Astroasis Electronic Focuser

[PeterC65]

I just spotted this new product on the FLO website: https://www.firstlightoptics.com/astroasis/astroasis-electronic-focuser-with-clutch.html

It's an electronic focuser with a clutch so that you can disengage it and still use the original manual focus control, plus it seems to fit very neatly in place of one of the focuser knobs, just extending the focuser shaft a little. The manufacturers product information is here.

I've always been put off from fitting an electronic focuser because I still use my scopes for visual and want to keep the manual focus control. This focuser is quite expensive but would fit the bill.

Does anyone have experience with it?

 

[bosun21]

5 hours ago, PeterC65 said:

I've always been put off from fitting an electronic focuser because I still use my scopes for visual and want to keep the manual focus control.

I use an electric focuser for visual. Even if the focus is well off, with the focuser set to fast it’s rapid in its movement of the draw tube. I like the look of this little electric focuser you have highlighted but my concern is if it’s robust enough. 

[PeterC65]

There is video of the focuser on the manufacturers website and it looks well made and robust.

There isn't much information about what focusers it will fit and instead some advise about measuring your particular focuser before purchasing. There are adapters for Celestron SCT scope which look very neat. I wonder if they will fit my Skymax 127?

The only downside seems to be that the focuser needs a separate 12V power supply as well as the USB connection.

 

[CraigT82]

5 minutes ago, PeterC65 said:

There is video of the focuser on the manufacturers website and it looks well made and robust.

There isn't much information about what focusers it will fit and instead some advise about measuring your particular focuser before purchasing. There are adapters for Celestron SCT scope which look very neat. I wonder if they will fit my Skymax 127?

The only downside seems to be that the focuser needs a separate 12V power supply as well as the USB connection.

 

Yes that’s a shame but must electronic focusers do need a separate 12v supply. The only ones I’ve used that don’t are the old Moonlite stepper and the skywatcher unit, both of which have a 9v battery in the handset which make them great for visual usage. 
 

This one doesn’t seem to come with a handset but does mention smartphone control, but light on details though.