LVI Smartguider

[Rossco72]

Hi all,

Thought I'd have a go at a review for you, all comments / feedback welcomed.

I was attracted to the LVI Smartguider for two reasons, firstly it looked fairly simple to use from the manufacturers blurb (and simple is always good in my book!), and secondly I travel to my dark skies location and image using a DSLR so the ability to try guiding images without the need for a computer or laptop was very appealling.

As FLO don't stock this piece of kit (nudge, nudge) I bought ming from Green Witch and it arrived the next day. The system comes in a plastic case and contains the guide camera, a parfocal eyepiece, the control pad and 3 cables. There is a power cable which has a cigarette fitting on one end and attaches to the control pad on the other. A cable connecting the control pad to the camera and a cable to connect the control pad to the mounts ST4 port. (I have an EQ6Pro and it works fine, although I couldn't find a specific list of compatible mounts the manufacturer just states that it will work with any ST4 compatible mounts)

To set up the system, you pop the eyepiece into your guidescope, adjust the scope to target on a suitable star and then focus as best you can with the eyepiece. Once this has been done and all of the cables are connected, you simply replace the eyepiece with the camera and power on the control pad. The camera and pad go through a routine to locate a suitable star and then report "Star Found" or "Star Not Found". The system is supposed to be able to guide on any star Mag7-8 or brighter.

Once the star found has been displayed a graphical display on the control pad shows where the star is on the cameras sensor, obviously the nearer the middle the better! It also tells you how many pixels the star is taking up and you can adjust the focus ever so slightly to get as small a number as possible.

The controller then configures the system by adjusting the mounts axis to calibrate the orientation of the camera in the guidescope, this takes about 90-120 seconds or thereabouts. Once completed you can either start guiding or adjust the advanced settings.

These settings allow you to set the "agressiveness" of the adjustents on a 1-6 scale with 1 being hardly any adjustment until it is really necessary and 6 being try to adjust for all and any vibrations or movement. I have found 4 to be a good setting so far but I guess the best setting will be dependant on where you are and what you are trying to achieve.

Once guiding is started you get a linear graph showing the adjustments made on both axis as the info is sent to the mount.

For the most part with my EQ6 the adjustments are pretty minor but it's nice to see if there is a spike at some point due to a gust of wind or other influence.

Overall my images so far have suffered from technical issues related to my camera (thankfully now resolved) but certainly on 10 minute exposures by stars have remained pretty sharp and circular even using a short FL 80mm guide scope guiding a longer FL 132mm imaging scope. Therefore I am very positive about the usefulness of this piece of kit.

For DSLR users it removes the need for a pc and is up and running in about 7-8 minutes typically. I would happily recommend this system and hope that it stands me in good stead for years to come.

Regards

Stuart

[barkis]

And the price was.?

Great review though. Being PC free is going to be the selling point with this device I think. You are obviously happy enough with it's performance, and I'm sure members will be interested in the images you post, that have been taken with the LVI as the guiding element.

Ron.

[Rossco72]

Sorry, should have said the price was £475

[Beyond_Vision]

Thanks for the write up Stuart. It looks a very attractive buy for someone who images with a DSLR and doesn't want to lug a PC to there imaging site.

Regards

Kevin

[FLO]

Rossco72 said:

As FLO don't stock this piece of kit (nudge, nudge)

We've been waiting to see some owner feedback before putting it into stock  

[Coco]

When I bought mine from Bern from Modern Astronomy I thought I would end up selling my astrotrac. This has been proven to be a complete nonsense as both formats have totally different appeals.

The LVi can be an ‘on the fly’ tracking device but still has to marry up to heavier polar aligned kit.

I have recently wondered why there are no reviews about either the LVi Smart or Orion Star shooter solitaire on the web, I can only summarise because it actually works very well! As is what I’ve found myself….. Go and buy one too! It really does what it says it can do..

Highly Recommended

Guy..

[Rossco72]

Guy,

I have found that a very rough polar alignment and just a 1 star alignment on the EQ6 is close enough that the LVI can guide out any errors.

At this time of year when darkness is limited to so few hours, time saved getting a precise polar alignment and then a 3-star GOTO alignment is extra imaging time!

All I can say is I am happy with mine.

Regards

Stuart

[Coco]

Guy,

I have found that a very rough polar alignment and just a 1 star alignment on the EQ6 is close enough that the LVI can guide out any errors.

At this time of year when darkness is limited to so few hours, time saved getting a precise polar alignment and then a 3-star GOTO alignment is extra imaging time!

All I can say is I am happy with mine.

Regards

Stuart

Ditto...

Shame I have no images at the moment to show due to an on going project that has tied my CPC/Mount up for a while.

Roll on September

Guy....

[prokyon]

Hi forum!

I found this thread when I was searching for some LVI reviews. You are right, its hard to find.

So I am very interested in your experiences.

I use the LVI in combination with the Vixen GP-E and a Boxdörfer control.

My experience: It can work very well, but its not every time the same quality. I don`t know why. It depends on luck .

I do the photography with the Pentax 75 SDHF.

Here one example. Pentax 75 SDHF guidet by LVI:

At this night I had luck. But its like gambling. So I am not sure if I should buy a better mount. If you say, the LVI works well, so the mount has to be the weak point.

Cheers from Austria

werner

PS

Please apologize my grammar

[Rossco72]

Hi Werner,

Welcome to SGL first of all.

I have only had one session with the LVI which didn't go well. The corrections on the screen were much bigger than usual and the resultant images were poor.

However, this was traced back to a loose bolt on my mount and a resulting vibration when the mount was tracking. Once everything was tightend up again the guiding was back to normal.

From my experiences, using an EQ6Pro, the LVI has been a good guide solution and as I use a DSLR for imaging it's a real solution to having to guide with a pc or manually.

Regards

Stuart

[prokyon]

Hi Stuart,

thank you for your answer (and welcoming )! Which focus lenght do you use for photography?

I am happy to hear, that you are satisfied with the LVI. So I will keep on working with it. I think, that the LVI should be a good solution for photography with the little Pentax.

And I will present my next results here in this lounge!

Regards

werner

[Rossco72]

Well it's been a while since I wrote the original review and it's taken me a while to get to grips with the kit and get a couple of clear nights as well!!

However now I have my guide scope sorted and working well I should update on the LVI, it does actually work...

I done a quick alignment on my CGE, which basically sets only the switch positions for the home/park orientation and manually pointed at M42. Now this was a "very rough" alignment, basically levelled on the bubble, pointed north and that's it, no star alignment, to calibration stars, not even a basic polar alignment.

This is a 5 minute sub through my 132FLT with a Canon 450D using the TMB Flattener.

The guiding graph on the LVI did show significant adjustments being made but I'm pretty happy with the tracking on this and can only assume that with a little more time and effort on my part, and maybe even a basic polar alignment, the results would be very good.

Cheers

[Albireo380]

Looks good Stuart. I have an LVI and have only done a couple of test shots. Now looking to get an imaging / grab n' go 'scope, so that I can start imaging after the Summer.

BTW, did you sort out the GOTO issues you had with your 14" Flextube? Mine seems to perform okay.

Tom

[Rossco72]

Tom,

Not really had a chance, I've only had it out a few times and it has given stunning views but the GOTO has been woeful....

[Albireo380]

Tom,

Not really had a chance, I've only had it out a few times and it has given stunning views but the GOTO has been woeful....

Stuart,

Once the base is horizontal, the OTA is horizontal and pointing within a degree or so of North, I then align on two stars and BINGO. It seems to work pretty well, allowing me to slew 90-180 degrees and get the object in the FOV (about 3/4s of a degree tFOV). If it starts to get less accurate I simply PAE on a nearby object and that seems to improve its accuracy. Last Saturday night I did 28 Messiers and a couple of other objects and slewed all over the place. I got the object in the FOV every time.

So I am not sure why yours has a problem and mine doesn't. I checked with Steve at FLO and we both have the same handset software version. I guess I was lucky and you got the Friday afternoon job.

Best of luck.

Tom

[SM1978]

I know this topic is really old now, but in Canada the LVI Smartguider 2 is available through Ontario Telescope and Accessories.   I really like the DSLR control as well.  No need for the extra software and I can do all of the control right from the hand controller.   For $300 you can't go wrong!

[A40farinagolf]

I know this topic is really old now, but in Canada the LVI Smartguider 2 is available through Ontario Telescope and Accessories.   I really like the DSLR control as well.  No need for the extra software and I can do all of the control right from the hand controller.   For $300 you can't go wrong!

SM1978 - How are you getting on with your Smartguider 2?

Are there any other users out there who'd be willing to share their experiences with this bit of kit please, I'd appreciate the comments.

[A40farinagolf]

I've just taken delivery of one of these units (Santa was a bit early) - any hints and tips would be gratefully received.

[alacant]

Hi

TS have the lvi 2  on offer so I'd be really interested in any hands on info too. I have a Bresser EXOS 2. It has an st4 port but any concrete info would be most welcome.

Thanks. 

[A40farinagolf]

Mine came from TS - never managed to get it to work so returned for a full refund after wasting a few hours.

[alacant]

Hi

OK. I ordered it from TS on the back of getting them to unbox and check it before sending. There's something about car adapter power/mA/220v (?). The German adapters should match the original Italian and the ones here in Spain, so here's hoping. It's a budget induced make or break for me anyway. Fingers crossed!

[alacant]

Hi

They sent me a used unit with obvious signs of wear and (heavy) use. I too have asked for a refund. What a waste of time.

 

[alacant]

Does anyone have a €200 solution which works and is current technology?

TIA

[SM1978]

On 12/15/2015 at 13:04, A40farinagolf said:

SM1978 - How are you getting on with your Smartguider 2?

Are there any other users out there who'd be willing to share their experiences with this bit of kit please, I'd appreciate the comments.

Sorry

 

I am just seeing this now.   My LVI is working really well actually.  I an iOptron mount and a 60/280mm guide scope.  Works great and it controls my Canon camera with no issues as well. 

The trick I found was to not use a bring star.  If you can see it with your eye then don't bother with it.  Use the provided eyepiece and focuse in on a star, I fond its best to put it off center slightly, and made sure that when you put the camera in place that you the sensor square with the rest of your equipment.  

 

I would recommend it without issue.  Just make sure you buy it from a reputable place. 

[tich]

I've just brought the LVI Smartguider2  so I can go mobile to the darksite or maybe star parties instead of faffing about with a laptop & the battery dying a couple of hours later. The laptop can be used in the Obsy when it's built but it is nice to go mobile once in a while, plus at the darksite  there's a better view with hardly anything restricting it.
Mind you I only brought it as it's half its usual price on TS optics & cheaper than the Synguider 2 so thought I'd give it a shot.

LVI Smartguider 2