and sent back for various reasons, and back in marks possession for at least 2 months before passing it onto another customer in the same running backwards condition.. I'm not so sure that the encoders that mark continues to sell can be used with the Onstep system as Onstep themselves say atm they can't as it's not supported at this present time

Mark decided to actually get his Bottom in gear and get these mounts out in the astro community as his early backers were pulling out as they was so fed up with waiting, 5 in a week I heard..and even then he's added a few add ons just to stretch that waiting time a little further

So instead of just seeing how fabulous these mounts are they was all funded by people that put their absolute faith in mark and the Trident only to have nothing in return after such a long time... All isn't as it seems

 

 Very interesting, thanks for that, always good to hear stories like this, as it could save a few people from some headaches in the long run….👍🏻

[900SL]

I never cease to be amazed by people who shell out on unproven products that don't yet exist by 'boutique' manufacturers on the basis of some internet marketing and astronomical promises.

I guess the old adage of 'a fool and his money are easily parted' applies.

I learned many years ago not to buy vapourware, or be an early adopter.

 

[Franklin]

The P75? Looks like it should have been called the "P45".

[Stuart1971]

3 hours ago, 900SL said:

I never cease to be amazed by people who shell out on unproven products that don't yet exist by 'boutique' manufacturers on the basis of some internet marketing and astronomical promises.

I guess the old adage of 'a fool and his money are easily parted' applies.

I learned many years ago not to buy vapourware, or be an early adopter.

 

Well, they do exist, as people have got them and are using them now, also some reviews from users on the io group…so not strictly true….👍🏻

[900SL]

36 minutes ago, Stuart1971 said:

Well, they do exist, as people have got them and are using them now, also some reviews from users on the io group…so not strictly true….👍🏻

I'm not stopping you from putting down your money 😜

[Stuart1971]

1 hour ago, 900SL said:

I'm not stopping you from putting down your money 😜

Well, I can afford to loose €100 so worth a punt me thinks….👍🏻

[SthBohemia]

🙂 would rather put trust in the 'mob' below...

https://www.10micron.com/en/product/gm2000-hps-ii-combi-en/

[scotty38]

17 minutes ago, SthBohemia said:

🙂 would rather put trust in the 'mob' below...

https://www.10micron.com/en/product/gm2000-hps-ii-combi-en/

Make up the price difference and I'll order it today 🙂

[900SL]

Half of something is better than all of nothing.. Yorkshire expression

[david_taurus83]

To be fair, it's not much different than a group of investors putting down cash and waiting a fews years for that return...Though I appreciate the question of using the actual consumers as the investors. I can't say I'd have been bold enough to put down the money on an idea though. At least they are being shipped out now and the early results look promising. 

[Stu]

10 minutes ago, david_taurus83 said:

To be fair, it's not much different than a group of investors putting down cash and waiting a fews years for that return...Though I appreciate the question of using the actual consumers as the investors. I can't say I'd have been bold enough to put down the money on an idea though. At least they are being shipped out now and the early results look promising. 

Isn’t it about knowing what you are getting into though? No harm in running a crowdfunding scheme where people put in cash to fund development on the basis of receiving a discounted product once released, but if that’s what is on offer then you know the score, and also know the risks. If you think you are just buying a mount that exists then that’s a very different thing.

[Stuart1971]

Just now, Stu said:

Isn’t it about knowing what you are getting into though? No harm in running a crowdfunding scheme where people put in cash to fund development on the basis of receiving a discounted product once released, but if that’s what is on offer then you know the score, and also know the risks. If you think you are just buying a mount that exists then that’s a very different thing.

All true, they all knew it was still being developed, and that it was not fully tested and ready for despatch, but I think the timescale they were given was very optimistic…
I have just had a long emailed reply from Mark at JTW, and he has explained the story and said he made a mistake and owns it, and has learnt big time from it, and the original adopters have got there mounts and are all very happy, yes they had to wait some time, too long really, but he responds to emails very quickly and seems to be a decent guy who made a mistake and has owned it, so I will give him the benefit of the doubt…but will wait for a few more reviews to come up…

Its a solid looking mount especially at 50kg just for the mount head, the software is all open source, and had ASCOM drivers so will work with most software, which I like, also the price is excellent, compared to another popular friction drive mount we know…👍🏻

[Stu]

5 minutes ago, Stuart1971 said:

All true, they all knew it was still being developed, and that it was not fully tested and ready for despatch, but I think the timescale they were given was very optimistic…
I have just had a long emailed reply from Mark at JTW, and he has explained the story and said he made a mistake and owns it, and has learnt big time from it, and the original adopters have got there mounts and are all very happy, yes they had to wait some time, too long really, but he responds to emails very quickly and seems to be a decent guy who made a mistake and has owned it, so I will give him the benefit of the doubt…but will wait for a few more reviews to come up…

Its a solid looking mount especially at 50kg just for the mount head, the software is all open source, and had ASCOM drivers so will work with most software, which I like, also the price is excellent, compared to another popular friction drive mount we know…👍🏻

If he is communicating with people and keeping them up to date then that helps. There have been a few cases where suppliers get in a muddle, often for reasons outside their control, but then compound issues by continuing to take deposits for work they have no hope of completing, and worse still, stop talking to people.

[tomato]

 Looking at the photos, are the housings/pillar mountings made of 3d printed plastic? I would be fine with this approach for a Star Adventurer class of mount, not so sure if hanging  50 kg of astro kit off it.
 

[Wiu-Wiu]

I've read tons of stories about this supplier. All have the same narrative. I bet his dog ate a lot of his homework when he was in school. 

 

I hope he succeeds in making a good mount, but I still have to read a review from someone who actually got what was promised. 

I have a pier, made in one of their earlier years, no complaining there, but a pier is no mount... 

 

Maybe when they actually start production and have them in stock. But no way i'd be part of another one of these adventures.

buyer beware!

[Stuart1971]

10 minutes ago, tomato said:

 Looking at the photos, are the housings/pillar mountings made of 3d printed plastic? I would be fine with this approach for a Star Adventurer class of mount, not so sure if hanging  50 kg of astro kit off it.
 

Not sure what you mean here, looks pretty darn solid to me..🤔🤔

[Stuart1971]

5 minutes ago, Wiu-Wiu said:

I've read tons of stories about this supplier. All have the same narrative. I bet his dog ate a lot of his homework when he was in school. 

 

I hope he succeeds in making a good mount, but I still have to read a review from someone who actually got what was promised. 

I have a pier, made in one of their earlier years, no complaining there, but a pier is no mount... 

 

Maybe when they actually start production and have them in stock. But no way i'd be part of another one of these adventures.

buyer beware!

Check out the io, group many people have them now and some good reviews on there….👍🏻