Starlight Xpress Motorised Filter Wheel

[FLO]

The first fully-finished and tested Starlight Xpress motorised filter wheels will become available later this month

James and I have seen one and it definitely has a premium-quality fit and finish!

There are a number of features that set this wheel apart from the competition but perhaps most impressive is that it does not require a separate power supply when using USB, the gear-motor runs entirely from USB and consumes less than 100mA!

It can also be operated from a serial input or from a switched hand controller, both of which power the wheel from a small dry battery. The image above shows an internal view with the cover removed, the USB connecter is visible at lower left, the serial/manual connecter lower right.

We are very fortunate to have a company like Starlight Xpress here in the UK

For further details and an up-to-date price please visit our website.

[Paxo]

Michael Hattey showed me the 1.25" filter version at Lucksall, they do look a quality piece of kit, and competitively priced too I believe.

Steve..

[Aza]

Nice to have 7 x 1.25 spaces!

I only have 5, which is now making me wonder what to do if I want RGB starfield with my narrowband images!

[daz]

Not that I can wait, but I can't wait!!! :)

[Ant]

Ooooo that looks nice

I'm very tempted with one of them...

[afm038]

It looks a nice bit of kit.

I presume that hanging of heavy diagonals, eyepieces, CCD's or DSLR's off the back of it wouldn't create any issues ?

I'm looking down the line at getting a motorised wheel and I wonder how it would compare against the Trutek motorised wheel ? It obviously beats it handsomely on price which as always is one of the criteria to be considered.

Thanks, Andy

[FLO]

The SX filter wheel is very well made so will have no difficulty carrying the usual CCDs, cameras and other imaging paraphernalia.

As for how it compares against the Tru-Tech filter wheel: The SX is altogether more sexy with it's motor, gears and circuits neatly housed inside the casing, and it can be powered from USB. It also wins comfortably on price.

The TT on the other hand has a convenient arrangement where the filter disk can be quickly and easily removed without disturbing the telescope or camera. TT also offer a whole raft of adapters and wheels to suit pretty-much every scope/camera/filter combination.

If I were to dust off my crystal ball I'd probably foretell that SX will increase their range of adapters and filter wheels and TT will review their pricing ... its what I would do.

We currently use the manual Tru Tech filter wheel but will buy a Starlight Xpress motorised filter wheel as soon as it becomes available.

HTH

[MartinB]

That looks spot on. Well made, well priced and slim too

[daz]

Is it here yet?

[daz]

Is it here yet??

[daz]

[FLO]

I'll put one aside as soon as they arrive :)

[Kai]

Is it here yet??

Selling your soul again Daz